"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."
"The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you're an artist."
"I prefer living in colour."
"Smoking calms me down. It's enjoyable. I don't want politicians deciding what is exciting in my life."
"Laugh a lot. It clears the lungs."
"I do do a lot of talking, because it saves me listening."
Happy 80th birthday, David Hockney, OM, CH, RA (born 9th July 1937)
nice buns there; so pinchable! and I like his take on laughter.
ReplyDeleteHe always had an eye for wet buns... Jx
Deletedon't we ALL, dear! ;-)
DeleteArse for art's sake, indeed... Jx
Delete"The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you're an artist." What the hell does this even mean? I admire his work very much, but bullshit is bullshit.
ReplyDeleteHe was actually, I have discovered, quoting the painter and critic Max Jacob, friend of the surrealists and avant garde artists of 1920s Paris, including Picasso, Braque and Cocteau. David Hockney has always acknowledged his debt to those artists who "subvert realism", so I think it is apt he should choose to apply this quote to his own work. Jx
DeleteI don't wish to put too fine a point on this--and your point is well taken regarding the aptness of Hockney's appropriation of another's quote--but if he believes this, what was he before he purloined the quote? It seems to me a clever thing to say, and as Miss Jean Brodie would add, "For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like."
ReplyDelete"If of thy mortal gods thou art bereft,
DeleteAnd from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul."
Jx
"Hearts starve as well as bodies; therefore, give us bread but also give us roses."
ReplyDelete(Or hyacinths, or failing that, "a host of golden daffodils.")
Or, indeed, lilies. Jx
Delete"If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers."
Delete