Painting seems like some kind of peculiar miracle that I need to have again and again.
About Philip Guston
Philip Gustonwas a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. “Guston worked in a number of artistic modes, from Renaissance-inspired figuration to formally accomplished abstraction,” and is now regarded as one of the “most important, powerful, and influential American painters of the last 100 years.” He frequently depicted racism, antisemitism, fascism and American identity, as well as, especially in his later most cartoonish and mocking work, the banality of evil.
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More quotes from Philip Guston
The painting is not on a surface, but on a plane which is imagined. It moves in a mind. It is not there physically at all. It is an illusion, a piece of magic, so that what you see is not what you see.
American artist (1913-1980)
Look at any inspired painting. It’s like a gong sounding; it puts you in a state of reverberation.
American artist (1913-1980)
Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see.
American artist (1913-1980)
Painting seems like some kind of peculiar miracle that I need to have again and again.
American artist (1913-1980)
I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over.
American artist (1913-1980)
I don’t know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint? It might be things, thoughts, a memory, sensations, which have nothing to do directly with painting itself. They can come from anything and anywhere.
American artist (1913-1980)
Painting and sculpture are very archaic forms. It’s the only thing left in our industrial society where an individual alone can make something with not just his own hands, but brains, imagination, heart maybe.
American artist (1913-1980)
In my experience a painting is not made with colors and paint at all. I don’t know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint?
American artist (1913-1980)
To paint is a possessing rather than a picturing.
American artist (1913-1980)
Usually I am on a work for a long stretch, until a moment arrives when the air of the arbitrary vanishes, and the paint falls into positions that feel destined.
American artist (1913-1980)