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Philip Guston Quotes

Painter

Philip Guston was an influential American painter known for his unique style and contributions to modern art. His works combined elements of Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism, showcasing profound emotions and complex themes.

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All Painting Paint Canvas Art Artist Feels Form Ifs Thinking Seems Certain Desire Hands Happens Knows Moving Painter States Studios Disappear

Famous Philip Guston Quotes

“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.”

Feels Firsts Different Ends Sometimes Moving Form Accepting Wind Paid Shrinks Voyages Moralist

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

Source: Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations

“There comes a point when the paint doesn't feel like paint. I don't know why. Some mysterious thing happens. I think you have all experienced it... What counts is that the paint should really disappear, otherwise it's craft.”

Thinking Knows Feels Should Happens Paint Disappear Things Happen Mysterious Crafts Mysterious Things

Author:Philip Guston

“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.”

Thinking Feels Looks Littles Has Beens Real Country Nature Walks Rocks Painting Paint Clouds Studios Woods Each Day Living Things Diagrams

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

Source: Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations

“I feel more as if I'm shaping something with my hands. I feel as if I've always wanted to get to that state. Like a blind man in a dark room had some clay, what would he make? I end up with 2 or 3 forms on a canvas, but it gets very physical for me.”

Ifs Men Feels Ends States Hands Wanted Form Dark Rooms Blind Canvas Clay Blind Man Dark Room

Author:Philip Guston

“But you begin to feel as you go on working that unless painting proves its right to exist by being critical and self-judging, it has no reason to exist at all - or is not even possible. The canvas is a court where the artist is prosecutor, defendant, jury and judge. Art without a trial disappears at a glance.”

Feels Art Self Reason Artist Painting Judging Goes On Prove Court Critical Disappear Trials No Reason Canvas Glances Jury Prove It Prosecutor

Author:Philip Guston

“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.”

Feels Long Moments Fall Air Position Painting Paint Destined Arbitrary

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

Source: Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations

About the Author

Born: June 27, 1913
Died: June 7, 1980
Known for: Painter
Quotes: 48

Books & Sources

Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and ConversationsRelated source material

Philip Guston, 1975-1980: Private and Public BattlesRelated source material

The drawings of Philip GustonRelated source material

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