In the place where I was a child, there were no artists and there was no art, so I really didn’t know what that meant. I think I thought it meant that I would be in a situation different than the one that I was in.
About Jasper Johns
Jasper Johnsis an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art movements.
More quotes from Jasper Johns
I don’t know how to organise thoughts. I don’t know how to have thoughts.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
In the place where I was a child, there were no artists and there was no art, so I really didn’t know what that meant. I think I thought it meant that I would be in a situation different than the one that I was in.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
The thing is, if you believe in the unconscious – and I do – there’s room for all kinds of possibilities that I don’t know how you prove one way or another.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don’t think that’s a painter’s business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Sometimes I see it and then paint it. Other times I paint it and then see it. Both are impure situations, and I prefer neither.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Whatever I do seems artificial and false, to me.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
One works without thinking how to work.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Everyone is of course free to interpret the work in his own way. I think seeing a picture is one thing and interpreting it is another.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
One likes to think that one anticipates changes in the spaces we inhabit, and our ideas about space.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I often find that having an idea in my head prevents me from doing something else. Working is therefore a way of getting rid of an idea.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I never wish for critics.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Intention involves such a small fragment of our consciousness and of our mind and of our life.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Do something, do something to that, and then do something to that.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
When something is new to us, we treat it as an experience. We feel that our senses are awake and clear. We are alive.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
Most of the power of painting comes through the manipulation of space… but I don’t understand that.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I am just trying to find a way to make pictures.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I think a painting should include more experience than simply intended statement.
American painter and sculptor (1930)
I tend to like things that already exist.
American painter and sculptor (1930)