Best of 2016

The Last Word

As 2016 draws to a close, we’ve selected a few of the most memorable quotes that ran in Surface this year.

“I have three friends: confusion, contradiction, and awkwardness.”

—John Brockman in “Agent Provocateur

“I’m not the only one living in cuckoo land.”

—Simon Doonan in “Simon Doonan’s Mad World Memories

“More people need to know that they’re not fucking cool.”

—Kanye West in “Free Form: Kanye West

“The arc goes Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Lil Wayne.”

—Tom Sachs in “Art and Soul

“The art of doing nothing and at the same time doing a lot—we’ve lost some of that.”

—Inés Miró-Sans in “Sketches of Spain

“Art schools … Jesus. I hate them with a passion.”

–Mark Flood in “When Hell Floods Over

“A listicle is plodding, whether it pretends to levity or portentousness.”

—Kim Velsey in “Why I Make Lists and Reject Listicles

“The dinosaur bone joint was a birthday present to myself.”

—Monique Péan in “The Natural Order of Monique Péan’s Studio

“My architecture hides secrets.”

—Odile Decq in “Odile Decq Breaks the Rules in Life and Work

“The job of a man is an old job. The personality closer to the nature of our time is the female one.”

—Gaetano Pesce in “Gaetano Pesce Embraces Clutter

“The women’s perspective is missing in tech product decisions.”

—Kinjil Mathur quoted in “Foursquare’s CMO Shows Us Her Favorite Spots in Dallas

“If we don’t have any controversy, I’m not doing my job.”

—Alice Gray Stites in “21c Hotels Brings Contemporary Art to the Heartland

“In the land of lies, the biggest liar sometimes wins.”

—Jayson Blair in “Where the Facts Lie

“The truth is a contentious space.”

—Hank Willis Thomas in “Studio Visit: Hank Willis Thomas

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