"Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes"
About this Quote
"Creative flux" does heavy lifting. It suggests movement, instability, an organic churn that defies straight lines and neat plans. Then he pulls the slyest move: "the fourth dimension". Not a math flex, but a metaphysical dare. He's gesturing at time, depth, lived reality - the aspect you cannot capture by looking alone. To perceive design there requires more than vision; it requires embodiment. "With your blood and your bones" is Lawrence's anti-detachment credo, an insistence that real form emerges from instinct, eros, pain, physical knowing.
The subtext is polemical: art that comes purely from technique, theory, or "invention" is suspect - clever, perhaps, but thin. Lawrence is defending a kind of intelligence modern culture often sidelines: the gut-level recognition of relationships before the mind translates them into rules. In his world, design is less a blueprint than a pulse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lawrence, David Herbert. (2026, January 15). Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/design-in-art-is-a-recognition-of-the-relation-6488/
Chicago Style
Lawrence, David Herbert. "Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/design-in-art-is-a-recognition-of-the-relation-6488/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/design-in-art-is-a-recognition-of-the-relation-6488/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.






