Ken Danby Quotes

Art is a necessity - an essential part of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts.

Learn to nurture and trust your instincts as well as your conscious reasoning. Often, one's instincts will offer the better judgment.

The human condition is not served by our technical ability to transmit a televised image around the world - if that image is totally inane.

The degree to which the arts are included in our educational curriculum is totally inadequate. The arts are just as important as math and science in an education and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives.

Understand who you are and who you want to be, and thereby learn how you may best relate to others.

Abstraction and realism work best together.

Creative expression and visual comprehension are really the handmaidens of art. One cannot thrive without the other.

Art is completely subjective. It's up to the viewer to judge whether or not it has merit.

Growing up in Northern Ontario provided me with a strong affinity for the natural environment that was so eloquently responded to by Tom Thomson and his colleagues. The concept of this painting grew out of a number of forays into Algonquin over the years. From its conception I intended Algonquin to be a subtle tribute to Tom Thomson. But I also wanted it to be a response to the natural beauty that so typifies the grandeur of Ontario’s first provincial park.

Today, we're encouraged to believe that we should have a verbal interpretation for what we view as art - when in fact the words are an intrusion on the experience.

Desire is everything, not talent. It's the degree of one's desire that will dictate the extent of one's success, in any endeavour.

Don't cater to the audience. Inspire the audience.

Regardless of the importance of known evidence to the contrary, the arts are generally regarded as being so much entertaining fluff, a commodity that isn't a priority in the traditional program of learning. This is unacceptable in a so-called 'enlightened' society.

Whenever I'm asked to identify my best work, or my favorite, my answer has always been the same - 'My next one!'

Emulation and imitation can legitimately influence one's development, but ultimately the artist must find his own path - and be true to himself.

I must have the personal dialogue, the private time, with each painting in progress. I can't share it with anyone until it's done.

The role of the artist is like that of an explorer and a teacher - a teacher of seeing. No one is more capable of conveying this enlightenment than the artist.

Without good drawing, the foundation of a painting will collapse.

As an artist, my concern is toward the synthesizing of all the visual elements at my disposal - at the exclusion of none.

Without art, we're handicapped, and living a stifled, barren existence.

My paintings don't simply represent what I see; they present viewers with what I want them to see.

There's nothing like a little fear or hunger to motivate one's inspiration. To take that away from a young artist can offer quite a disservice.

We do not see with our eyes, but through them.

In painting, detail for the sake of itself is useless. It must have relevance to the whole.

Art is a necessity, an essential part of our enlightenment process.