Stephen De Staebler famous quotes

Artists don’t get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working.
-- Stephen De Staebler

#Pain #Artist

I have discovered that the unasked-for accident can be the salvation of what you are doing.
-- Stephen De Staebler

#Discovery #Salvation #Accidents

Clay can be a metaphor for many things. I made it a metaphor for flesh and earth, and these are two kinds of generic givens of life, if you look at it poetically, biblically, the idea of the life of beings, of man, being transitory, the earth abides-ashes to ashes, dust to dust-man returns to earth, grows out of earth like a flower, wilts, goes back to the earth... We are frail, transitory creatures with aspirations of immortality, conscious of our inevitable death, and we have to deal with it somehow.
-- Stephen De Staebler

#Flower #Men #Dust

There is an investment of your own life experience in something as innocent as colour.
-- Stephen De Staebler

#Experience #Innocent #Investment

Artists don’t get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working.
-- Stephen De Staebler

#Pain #Artist

Citizens who take it upon themselves to do unusual actions which attract the attention of the police should be careful to bring these actions into one of the recognized categories of crimes and offences, for it is intolerable that the police should be put to the pains of inventing reasons for finding them undesirable.

And while one is brought up with luxury and caresses, and is thrown bewildered and despairing into a dark pit, another is lifted from the pit and raised to a throne where a jeweled crown is placed on his head. The world has no shame in doing this; it is prompt to hand out both pleasure and pain and has no need of us an our doings.

After a point of time, when you get success and fame, money and everything, the purpose of life has to be redefined. For me, I think that purpose is to build bridges. Artists can do that very easily, more than politicians.

What to paint was a problem for the war artist... the old heroics, the death and glory stuff, were gone forever... the impressionistic technique I had developed was now ineffective, for visual impressions were not enough.

An artist’s job is to captivate… if we stumble into truth, we got lucky.

I would just encourage any artist to stay focused, of course keep God first, and just keep working hard. Try to outwork those who you idolize.

The more an artist works the more there is to do.

The artist as businessman is uglier than the businessman as artist.

Now almost every artist outside of New York is connected with some school or some museum school, and even in New York the majority are. That's an interesting fact when you take the idea of making money, making a living selling paintings. Only a dozen or two painters do that.

We all name ourselves. We call ourselves artists. Nobody asks us. Nobody says you are or you aren't.