Dave Liebman

Art is constant tension and release. That is where artists live, between the two or at times, submerged in either.

A Jazz performance centers upon the process of creation. The final objective is not only the finished product, but the path and process taken towards it.

The arts are at the center of a nation’s purpose and a test of civilization.

Make the best of every moment. We’re not evolving. We’re not going anywhere.

Everybody has that feeling when they look at a work of art and it’s right, that sudden familiarity, a sort of…recognition, as though they were creating it themselves, as though it were being created through them while they look at it or listen to it.

Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn’t insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.

Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.

The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.

Eventually, most people felt MoMA had filled a very important gap.

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.

To this day I’m really not sure if I was playing Ziggy [Stardust] or if Ziggy was exaggerated aspects of my own personality. A fair amount of psychological baggage was undoubtedly coming out through the character. Because I felt awkward and nervous and inadequate with myself, it felt easier to be somebody else.

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

She opened up a book of poems and handed it to me written by an Italian poet from the 13th century and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.

An artist can only be evaluated after he’s dead. At the 11th hour he might do something that will eclipse everything else.

Mother’s interest in contemporary American artists emerged during the 1920s.

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

It’s like telling Michelangelo: ‘I know you painted this dope angel, that was really good, but Michelangelo, I don’t think you can paint a cow.’