Barbara in her studio, Photo: Izzy Nova

*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.

An artist’s words are always to be taken cautiously… The artist who discusses the so-called meaning of his work is usually describing a literary side-issue.  The core of his original impulse is to be found, if at all, in the work itself.  Just the same, the artist must say what he feels…

I want to explain why I did the piece, I don’t see why artists should say anything because the work is supposed to speak for itself.  So whatever the artist says about it is like an apology, it is not necessary.

I never talk literally; you have to use analogy and interpretation and leaps of all kinds…

I am suspicious of words.  They do not interest me, they do not satisfy me.  I suffer from the ways in which words wear themselves out.  I distrust the Lacans and Bossuets because they gargle with their own words.  I am a very concrete woman.  The forms are everything…

With words you can say anything.  You can lie as long as the day, but you cannot lie in the recreation of experience…        

Louise Bourgeois:  Destruction of the Father, Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and interview 1923-1997, edited and with texts by Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist

Comments are welcome!