Arnulf Rainer famous quotes

Only the four corners of the background remained. It was terribly difficult to fix my eyes on all of them at the same time. My experience was that the most difficult thing of all in art is painting in all four corners at the same time.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Art #Eye #Four

Sometimes I had to force the overpainting of three corners almost without any feeling for shape, almost without inspiration, only to find my way back, to get out of this hell...
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Inspiration #Frustration #Feelings

the 'total overpaintings' developed... through incessant reworking. The original motif peeped through the edges. Gradually it vanished completely.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Incessant #Motifs

I have settled down in this border area; I am trying to find distinct standards of shape, and I long to experience, formulate, and evoke this dark, heavy, tranquillity.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Peace #Dark #Long

Only an 'almost,' a 'nearly,' is possible.
-- Arnulf Rainer

I could only relax when there was just one tiny white last spot left. I could see more clearly. I could grasp the shape of the picture again... The pictures are alive because of the white remnant, the almost concealment.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#White #Relax #Alive

The principles of my works... are the extinction of expression, permanent covering and contemplative tranquillity... My ideal is the completely dark picture, full of some overwhelming silence.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Dark #Expression #Silence

... I felt like a new man; but I was disappointed with the photographic documentation because I still saw always the old self.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Men #Self #Saws

In 1968 I frequently would sit in a photo booth and practice self mirror images which I then documented photographically. Curious types would always open the curtains and chase me away. Today I work with a photographer.
-- Arnulf Rainer

#Mirrors #Self #Practice

The truth and the facts aren't necessarily the same thing. Telling the truth is the object of all art; facts are what the unimaginative have instead of ideas.

Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns us to our rational, structured selves refreshed. Having once experienced the mystery, plenitude, contradiction, and composure of a work of art, we afterward have a built-in resistance to the slogans and propaganda of oversimplification that have often contributed to the destruction of human life. Poetry is a verbal means to a nonverbal source. It is a motion to no-motion, to the still point of contemplation and deep realization.

While other creators make a big show of their art Mani Sir makes it look as though anyone can do what he does.

We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect... but, as photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs.

Look not in my eyes, for fear They mirror true the sight I see, And there you find your face too clear And love it and be lost like me.

Quiet descended, a silence so consuming that even the drafty corridors ceased whistling. Bog wasn't certain where to look, so he solved the problem by plucking out his eyes and sticking them in a drawer.

If you close your eyes you can imagine the hackers sitting in a room, combing through the documents to find the ones that will draw the most blood. And in a room next door are American journalists doing the same thing. As demented and criminal as it is, at least the hackers are doing it for a cause. The press is doing it for a nickel.

Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone.

Ive only dressed in drag three or four times.

I'm not a great shopper but I do buy a lot of books. I'm the publishers' friend - I buy a hundred books a year and read four.