‘Playboy’ made the good life a reality for me and made it the subject matter of my paintings – not affluence and luxury as such, but joie de vivre itself. – LeRoy Neiman
No, I never had any dreams. The process of art is a dream in itself. The artist just doesn’t… you work out something. It’s yours. You don’t have to go to sleep to do that. You do that on the canvas. – LeRoy Neiman
The most important thing is to just do it. If I work at a higher level I have responsibility to do better than what I’ve done before. Sometimes the best happens – beyond possibility. Just do it. Can’t worry about it. – LeRoy Neiman
I played an artist in a comedy called ‘Rooster.’ It was a zany film by Glen Larson, a friend who produced several successful television series including ‘Magnum PI.’ – LeRoy Neiman
The businessman says ‘If I don’t do it first, somebody else will.’ The artist says ‘If I don’t do it first, nobody else will.’ – LeRoy Neiman
I have always said to young artists that scholastic training and the studying of art history are crucial to fully developing as an artist. – LeRoy Neiman
It’s a nice feeling to go out in the world and look for excellence – the best in man. My subject is very valid. It’s about people, and about life. – LeRoy Neiman
I always stayed in tune with my own ambitions and attitudes and I’m still my intractable old self, for better or worse. – LeRoy Neiman
I had a go at changing history – maybe not all by myself – I fought at the battle of Normandy, I slogged through the Ardennes, and I celebrated the liberation of Paris on the streets with beautiful French girls throwing flowers at me. I said good-bye to my first true love and discovered what I really wanted to do with my life. – LeRoy Neiman
The big shock of my life was Abstract Expressionism – Pollock, de Kooning, those guys. It changed my work. I was an academically trained student, and suddenly you could pour paint, smear it on, broom it on! – LeRoy Neiman
When I paint, I seriously consider the public presence of a person – the surface facade. I am less concerned with how people look when they wake up or how they act at home. A person’s public presence reflects his own efforts at image development. – LeRoy Neiman
I guess I created LeRoy Neiman. Nobody else told me how to do it. Well, I’m a believer in the theory that the artist is as important as his work. – LeRoy Neiman
It’s not the act of arrogance to draw, it’s humbling – you must use your God-given talent. And of all the people I sketch, in most cases I feel I have to measure up to the subject. – LeRoy Neiman
My lovely wife Janet has been in a few paintings. She is basically a reserved woman who has never sought the limelight. She has always been there throughout my career and continues to be at my side. – LeRoy Neiman
I’ve met and sketched most of the great athletes from the past five decades and their movement, grace and energy have kept me captivated over the years. That’s what the ancient Greeks first saw and that’s what caught my interest. – LeRoy Neiman
I’ve got the public. I don’t care about the critics. I did at one time. I don’t any more. I did when I needed compliments. But if you get a lot of compliments, you don’t need a critic to tell you, ‘This should be done another way.’ – LeRoy Neiman
Eating is one of the great beauties in life. One of my favorite recreations… eating with friends, the service, the ambience. – LeRoy Neiman
Some people try to paint in my style. Some simply sell pirated copies of my work. Some claim to be my publisher or agent or even my exclusive representative, when they are not. – LeRoy Neiman
There’s no greatest moment in the arts. It’s a life, it’s a continuity thing. You can’t have a great moment because it’s spiritual. It’s a belief, it’s a calling. If you’re an artist, doing your own thing on your own, it’s while you’re doing it that counts. It’s a process. If you get too elated, you can get too depressed. – LeRoy Neiman
Every time I started painting it was like a new experience, but they all came out the same. – LeRoy Neiman
I don’t know if I’m an impressionist or an expressionist. You can call me an American first… I’ve been labeled doing neimanism, so that’s what it is, I guess. – LeRoy Neiman
