The worst thing you can think about when you’re working is yourself.
AGNES MARTINThe artist works by awareness of his own state of mind.
More Agnes Martin Quotes
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I want to say that they are not what they seem to be. I want to say that all that seems like fantastic mistakes are not mistake.
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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 often paint tranquility. If you stop thinking and rest, then a little happiness comes into your mind. At perfect rest you are comfortable.
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Nature is like parting a curtain, you go into it …. as you would cross an empty beach to look at the ocean.
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When you look in your mind you find it covered with a lot of rubbishy thoughts.
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There’s not any hint of nature. And still everybody responds, I think.
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You can’t make a perfect painting. We can see perfection in our minds. But we can’t make a perfect painting.
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Anything can be painted without representation.
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The enormous pitfall is devotion to oneself instead of to life. All works that are self-devoted are absolutely ineffective.
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When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision.
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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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All that seems like error is not error; and it all has to be done. That which seems like a false step is the next step.
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There’s nobody living who couldn’t stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall …. Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting.
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Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
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They are immeasurable, completely lacking in substance. They are perfect and sublime. This is the subject matter of art.
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