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 MartinRead
The main thing in making art often is letting go of your expectation and your idea.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating art involves releasing preconceived notions and expectations.
Agnes Martin emphasizes the importance of freedom in the artistic process. Letting go of specific expectations allows artists to explore their creativity more fully and enables art to emerge in its most genuine form. This approach fosters authenticity and innovation in the creation of art.
Themes
ArtCreativityExpectationFreedomExpression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during an art class to inspire students to explore their creativity without fear.
More from Agnes Martin
All quotes βThe value of art is in the observer.
Agnes MartinRead
My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind.
Agnes MartinRead
Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
Agnes MartinRead
What we really want to do is serve happiness. We want everyone to be happy, never unhappy even for a moment. We want the animals to be happy. The happiness of every living thing is what we want.
Agnes MartinRead
Any material may be used but the theme is the same and the response is the same for all artwork... we all have the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly
Agnes MartinRead
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Painting is marvelous; it makes you happier and more patient. Afterwards you do not have black fingers as with writing, but blue and red ones.
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The regrets in the theatre have always been the shows that you know ought to have worked but for one reason or another haven't.
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Music, feelings of happiness, mythology, faces worn by time, certain twilights and certain places, want to tell us something, or they told us something that we should not have missed, or they are about to tell us something; this imminence of a revelation that is not produced is, perhaps, the esthetic event.
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In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut up.
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There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
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It is not just shameful for a contemporary American poet to use rhymes, it is unthinkable. It seems banal to him; he fears banality worse than anything, and therefore, he uses free verse - though free verse is no guarantee against banality.
Joseph BrodskyRead