Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin in the early 60's, photo by Peter Moore

"To feel confident and successful is not natural for the artist.
To feel insufficient, to experience disappointment and defeat in waiting for inspiration is the natural state of mind for an artist.
As a result, praise to most artists is a little embarrassing.
They cannot take credit for inspiration, for we can see perfectly, but we cannot do perfectly.


Many artists live socially without disturbance to mind, but others must live the inner experience of mind,
a solitary way of living."

Agnes Martin

10 comments:

Caterina Giglio said...

what a thoughtful quote. so true and your piece below is wonderful!

Mary Keasler said...

Oh My! So true and so well said. Thanks for sharing.

Sweetpea said...

Thank you for sharing that amazing quote and the link to her amazing work!

Judy, me thinks she might be your relation? Some facial similarities there...

A mermaid in the attic said...

"we see perfectly, but cannot do perfectly"...so very true, and so very frustrating, to see it in your head as it's meant to be, and to know that you can never bring it through perfectly into the real world.

Anonymous said...

Coo, I've not heard that before, but identified with it straight away. Thank you for posting about it.

Heather said...

I love Agnes Martin, I always see stitching in her work. Such a strong artist.

Phyllis said...

I so agree with these thoughts. How difficult to live in the world when one finds such peace and identity in the solitary pursuits of our own ideas and sometimes jagged but returning thoughts. For an artist there is no true peace in the world of commerce or society.

ParisMaddy said...

Beautifully said. I definitely crave my quiet moments. It's in the silence that I do my best talking. What about you?

twhIch aye said...

wow miss martin's words... they express that which makes us feel so alone, yet something most of us must feel. they will help me to remember it is part of the :process:

thank you for relaying these thoughts judy and thank you for visiting my blog :)

alsokaizen said...

This resonates deeply with me. Thank you for posting it and leading me to something new and wonderful.