1. "S/he really thinks outside the box."
This is a silly phrase. By definition, all art should be outside the box. The box is reserved for boring ad agencies with no vision, who probably produce the majority of the thousands of images we see every day. In my mind, someone who says the above is really pointing out that they mostly live in the box.
2. "That person sure has a lot of time on their hands."
Why do people say this? An artist makes a living making art. By definition, they spend 40-60 hours a week on a project; many also employ assistants who also spend 40-60 hours a week on the project. They work hard; they get paid. Like all jobs, that's how it works. You work hard to earn your paycheck (while hopefully finding challenge and satisfaction in whatever your desired outcome is). No one looks at your work at the end of the day and says, "Gosh, you sure had a lot of time on your hands." I don't go to the supermarket, note all the bananas are parallel, and all the canned goods' labels are facing out and comment, "gosh, these supermarket employees sure have a lot of time on their hands." None of my students look at my slideshows and say, "gosh, you sure have a lot of time on your hands." But then again, many are too dense to know it might take me five hours to prepare their one hour lecture.
Here are some pieces I show that commonly receive that response:
Artist: Blü creates stop-motion animations using the real world and graffiti
Artist: Sandy Skoglund (click on pic for her site) creates elaborate installations
with sculptures and sets, then creates photographs of models interacting with that space.
Artist: Ai Weiwei with his installation of 100 million hand-made sunflower seeds
Artist: Joeseph Delappe walked 240 miles on a treadmill hooked to a video game
(with a character who looked like Gandhi) in homage to Gandhi's peace march to the Salt Satragraha
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