l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the idea that photography captures reality while painting allows for personal interpretation beyond what is seen.
Man Ray's quote highlights the distinction between photography and painting as art forms. He suggests that photography is a medium to document what is real and tangible but can also confine the artist to mere representation, while painting provides the freedom to express the intangible emotions and ideas that may not be captured through a camera lens. This underscores the unique qualities and creative capacities inherent in both art forms.
In practice
In an art class discussing the differences between photography and painting.
I like contradictions. We have never attained the infinite variety and contradictions that exist in nature. Tomorrow I shall contradict myself. That is the one way I have of asserting my liberty, the real liberty one does not find as a member of society.
I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.
I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.
Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.
Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.
I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book. Hopefully, once a story is begun it reveals itself
A human being creates complexity by writing a novel on the surface of paper; a weather system creates complexity by writing waves on the surface of an ocean. What is the difference between the information carried in the words of a novel and the information carried on the waves of the sea? Listen, and the waves will speak, and someday, I tell you, you will write your thoughts on the surface of the sea.
I create enclosed spaces mainly by means of thick concrete walls. The primary reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself within society. When the external factors of a city's environment require the wall to be without openings, the interior must be especially full and satisfying.
The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music.
Hope I die before I turn into Pete Townshend. It would look ridiculous to do what we're doing now when I'm 40. That's why I want to destroy my career before it's too late.
It is in order to really see, to see ever deeper, ever more intensely, hence to be fully aware and alive, that I draw what the Chinese call 'The Ten Thousand Things' around me. Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world. I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.
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