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Philip Guston

Philip Guston Books

Painter

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“There are so many things in the world - in the cities - so much to see. Does art need to represent this variety and contribute to its proliferation? Can art be that free? The difficulties begin when you understand what it is that the soul will not permit the hand to make.”

WorldNeedsDoeArtSoulHandsCitiesArt IsDifficultyVarietyPermitProliferation
Book:Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations
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“Then you learn about composition, you learn about old masters, you form certain ideas about structure. But the inhuman activity of trying to make some kind of jump or leap, where , the painting is always saying, 'What do you want from me? I can only be a painting.' You have to go from part to part, but you shouldn't see yourself go from part to part, that's the whole point.”

WantTryingKindI CanIdeasWholeFormCertainEducationPaintingMastersActivityStructureLeapCompositionInhuman
Author:Philip Guston
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“Where do you put a form? It will move all around, bellow out and shrink, and sometimes it winds up where it was in the first place. But at the end it feels different, and it had to make the voyage. I am a moralist and cannot accept what has not been paid for, or a form that has not been lived through.”

FeelsFirstsDifferentEndsSometimesMovingFormAcceptingWindPaidShrinksVoyagesMoralist
Book:Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations
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“Usually I draw in relation to my painting, what I am working on at the time. On a lucky day a surprising balance of forms and spaces will appear... making itself, the image taking hold. This in turn moves me toward painting - anxious to get to the same place, with the actuality of paint and light.”

LightMovingFormTurnsSpacePaintingBalanceLuckyDrawsRelationPaintAnxiousSurprisingActualityMethodologyLucky Day
Book:The drawings of Philip Guston
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“I have a studio in the country - in the woods - but my paintings look more real to me than what is outdoors. You walk outside; the rocks are inert; even the clouds are inert. It makes me feel a little better. But I do have a faith that it is possible to make a living thing, not a diagram of what I have been thinking: to posit with paint something living, something that changes each day.”

ThinkingFeelsLooksLittlesHas BeensRealCountryNatureWalksRocksPaintingPaintCloudsStudiosWoodsEach DayLiving ThingsDiagrams
Book:Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations
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“No good to paint in the head - what happens is what happens when you put the paint down - you can only hope that you are alert - ready - to see. What joy it is for paint to become a thing - a being. Believe in this miracle - it is your only hope. To will this transformation is not possible. Only a slow maturation can prepare the hand and eye to become quicker than ever. Ideas about art don't matter. They collapse anyway in front of the painting.”

BelieveArtIdeasMatterHandsHappensEyeJoyFrontsPaintingReadyMiracleTransformationPaintCollapse
Author:Philip Guston
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“Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see. 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.”

KnowsMightDesireArtistMemoriesPiecesMagicPaintingIllusionPaintSensations
Book:Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations
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