John Currin Quotes

A lot of times maturing as an artist is just starting to do the things you like to do.

Your style is who you are when you’re not trying to be clever or better than you actually are.

I find I can't get rid of my trashiness as an artist. A lot of my themes in painting, to the extent that there are intentional themes, are meant to bring that conundrum into high relief.

I think a big problem with art school is that it makes people feel like they have to be interested in everything that's of high quality.

You have to like everything that you're painting. Maybe on a narrative level it seems harsh... but I like everything in all my paintings. It's as if you need to be less intelligent at that level.

There is no misery in art. All art is about saying yes, and all art is about its own making.

Culture is for old people. When you're young you have your body, and that's all you need.

I think what I do is find a cliché and try to believe in it, try to get to where I don't laugh at it.

Instead of last man standing, it'll be last man smiling.

It's a huge thing when people realize across the culture that paper money is paper. And that there's no fixed value - it's all political. That all value is set by a political authority, basically.

That was an important development for me, just realizing that you need to follow your pleasure, at least as a painter. I think any kind of artist needs to, no matter what you're doing.

I suppose the good artists, the righteous artists, somehow manage to be exuberant, and the embarrassed artist has this idea that everybody has to stop being so excited, which I find so distasteful.

A painting of any quality is always going to have nerdy energy, an affirmation behind it. It's gonna be like a kid playing a video game.

Painting is like being a lawyer and attacking a corporation.

I think a lot of people take a scholarly approach where they feel like you're supposed to study things that depress you.

When I went to college, and I went to art school, I started to realize that Warhol was cool and that pop art was fun.

In a capitalist system, things are valued by what people will pay for them.

There's nothing worse than people talking about theories and humor.

Just don't do things that depress you. I realized if it depresses me, then I just don't want to get close to it. If it brings me down, I just really can't get into it.

I wonder whether there is such a thing as critical art. I suppose there are portraits of people who could destroy you.