There is more to vision
than meets the eye.

Nelson Goodman

We read as we look
because we interpret as we see.

Arthur C. Danto

Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult,
but because it wishes to be art.

Donald Barthelme

Least of all should an intellectual be there to make his/her audiences feel good: the whole point is to be embarrassing, contrary, even unpleasant.

Edward Said

If you are in a theater and there is a fire, a poet must not climb up on a seat and recite a poem. He has to call the fireman like everyone else. The function of the intellectual is to say beforehand, "Pay attention to that theater because it’s old and dangerous!" so his word can have the prophetic function of an appeal. The intellectual’s function is to say,"'We should do that," not, "We must do this now!"—that’s the politician’s.

Umberto Eco

I have tremendous respect for any institution that would take the risk of giving its stamp of approval to work that is difficult, disturbing, confrontational, politically volatile, and of uncertain market value at best. That means that the institution in question must believe in the work for its own sake, and that kind of support is more important to me than anything else.

Adrian Piper

I see the music as if it were a three-dimensional painting.

Anthony Braxton

I’m looking for readers I would like to make. To win them, to create readers rather than to give something that readers are expecting. That would bore me to death.

Carlos Fuentes

There are still many things I want to do; all that remains for me to desire is to continue to find people who like my music in the course of its evolution.

John Coltrane

We’d been working on cutting in between centerbacks at training for finishes, and she put the ball on a platter, and I just got my little butt up in the air and nogged it in.

Lynn Williams

I hear a lot of artists and viewers profess how important it is to make art for everyone. They think art should be something that everyone can understand. They wear this principle like a badge and have only disdain for what they deem as esoteric art (poetry, music, dance, all disciplines inclusive). This motivation is generic and uninteresting to me. I am more motivated and inspired by complexity, maximalism, and esotericism than simplicity, minimalism, and universality. I make art for one person. When you enter my work, I want you to feel alone, like you’re the only person on the inside who really feels and understands what is happening, similar to the private experience of reading a novel. While you are experiencing the process, you are also feeling sorry for all of the people who are missing out. This is yours, something that is happening exclusively within you. Yet you are conflicted: you want to share this with someone, but you also cherish the intimacy. It is fine with me if thousands have unique singular experiences, but I am making it for one, or I should say for one person at a time. If people want to share the experience with others, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine, too. Somewhere along the way that one person might meet another who appreciates the work in a similarly unique way. They connect and fall in love. In this case, I might inflate my target audience to two.

David Colosi