Chinese Art Quotes

• Know the enemy and know yourself.

  Sun Tzu

  Fear, Military, War

  The Art of War ch. 3 (translation by Yuan Shibang)

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• Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, War, Tactics And Strategy

  Sun Tzu (2016). “The Art of War”, p.7, Xist Publishing

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• I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Art, Creativity, Perfect

  Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “A Circle of Quiet”, p.21, Open Road Media

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• Traditional Chinese art looked at the Earth from a Confucian mountain top; Japanese art looked closely around screens; Italian Renaissance art surveyed conquered nature through the window or door-frame of a palace. For the Cro-Magnons, space is a metaphysical arena of continually intermittent appearances and disappearances.

  John Berger

  Art, Italian, Space

  "Past present" by John Berger, www.theguardian.com. October 12, 2002.

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• All the rich people collect traditional Chinese art. So it's very natural for Chinese families to still see art as the highest human performance and send their children to this field.

  Ai Weiwei

  Art, Children, People

  Interview with Claudine Ko, www.mcsweeneys.net. March 7, 2013.

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• I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.

  Ai Weiwei

  Art, Thinking, Chinese

  "Ai Weiwei: 'China's art world does not exist'" by Ai Weiwei:, www.theguardian.com. September 10, 2012.

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• I’m actually trying to make sense of the world. There’s nothing cynical or absurd in what I do.

  Yue Minjun

  Meaningful, Cynical, Chinese

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• So-called Chinese art and culture is under control of the Party. They exist to serve the official agenda. I call it fake art and culture.

  Ai Weiwei

  Art, Fake, Chinese

  "Freely Speaking". Interview with Paul D. Miller, realitysandwich.com. August 22, 2012.

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• Because Chinese art is booming, it legitimizes this profession.

  Ai Weiwei

  Art, Chinese, Profession

  Interview with Claudine Ko, www.mcsweeneys.net. March 7, 2013.

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• I don't like the idea of nationalism, but on the other hand, I do see that there is a difference between British art, German art and Chinese art. This is because of the history, because each country has different history and each country reads and teaches that history differently.

  Michael Craig-Martin

  Country, Art, Hands

  Source: www.artzip.org

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• Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.

  Ai Weiwei

  Meaningful, Country, Art

  "China's art world does not exist" by Ai Weiwei, www.theguardian.com. September 10, 2012.

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• I'm getting more and more into Chinese art and Japanese, some of those scroll paintings are amazing. You follow the change of the seasons. It's really something. These guys were great masters and of course the use of space.

  Robert Barry

  Art, Space, Guy

  Source: www.aaa.si.edu

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