Al Barry Quotes

I don't really use still photography very much anymore except to document my work.

Whatever came out came out. That was it. That's what you live with. If you don't like it, that's your problem.

My videos rarely run longer than 20 minutes. They're made for private viewing in your home or specifically either that or for a gallery situation where you sit and look.

I like challenge. I like to be put into a situation which I haven't done before. Something new presents itself and I see if I can somehow finagle it into making a work of art out of it.

I may have a lot of political opinions but it doesn't necessarily come into my work. I keep the two worlds separate.

Words have very potent meanings and people read them and they react to them personally. They are very suggestive in terms of your life and things like that.

People ask me why I use words and the reason, of course, is that words talk to you. I mean, they're something that are generated inside of you and that you can relate to you.

Even though you're reading something, it's as though that person who wrote it is speaking to you. It's a form of conversation, really.

You can never really predict how people are going to react, what they're going to think about, whether they care.

You can't make somebody care about what you're doing. Either they get it, either there's that connection - or they don't.

I really kind of liked the fluidity and not really being tied down. I saw the kind of people that were tenured and what happened to them there and I thought it was kind of death, really.

I had always taken photos - always, always taken photos, made movies.

You can't have silence on the radio; people will turn away from the station.

ne thing you have to develop as an artist is a confidence in what you're doing and that you're right about it.

If you want to know about what's good in art, you should talk to an artist.

I always thought there was a - even in the most, quote, "conceptual art," there is always a physical aspect to it. I never knew what the term meant.

And when you see artists like Donald Judd and so forth being referred to as conceptual, what the hell does that mean? It's a totally meaningless term.

You can't just suddenly change gears and reverse yourself or go to the left or the right because there is no left or right. There's always a certain direction that you're moving in.

I didn't like anti-Vietnam War art. I didn't like feminist art. I thought it was heavy-handed and stupid - as art.

You know, there are some people who just don't - that cannot get comfortable behind the wheel of a car and always sort of think they're going to kill somebody.

I always had a fairly decent income, coming in just from the art.

I do like certain kinds of frames for work. That's important.

I'm fortunate in one respect; that I don't have a lot of work in my studio. Most of it's out, gone; either sold or in galleries. I work with a lot of galleries.

I have been in competitions for commissions. I've won most and lost some. Mostly, I've won.

The big thing is I try not to repeat.

I think you say the word in your mind anyway, you know. When you look at a word, you say it.

I wanted my style to be very recognizable.

A word refers to something in the real world and so, in a way, does a photo. It's not the thing itself, but it's a kind of suggestion of where you might look for that thing.

The idea of words and photos was something that appealed to me.

I always took photographs. I photographed a lot of trees, by the way, which is another image I used often in my work, the tree image.

If I'm reading something and a word pops up, or I just catch it, I try to mark it off and then, later, write it down on a piece of paper and add it to my list.

And after a while, you just pare things down more and more and more, until you get to certain basic things which just - basic ideas which just seem to work for you over and over again.

Words are objects of a color and a size and a form and a shape.

I'm used to being the background. I'm used to having work that only lasts for a little while. I'm used to being - working in the real world, where real things are.

Tears have a better character cried alone. Pity can sometimes be more wolf than dog.

There is seldom a difficulty with religion where there is friendship.

Because faithfulness is not a human question, but a divine one.

It had been a war of kingly poisons, in the air, in the memory, in the blood.

What is the sound of an eighty-nine-year-old heart breaking?

I don't ban bloggers from my shows. I have a separate line: VIP seating for bloggers.

I mean, I've always had scattered interests, but I never went on stage to get an agent or anything like that

And the goal really is to make the audience laugh, to bring them some joy.

I haven't done a lot in London. I think comedy over there is how it was over here years ago. There's tons of it, and they're better paid.

I will not be misquoted!

I want to release another CD this year, finish writing a screenplay, and make another short film

There seems to be more comedy for comedy's sake

I had temping jobs also. I liked the flexibility. There was no asking for time off; you just didn't work.

I have a podiatrist appointment at 2.

I must have done everything I had. You go through years where you go through everything you've ever written

I was probably just trying to be Dennis Miller, but without the vocabulary to actually be Dennis Miller. I guess I was just less interesting than I am now, if I am interesting at all