“I shall never forget what I saw at the Museum of Modern Art: in a spotless schoolroom, fifty little girls painting away at tables covered with brushes, pots, tubes, bowls, staring into space and sticking out their tongues like the clever animals that ring a bell, tongues lolling and eyes vague. Teachers supervise these young creators of abstract art and slap their wrists if what they paint represents something and dangerously inclines toward realism. The mothers - still at the Picasso stage - are not admitted.” IfsLittlesArtStillsEyeYoungMotherGirlSpaceForgetAnimalSawsTeacherModernStagePaintingTablesPaintCreatorTongueRingsCleverStaringAbstractFiftyNever ForgetCoveredMuseumsPotBellsRealismBowlsVagueBrushesModernismSlapTubesWristsModern ArtInclineAbstract ArtSticking OutStaring Into Space Author:Jean Cocteau
“All that stuff about flatness - it's this idea that painting is a specialized discipline and that modernist painting increasingly refers to painting and is refining the laws of painting. But who cares about painting? What we care about is that the planet is heating up, species are disappearing, there's war, and there are beautiful girls here in Brooklyn on the avenue and there's food and flowers.” IdeasWarCareBeautifulLawGirlStuffPaintingPlanetsFlowerDisciplineSpeciesDisappearWho CaresAvenuesBrooklynBeautiful GirlRefiningHeatingFlatnessHeating Up Author:Chris Martin
“Girls seemed to like artists! I felt very drawn to the idea of power, really, and doing painting as a power trip, in a sense. This idea of power has always driven me.” IdeasArtistGirlFeltPaintingDrivenPower Trip Author:Malcolm Morley
“That's partly the success of my work-the ability to have a young black girl walk into the Brooklyn Museum and see paintings she recognizes not because of their art or historical influence but because of their inflection, in terms of colors, their specificity and presence.” ArtYoungGirlBlackTermAbilityWalksInfluenceColorPaintingHistoricalMuseumsBrooklynBlack GirlSpecificity Author:Kehinde Wiley
“I've always found paintings of nudes depressing because they can't compete with photographs. The grainiest photograph of some girl, a blurry Polaroid - you'd rather look at that than the Venus de Milo, because you think, Wow, that's really somebody... This camera really was in front of this real naked lady.” ThinkingLooksRealGirlFoundFrontsPaintingCamerasPhotographNakedWowDepressingVenusBlurryPolaroidsVenus De Milo Author:John Currin
“Someone wrote to me asking me to illustrate a missed connection that "hasn't happened yet." This guy has seen the same girl waiting at a bus stop on his morning commute for weeks, and has been trying to find a way to approach her. He thought it would be fun to put up a Missed Connections poster [of my painting] on the corner where she waits and see what happens. It is kind of an intriguing idea but there's something a bit too manipulative about it for my liking. It's a fine line between being creative and stalking!” WayTryingKindHas BeensIdeasHappensWould BeGuyGirlFunBitsWaitingLinesMorningCreativeHappenedWeekPaintingFineApproachConnectionsAskingCornersBusBe CreativeThis GuyIntriguingPostersStalkingFine LinesManipulativeBus StopsMissed Connections Author:Sophie Blackall