Every picture one paints involves not painting others. Robert Motherwell More Quotes by Robert Motherwell More Quotes From Robert Motherwell To pick up a cigarette wrapper or wine label or an old letter or the end of a carton is my way of dealing with those things that do not originate in me, in my I. Robert Motherwell labelswineletters In the brush doing what it is doing, it will stumble on what one could not do by oneself. Robert Motherwell brushesoneself A main part of the struggle of art has been to make an art that is direct, simple, humane, unconnected with powers that be in their essence... To the degree that it is connected with the bourgeoisie via the marketplace and so on is not necessarily an artist's problem. Robert Motherwell simplestruggleart By far the most common task for which the machines are used is writing - or word processing, as it's known to the same people who call journalism 'content. Robert Motherwell taskswritingpeople For a painter as abstract as myself, the collages offer a way of incorporating bits of the everyday world into pictures. Robert Motherwell everydaywayworld The public's appetite for famous people is a mouth as big as a mountain. Robert Motherwell mountainmouthspeople Abstract art is uniquely modern. It is a fundamentally romantic response to modern life - rebellious, individualistic, unconventional, sensitive, irritable. Robert Motherwell unconventionalmodern-lifeart The 'pure' red of which certain abstractionists speak does not exist. Any red is rooted in blood, glass, wine, hunters' caps and a thousand other concrete phenomena. Otherwise we would have no feeling toward red and its relations. Robert Motherwell glasseswineblood To end up with a canvas that is no less beautiful than the empty canvas is to begin with. Robert Motherwell canvasemptybeautiful An odd contradiction, if the layman were correct in his unconscious assumption that an artist begins with reality and ends with art: the converse is true - to the degree that this dichotomy has any truth - the artist begins with art, and through it arrives at reality. Robert Motherwell degreesrealityart In printmaking, I essentially use the same process as in painting with one important exception ... to try, with sensitivity to the medium to emphasize what printing can do best ... better than say, painting or collaging or watercolour or drawing or whatever ... Otherwise, the artist expresses the same vision in graphics that he does in his other work. Robert Motherwell drawingvisionartist Sometimes images may emerge from some chord in my subconscious, the way a dream might. Even in those paintings where an image unconsciously develops, a certain kind of experience is usually necessary in order to perceive it. Robert Motherwell perceptiondreamorder I never had the... common anxiety as to whether abstract painting had a given 'meaning. Robert Motherwell abstract-paintinganxietycommon It may be that the deep necessity of art is the examination of self-deception. Robert Motherwell necessitydeepexaminationmayart If you can't find your inspiration by walking around the block one time, go around two blocks-but never three. Robert Motherwell neveryouwalkingtime
