I hope I have made it clear that the work is about perfection as we are aware of it in our minds but that the paintings are very far from being perfect – completely removed in fact – even as we ourselves are.
AGNES MARTINInspiration is there all the time. For everyone whose mind is not clouded over with thoughts whether they realize it or not.
More Agnes Martin Quotes
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You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind.
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One must see the ideal in one’s own mind. It is like a memory – an awareness -of perfection.
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I want to emphasize the fact that we all have the same experience and the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly.
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The worst thing you can think about when you’re working is yourself.
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Pollock was terrific. I think he freed himself of all kinds of worry about this world. Ran around and dripped, and then he managed to express ecstasy.
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Any material may be used but the theme is the same and the response is the same for all artwork.
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I would like my work to be recognized as being in the classical tradition (Coptic, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese), as representing the Ideal in the mind. Classical art cannot possibly be eclectic.
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My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind.
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What I say is that we’re capable of a transcendent response, and I think it makes us happy. And I do think beauty produces a transcendent response.
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The manipulation of materials in an artwork is a result of this state of mind.
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When you look in your mind you find it covered with a lot of rubbishy thoughts.
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I once taught art to adults in a night course. I had a woman who painted her back yard, and she said it was the first time she had ever really looked at it. I think everyone sees beauty. Art is a way to respond
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Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern.
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I think it’s a response in our minds to perfection. It’s too bad, people not realizing that their minds expand beyond this world.
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I used to meditate until I learned to stop thinking.
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