Man Ray Quotes

A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.

One of the satisfactions of a genius is his will-power and obstinacy.

I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions. Quoted in PBS episode of American Masters

It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.

Unconcerned but not indifferent.

The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.”
Man Ray

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor.

Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.

Throughout time painting has alternately been put to the service of the Church, the State, arms, individual patronage, scientific phenomena, anecdote and decoration … all the marvelous works that have been painted, whatever the sources of inspiration, still live for us because of absolute qualities they possess in common. The creative force and the expressiveness of painting reside materially in the colour and texture of pigments, in the possibilities of form invention and organisation, and in the flat plane on which these elements are brought into play.

You see, I try to walk the tightrope of accomplishment between the chasms of notoriety and oblivion.

I have finally freed myself from the sticky medium of paint, and am working directly with light itself.

All critics should be assassinated.

l paint what cannot be photographed, and l photograph what l do not wish to paint. lf it is a portrait that interests me, a face, or a nude, I will use my camera. It is quicker than making a drawing or a painting. But if it is something I cannot photograph, like a dream or a subconscious impulse I have to resort to drawing or painting. To express what I feel I use the medium best suited to express that idea, which is also always the most economical one. l am not at all interested in being consistent as a painter, and object-maker or a photographer. I can use several different techniques, like the old masters who were engineers, musicians and poets at the same time. I have never shared the contempt shown by painters for photography: there is no competition involved, painting and photography are two media engaged in different paths. There is no conflict between the two.

The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.