Daily Inspiration Quote by George Segal

Segal’s line is a quiet rebuke disguised as an invitation: art doesn’t have to behave like contraband. The “museums guarding their precious property” are cast as gatekeepers first and caretakers second, fencing objects off the way cities fence off wealth. His wording is pointedly physical - “guarding,” “fence,” “walk in and around” - turning the museum into a security apparatus and the viewer into a potential trespasser. It’s a critique of how institutions choreograph our bodies: stand here, don’t touch, look from a polite distance, move along.

The counter-move happens “in my own studio,” a phrase that signals both autonomy and ethics. Segal positions the studio as a democratic zone, where sculpture isn’t a relic elevated beyond reach but a space you can inhabit. “So you and I could” collapses the usual hierarchy between artist and audience; he’s not delivering meaning from on high, he’s constructing conditions for shared presence. That’s the subtext: participation is not a gimmick, it’s a politics of access.

The line also hints at the era’s larger tension between public culture and private ownership. Museums often claim stewardship on behalf of everyone, yet the experience they sell is distance, not intimacy. Segal’s insistence on “among these sculptures” pushes against that antiseptic reverence. He wants the work to be encountered the way life is: up close, in the same air, with your body implicated. The intent isn’t to make art easier; it’s to make it less obedient.