Top 160 Robert Genn Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “Artists with serious aspirations need to be left alone to follow the course of their own imagination.”

— Robert Genn

102. “Whatever you do, don’t let your system run you.”

— Robert Genn

103. “When you sit down to paint or draw, you form yourself into a posture of praise.”

— Robert Genn

104. “Art is a path on which we honour our world.”

— Robert Genn

105. “Critics are the products of their own times and biases and what they have to say about works of art is as transient and insubstantial as fashion.”

— Robert Genn

106. “People suspend judgment in the presence of mystery.”

— Robert Genn

107. “Exploit a subject or a theme to its greatest potential by bringing all possible reference to bear – then put aside the reference and create again using the potential of your unfettered imagination.”

— Robert Genn

108. “It’s my wish that I can help creative people think of new ways to be creative – to get more joy and understanding from their own unique processes.”

— Robert Genn

109. “Accepting the gift may take the accumulated wisdom of some trodden miles, but it also opens the welcome windows of joy.”

— Robert Genn

110. “Know that to begin is often better than to think.”

— Robert Genn

111. “One of the ways to learn is to know when you’re making failures.”

— Robert Genn

112. “Style essentially appeared out of what I liked to do.”

— Robert Genn

113. “When I’m in the studio I often hunger for the road. And when away I long for the efficiency of the studio.”

— Robert Genn

114. “We artists give daily thanks for the miracle of our planet and for the inclination and the capability to honour it.”

— Robert Genn

115. “I simply like the monumentality of the subjects – the opportunity for metaphor and the varied light that comes with high altitudes.”

— Robert Genn

116. “According to Mednick, after sleep, people are 33 percent more likely to be creative.”

— Robert Genn

117. “You’re right, super-realism is back in style.”

— Robert Genn

118. “This evening, while signing my name on a painting, I was thinking I might stop signing my cheques.”

— Robert Genn

119. “In painting you cover up your sins and everyone thinks you’re naturally talented.”

— Robert Genn

120. “While this may seem peculiar, the combo of work and distraction leads to levels of innovation not often generated by structured, focused thinking alone.”

— Robert Genn

121. “Where there are few expectations, expediency wins.”

— Robert Genn

122. “Our currency is what we are able to make.”

— Robert Genn

123. “God may work in light, but we mortals work in pigment.”

— Robert Genn

124. “While knowledge of tools and the love of motif may be in your backpack, and all mountains may be measured by their previous heroes, art must exist for you in a place beyond the judgment of others.”

— Robert Genn

125. “Artist, gain knowledge, but know that the greatest guru of all is the guru within.”

— Robert Genn

126. “So who are we going to blame for our disappointments and our failures?”

— Robert Genn

127. “My app is the same juicy paint used by Vincent Van Gogh; my screen is the woven canvas of Titian. Painting by hand, I’ve come to figure, is a certain kind of love.”

— Robert Genn

128. “By thinking you are cleverer and more talented than your buddies, many a career has been blotted.”

— Robert Genn

129. “The studio is an extension of the sandbox and the kindergarten playroom. It has a dynamic unlike any office or factory. It’s a room at the service of a dreamer on her way to becoming a master.”

— Robert Genn

130. “The pursuit of art is a delicate balance between influence and self-assertiveness. As self-realized artists, we all have different levels of tolerance for this mystery. Influence is like Scotch; it’s good to know your personal limit.”

— Robert Genn

131. “While obsessive behavior may be an antisocial plague to societies and communities at large, it’s total moxie when lone practitioners catch it.”

— Robert Genn

132. “No matter what your disciplines, you need your own personal lists.”

— Robert Genn

133. “Certain music is terrifically inspirational and it is possible, months or even years afterwards, to look at a painting and remember the music that was playing during its execution.”

— Robert Genn

134. “Flat, uninteresting parts of paintings are, in fact, a ruse to get the viewer to see what needs to be seen.”

— Robert Genn

135. “I’ve come to realize that companionship and mild competition can help build quality and lay the ground for excellence.”

— Robert Genn

136. “Artists cannot be micro-managed. We can take heart that everything we do is different from the last thing we did – or indeed everything that’s ever been done. That knowledge is the key to sound mentoring.”

— Robert Genn

137. “Paintings, like tombstones, will last a good five hundred years, well into twenty or thirty generations.”

— Robert Genn

138. “Words are small straitjackets when put around creative flourishes and maneuverings.”

— Robert Genn

139. “Incompetence, in my books, is the failure of the critical faculties to interfere constructively with the natural flow.”

— Robert Genn

140. “In acrylics, what you lose on the straights you make up for on the corners.”

— Robert Genn

141. “For a lot of us drawing is a tyranny which impedes freshness and spontaneity.”

— Robert Genn

142. “Evolved creators are just as curious about their failures as they are of their successes.”

— Robert Genn

143. “I have always found it a testament to the importance of painting that the first thing many people do when their home is on fire is to grab their paintings and then run out.”

— Robert Genn

144. “As every artist who has used the method knows – photography’s a loyal slave and a tyrannical master.”

— Robert Genn

145. “Music is the most abstract of the arts and it expresses the sound of the universe itself. These are the real rhythms that stimulate the artist’s mind and guide his hand.”

— Robert Genn

146. “By stealthily teaching dependence, photography can turn out to be dangerous.”

— Robert Genn

147. “Many of us knuckle-dragging brush-painters think that ‘behind the times’ is part of our job description. Why deny ourselves the authentic journey of a time-honoured form?”

— Robert Genn

148. “Artists are supposed to be the ones with imagination. A good part of our job description is to get regular people to use theirs.”

— Robert Genn

149. “An early flourish of confidence is useful. Then there’s the small crudities – the slubs and bumps that come with outdoor work – the odd charm of imprecision.”

— Robert Genn

150. “Our human landscape is overburdened with competitions and contests. Art need not be a contest. Art is a personal quest for quality. Quality is the forerunner of acceptance. Character is the forerunner of quality. Be your own discriminating connoisseur.”

— Robert Genn