Yorgos Lanthimos Quotes

I think good artists know when they're on a roll, and they recognize when lightning is striking. It's a very fortunate thing to have that inspiration and not to overanalyze it or mess with it; you just follow it if you love what you do.

Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.

The songs come along at their own pace when they are ready.

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

I'm definitely using different parts of myself, but I think when it comes down to words and melodies, I can't really force anything too much.

When I wrote 'Grand Illusion,' I was making it up as we went along. I wrote this stuff and tried to do the best job I could.

It's gotta feel natural. I'm always into that, and after awhile, if I am working on a song too long and trying to make something out of it that it's not... it's best just to stop and move on.

You can't slot a time and a space and think 'ok now it's time to sit and compose.' It just doesn't work like that for me.

I would say any creative person has that: you can't just force a topic. Whether you're a painter, you want to do a cartoon. Anything. Something may come up that's not your style or suited to what you are working on at the moment. So you file it away and hopefully find a place for it.

In drawing, I don't erase. I believe the original gesture has to be the best.

I try to paint what I have found and not what I look for. In art, intentions are of little importance.

I couldn't say there is a formula to songwriting. Each time is a unique experience.

I want to do nothing chic, I want to have ideas before beginning a piece.

As artists, we are so not in control most of the time of the content or the narrative of our characters, and sometimes writing takes a turn and it's not something we necessarily have control over. It's just a lot of random dumb luck, so when things click, you've just got to enjoy it.

I'm very interested to see how this new painting will go - I know I want it big and stark, and as I said, I follow the muse, and that's when it always works perfectly for me.

When I work alone, it can be like dabbling with a canvas. Maybe you paint over bits, and it starts to form its own life and lead you off in a direction. It becomes an intuitive, subconscious process.

Usually, I create tunes that are fragmented. I think the biggest obstacle for people with their creativity is that they feel they have to sit down and create this finished, polished product.

People ask what was the first piece of music I wrote. There was no first piece.

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite - getting something down.

Trying to force creativity is never good.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.

Being creative is my idea of heaven. I'm just incredibly fortunate that I can do it in artwork. Watercolor is what I started out with. What I love about watercolor is that a lot of happy accidents occur.

If you're always thinking about someone else's work, about the tradition you're working in, how can you possibly make anything good?

You cannot just be working in a vast, air-conditioned loft space and think you are going to make a decent painting. Francis Bacon had a special studio built, and he felt completely emasculated in there. I have to be somewhere comfortable.