Eugene J. Martin Quotes

American artist (1938-2005)

Eugene J. Martin (24 July 1938 – 1 January 2005) was an African American visual artist. While his art was "beyond category", he is particularly noted for his complex, often whimsical and biomorphic mixed media collages on paper; pencil, pen and ink drawings; and "pure", lyrical and constructed abstractions on canvas.

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Alternative Names: Eugene James Martin

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The words “human nature” can be the greatest obstacle to human growth.

'It’s a great tragedy that the ability to act is used to manipulate people, but it is a greater tragedy that people welcome it while sometimes making a phony protest.

People have learned to escape reality very well but too often lose their way back.

The bird of truth would not be able to fly if it weren't for the air of lies we breathe.

One solution to one problem makes two problems.

Beware of the possible reason some people are honestly down and out - it is because they tried to copy the many who are superficially doing well.

Truth is so large OR people’s minds are so small that they’re only able to nibble on the edges – and when growth brings them to the area where they can feed on truth itself, as they move in and eat of the seed, there they become truth.

Genius does not only require superior knowledge and skill, but also superior patience.

Having a sincere desire to want growth does not mean at that point you are committing yourself to growth.

There are opposing forces in all living things. My work reflects this and stirs up a contrast of emotions in the viewer... perception versus annoyance. To the viewer who has reached that level of awareness, my work is no longer abstract, but very real.

Conflict is necessary for growth. But too often conflict becomes a haven for the soul. Until one day, the soul can no longer free itself. In real growth the soul learns to fly rather than having the ego inflated with praise from accomplishments as if it were a balloon. Only because it buys time, do we develop a strong and protective ego. This is the early stage in the soul’s evolution, until such time when the soul hatches out of its shell, which is the ego, into a new world in which there is incomparable beauty.

One tool that is used most and has the greatest misuse of power is looks, and another tool that is used least and has the least desire for power is wisdom.

People find it easy to justify their frustration in the struggle to manipulate others, but find it hard to justify the struggle for their own growth.

There are lesser people not for what they are, but for why they are.

Americans are simple people with simple interests – The only time they sincerely ask “why” about anything is when they don’t receive their paychecks.