In the name of what - except perhaps the coefficient of rarity - does man adorn himself with necklaces of shells and not spider's webs, with fox fur and not fox innards? In the name of what I don't know. Don't dirt, trash and filth, which are man's companions during his whole lifetime, deserve to be dearer to him and isn't it serving him well to remind him of their beauty?
Jean DubuffetPersonally, I believe very much in values of savagery; I mean: instinct, passion, mood, violence, madness.
Jean DubuffetThe real function of art is to change mental patterns ... making new thought possible.
Jean DubuffetThe things we truly love, the things forming the basis and roots of our being, are generally things we never look at. A huge piece of carpeting, empty and naked plains, silent and uninterrupted stretches with nothing to alter the homogeneity of their continuity. I love wide, homogenous worlds, unstaked, unlimited like the sea, like high snows, deserts, and steppes.
Jean DubuffetArt must make you laugh a little and make you a little afraid. Anything as long as it doesn't bore.
Jean DubuffetI had given up ( around 1950, fh) any ambition of making a career as an artistโฆ..I had lost all interest in the art shown in galleries and museums, and I no longer aspired to fit in that world. I loved the paintings done by children, and my only desire was to do the same for my own pleasure.
Jean Dubuffet