Josh Smith Quotes & Sayings

I made work specifically for them not to like. If you made paintings of flowers and someone says they hate it, it's like, "What do you mean? It's a flower!" But if you make a painting of your name and somebody says they hate it, it's like, "Well, why would you like a painting of my name anyway?" — Josh Smith

Everything comes from a weird place that I don't understand. I make a piece of art just to prove that I exist in my own way. And I can't make something nice. I have to make something that makes me uncomfortable. — Josh Smith

I do, but I don't like doing that. I would do it out of hate or anger. I would do it because some- one was pushing my buttons, but really I don't want to break my back in some European city while everyone else is drinking espresso. I only do it because someone refused to pay for the shipping, or something like that. I don't want to let a whole city of people down. — Josh Smith

It's the ultimate conceptual artwork. I took a piece of metal and just painted an image of a stop sign on it - a four-by-four-foot stop sign. — Josh Smith

And the cool kids always had a stop sign in their bedroom. Which means: "I don't care if people die. I want my stop sign." At least the assumption was that they took it down from somewhere and now there are old ladies hitting each other head-on somewhere. — Josh Smith

I like when people have opinions - especially about art. You can hate my art. I made my art to be hated. That's why I made the name paintings. — Josh Smith

I would never make an artwork that I wouldn't want to make forever. Wouldn't you want to make Trash Humpers [Korine's 2009 film] forever? — Josh Smith

I'm a happy, happy person. I laugh. I'm not angry. I'm only disgusted with a few people in the world that I have to see. But I'm not angry at all. — Josh Smith

It's a stage with four lights clamped to it with walls made out of plywood. And then my name's in the center. It's the type of thing that can be made over and over again. It's not like a Michelangelo sculpture. — Josh Smith

It's three disparate elements: the stop sign, the stage paintings, and the skeleton paintings. Those are three sharp ideas, although none of them are necessarily good ideas. Tons of artists have made whole careers out of those three ideas. — Josh Smith

I'm not really that hard-working. We've hung out a lot, and you know that I don't work harder than you. Everyone else is just really lazy. People do half a thing, and then they just go out to lunch. — Josh Smith

I have a streak in myself, like, I'm an exhibi- tionist. There's a side of me that really wants to show off and share parts of myself with others. I mean, that's why I live in New York, and that's why I'm an artist who shows 10 times a year. — Josh Smith

So rather than someone coming to my stu- dio and saying, like, "Thank you for your time. I'll see you later," and me not knowing why they don't like my work, I understand now why they don't like it. — Josh Smith

It's a lifestyle. If you do something good that is worth making, you should make it forever. It's like being a farmer. Just because he makes a gallon of milk doesn't make him stop. — Josh Smith

I didn't want it to have any technical virtuosity; I wanted it to just be really clear how it was made. For my work in general, it's always really clear how it is made. — Josh Smith