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Pearls from artists* # 723

With “Wise One,” Soft Pastel on Sandpaper, 70” x 50” framed
With “Wise One,” Soft Pastel on Sandpaper, 70” x 50” framed

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

Francis Bacon Interview with David Sylvester

DS: You really are not working with any thought of an audience?

FB: I’m working for myself; what else have I got to work for? How can I work for an audience? What do you imagine that an audience would want? I have got nobody to excite except myself, so I am always surprised if anybody else likes my work sometimes. I suppose I’m very lucky, of course, to be able to earn my living by something that really absorbs me to try and do, if that’s what you call luck.

Stuart Horodner in The Art Life: On Creativity and Career

Comments are welcome!

Pearls from artists* # 136

 

Barbara's studio

Barbara’s studio

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

Francis Bacon interview with David Sylvester

DS:  What do you think are the essential things that go to make an artist, especially now?

FB:  Well, I think there are lots of things.  I think that one of the things is that, if you are going to decide to be a painter, you have got to decide that you are not going to be afraid to make a fool of yourself.  I think another thing is to be able to find subjects which really absorb you to try and do.  I feel without a subject you automatically go back into decoration because you haven’t got the subject which is always eating into you to bring it back – and the greatest art always returns you to the vulnerability of the human situation.

The Art Life:  On Creativity and Career by Stuart Horodner

Comments are welcome!