Matter as matter rather than matter as symbol is a conscious political position, essentially Marxist. Carl Andre More Quotes by Carl Andre More Quotes From Carl Andre Art is the exclusion of the unnecessary. Carl Andre unnecessaryexclusionart What do little kids do? They crawl on the floor and they build with blocks. I just continued to do that for the rest of my life. Carl Andre blocklittleskids A man climbs a mountain because it is there. An artist makes a work of art because it is not there. Carl Andre mountainmenart My art springs from my desire to have things in the world which would otherwise never be there. Carl Andre desirespringart Once you turn something into something, its universal usage is over. Carl Andre usageturnsuniversal A place is an area within an environment that has been altered in such a way to make the general environment more conspicuous. Carl Andre areasenvironmentway Why carve? It's a better sculpture that way. I'll never improve the block. So I just started using uncarved blocks. Carl Andre sculptureblockway Art is what we do. Culture is what is done to us. A photograph of an art object is not the art object. An essay about an artist's work is not the artist's work. Carl Andre donecultureart If you forge a Carl Andre, it's just another Carl Andre. It's not like a Vermeer. Carl Andre vermeerifs If you're any good as an artist, you have to be doing something nobody else has interest in. Nobody would be interested in my work except a few crazy people. Carl Andre crazyartistpeople The world is imperfect, and young people are always trying to perfect it and they always fail - which is a good thing. Who'd want to live in a perfect world? Carl Andre always-tryingperfectpeople The wood was better before I cut it, than after. I did not improve it in any way. Carl Andre woodscuttingway I'm afraid we get a great deal of our exposure to art through magazines and through slides and I think this is dreadful, this is anti-art because art is direct experience with something in the world and photography is just a rumor, a kind of pornography of art. Carl Andre photographyartthinking By nature, I am a materialist... It is exactly these impingements upon our sense of touch and so forth that I'm interested in. Carl Andre An artist, to achieve anything in art, has to finally do the thing that nobody else wants to do and nobody else has thought to do. Carl Andre artistwantart My art will reflect not necessarily conscious politics but the unanalysed politics of my life. Carl Andre consciousart Art is an intersection of many human needs. Carl Andre intersectionsartneeds I think my work is very American because I'm American. But I found that Europeans like uncertainty and doubt. Carl Andre doubtfoundthinking I think it was Henry Moore who was asked where he got his ideas for his sculptures, and he said something like, "I continue to do as an adult the things I did as a child." I think that's what art is about. Carl Andre childrenartthinking I've often stopped working for long periods. Carl Andre periodslong