Julian Schnabel Thinking Quotations

Nobody is perfect. I don't think it's the most scathing indictment of anybody. It's pretty innocuous. [Miral] is just the story of one family and one girl, living in that part of the world, and that's what goes on over there. I thought that maybe it would be informative and useful for people to know more about it.

Many people say to me, "I saw [Miral] and it really stayed with me. I woke up the next day and really thought about it, and have been thinking about it for awhile." That was my goal.

When I made my first film, Basquiat, I think one of the criticisms was that the way I work is episodic. Later, as people started to look at the movies, they started to realize that maybe that's my style. If I could do it better or another way, I guess I would.

I think it was so unfair that people attacked Freida Pinto for being an Indian, playing a Palestinian.

Sometimes I'll dream that I saw a show and then I'll wake up in the morning and realize that I didn't see the show, that it was my dream. And I just remember what the paintings look like in the dream and I think, "Oh, nobody painted those. I can do that."

I'm not mannerist. I don't think I'm interested in mannerism. If I ever use it in a way, or if manner is like some kind of product of certain sorts of usage of different kinds of materials, then it's about involution or turning in on that.

I think not knowing what to think of your paintings is a good place to be.

I think people have problems sometimes when things are too general. In fact, they are not really general at all.

I think it's your own ghost, seeing the work and just thinking if it will be okay to leave that around.

I don't think my paintings are self-conscious but you feel the consciousness of them. Without them being self-conscious.

The thing about living in New York is that there are other artists; that is the most difficult, I think they are the hardest critics.

I think basically I'm a painter, but I would use anything to make my point.

Some people might think that the paintings are involved with a mythic - not just subject matter - but a certain sort of physical space that the paintings occupy...like personages.

I think, basically, I'm an abstract artist. I just think that that's not even an issue. I think everything's abstract.

I think style is a fringe benefit that looks like you made it.

I don't think people are terribly interested in young artists who were doing interesting thing, but I don't think people are terribly interested in young artists.

I think that truth is stranger than fiction, and it's nice to know the people you're making a movie about.

It doesn't matter what I think I am, it matters what I do.

I don't think the meaning in my paintings comes from just using broken dishes.

A lot of what I do is about being in the moment and I think that's hard for people to get. I like it when things suddenly affect the painting. I mix up this red and it affects the whole painting or this little bit of white falls down there, and something changes the whole nature of the thing. The residue on what happens, that's what's in the paintings.

I think beauty is a feeling that you get after you've had an experience. It's the way you feel about it that is beautiful.

I think it's good when people don't write good things about your work. I mean, what a great compliment it is to be called a charlatan.