How to Chat About Art at a Cocktail Party - with Conviction

The New Year, especially New Year's Eve, brings many opportunities to have conversations with lots people you barely know. When exotic martinis in rainbow colors flow freely, opportunities abound to make a fool of yourself, or worse, blend into the background for your banal conversation. Success on the cocktail party circuit depends on the ability to keep the conversation lively and light. Fine art, for many, is an intimidating topic of conversation. But the cocktail party is not the place to display an encyclopedic knowledge of art history. With cocktail chatter, memorable sound bites rule.

The best source for pithy quotes about art is artists themselves.

The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it. Banksy

Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches. Andy Warhol

I think that the very earliest influence was a horror of having to work in a bank or an office, a desire for a free and creative life. Frank Auerbach

Believe it or not, I can actually draw. Jean Michel Basquiat

Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave. Constantin Brancusi

When quoting artists its best to have a general idea of the names and places that might come up in conversation. Again remember that in depth knowledge isn't necessary. A cursory familiarity is sufficient.

Conversation Starters - A Few Important Names and Art Movements to Know.

Christo and partner Jeanne-Claude create environmental installation art. The most recent, "The Gates" was unveiled in New York in 2005.

SAMO The signature Jean-Michel Basquiat used to sign graffiti art.

Abstract expressionism - Willem de Kooning, Hans Hofmann, Lee Krasner

Neo-figurative Art - Fernando Botero, Antonio Berni

Happenings and Performance Art - Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Red Grooms

Trouble Makers in Art - Robert Maplethorpe, Karen Findley, Andres Serrano

Neo-expressionist Art - Georg Baselitz, Julian Schnabel