You’re in a cave, it’s pitch dark, you’re holding a silk thread, and you move one inch at a time forward, because the secret you want is deep inside …
I’m against a culture that tells us that work in which people express their misery is not art but must be therapy, simply because it comes from personal involvement.
Executive Director Ira Goldberg interviews Frank O’Cain, abstract painter.
I think it’s important to be able to paint exactly what you want. For me that meant not having to do illustrations or take portrait commissions for a living. I had to be independent.
“At this moment I find myself political just by painting. Every time I paint an abstract picture that relies on color I think it’s a political statement.” —Pat Lipsky
“In my view, one’s strengths are incredibly important. That’s where people should go, not to their weaknesses, not to the things they have the greatest difficulties with unless, for some reason, they must.”
I believe my contribution is in the realm of innovative design and idiosyncratic skill. I understand how to be effective in process; I understand the impression that is on its way and how to avert potential compromise.
An artist makes art, and he demands the credentials of art. He’s investigated art, and he knows what art is. It’s not anatomy; it’s not proportions; it’s not brilliant execution; it’s not photographic likeness; it’s not journalism; it’s not individual pain. It is opening up the elements that make those pieces of art perpetually fresh, timeless.
“I studied with Alex Katz, who I found totally intriguing as a person. I didn’t understand half of what he was saying, but I followed him around, because when he did say something, it was right on, and he had a great way of describing art history.”
“Everybody, every human being, every squirrel and every elephant needs to create. We’re not going to stop anybody from creating. One of the great things about the Art Students League is that people can come and create. Creating is healing. But not everybody is a great artist.” —Audrey Flack