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Quote by Amy Sillman

“A lot of what I do in my work is taking a thing and either washing it off, scraping it, covering it, scraping it and then washing it, turning it upside down. Making it somehow blind.”

Quote by Amy Sillman

Author

Amy Sillman is an American artist renowned for her unique painting style and abstract expressionist works. Born in the United States in 1955, she has been active in the art world since the 1980s. Sillman's works are characterized by geometric shapes and colors, blending elements of painting and sculpture to demonstrate her innovative spirit in art. more

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“Every painting I've ever done has like 100 paintings under it.”

Author:Amy Sillman

“At some point, I get a weird feeling, and that's when I know it's done. I probably ruin a lot of really perfectly fine things. So part of working on paper, and trying to work really fast, is to see if I can expand the area of not being driven by taste. Not saying, "This looks good, I'll stop."”

Trying Done Feelings Driven

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“I want to expand the question of when something is done. I want to vex the ending. I want to mess around with that. I like the idea that if you make a work that has no clear ending, then you must play with the ending. Because if you don't, you're not highlighting the weird, lovely openness of abstraction.”

Done Lovely Mess Openness

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“All accidents and experiments, and discoveries, are what my work is about. The problem that I have as an artist is being way too critical.”

Author:Amy Sillman

“I make paintings really slowly because I change them and change them and change them and change them and change them. I don't really know how to not do that. I'm not very free in a way. Even though it looks free. But it's not.”

Author:Amy Sillman

“It's more this instinct to get in trouble, and then get myself out of trouble. That's what painting is for me.”

Trouble Painting Instinct

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“He who prays five times a day is in the protection of God, and he who is protected by God cannot be harmed by anyone.”

Five Praying Protection Protected Caliphs

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“You can make a beautiful thing, but there's no problem in it. I like the idea of doing a thing, wrecking a thing, questioning a thing to the point where you have pushed it to the edge, and then recuperating it.”

Problem Beautiful Questioning Beautiful Things No Problem

Author:Amy Sillman

“The works have to look like they're confident. But they also have to look sort of troubled. It's this weird thing: "Does that look confident and troubled?" It's a bit like difficult poetry.”

Author:Amy Sillman

“In my work, we're not looking at an icon, we're not looking at a sign, we're not looking at a representation. We're looking at something. I do have this feeling of trust that people can read it for themselves.”

People Feelings Representation

Author:Amy Sillman