Quotes by Christian Marclay

About Christian Marclay:

Christian Ernest Marclay is a visual artist and composer. He holds both American and Swiss nationality.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Art is all in the details.

Christian Marclay

I admire the abstract expressionists and pop artists so right now I'm referencing American '60s art and at the same time referencing Japanese manga culture.

Christian Marclay

With improvisation, I just do it. It might be a total failure but then you just throw the dice again.

Christian Marclay

'Record Without A Cover' was about allowing the medium to come through, making a record that was not a document of a performance but a record that could change with time, and would be different from one copy to the next.

Christian Marclay

When you take something apart, you get a great sense of what it took to originally put it together.

Christian Marclay

It's the way life is, I suppose. Whatever happens, you deal with it.

Christian Marclay

Since I was a child I have always been cutting things out and gluing them together rather than drawing them.

Christian Marclay

Every person's remembering will be different. That engagement is important, I think.

Christian Marclay

As an artist, you're always somewhat obscure. We're not talking Hollywood.

Christian Marclay

Unlike sitting at a computer screen, printing is very direct and hands-on.

Christian Marclay

I have never been much of a painter.

Christian Marclay

I've never been a big cinephile, which may be why I could treat 'The Clock' like a puzzle and force the pieces to fit together in odd ways.

Christian Marclay

You start with an idea but then so many things can happen.

Christian Marclay

The process of editing is what I enjoy most - putting the pieces together and making sense out of them.

Christian Marclay

You can get so many sounds out of one record. Every record can be used in some way.

Christian Marclay

If you make something good and interesting and not ridiculing someone or being offensive, the creators of the original material will like it.

Christian Marclay

It's good to get away from the editing suite. It's very unhealthy to be sitting in front of the screen for too long.

Christian Marclay

People who care about records are always giving me a hard time. I mean, I would destroy records in performances, and break them, and whatever I could do to them to create a sound that was something else than just the sound that was in the groove.

Christian Marclay

These things I sample, or clip, are things that we share - music, films, sounds. It triggers a layer of participation from the audience as they recognize the material and remember it.

Christian Marclay

If the music in a groove fits with what you're playing, then play it; if not, then you can play it backwards. If that doesn't work, you try it at a different speed. If it really doesn't work you just break it. The whole ritual to put a record on a tu...

Christian Marclay

Author Bio

  • NameChristian Marclay
  • DescriptionAmerican-Swiss artist
  • BornJanuary 10, 1955
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionComposer