28+ Richard Diebenkorn Quotes On Art, Death And Paper

Richard Diebenkorn was an American painter known for his abstract expressionist and figurative paintings. He was a leading member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his abstract Ocean Park series, which he began in 1967 and continued until his death in 1993. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Richard Diebenkorn on art, death, love.

Top 10 Richard Diebenkorn Quotes

1. I don't go into the studio with the idea of 'saying' something. What I do is face the blank canvas and put a few arbitrary marks on it that start me on some sort of dialogue.
2. In a successful painting everything is integral - all the parts belong to the whole. If you remove an aspect or element you are removing its wholeness.
3. I would like the colors, their shapes and positions to be arrived at in response to and dictated by the condition of the total space at the time they are considered.
4. I keep plastering it until it comes around to what I want, in terms of all I know and think about painting now, as well as in terms of the initial observation.
5. Don't be a Pollyanna!
6. Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities but consider them absolutely expendable.
7. My father didn't think being an artist was a respectable or worthy goal for a man. He hoped I would see my way to more serious work and would find myself turning towards medicine, law, or business.
8. I have found in my still-life work that I seem to be able to tell what objects are important to me by what tends to stay in the painting as it develops.
9. And I can just see that sometimes the technique is blasting powder rather than steady struggle.
10. I trust the symbol that is arrived at in the making of the painting. Meaningful symbols aren't invented as such, they are made or discovered as symbol later.

Richard Diebenkorn Short Quotes

• I can never accomplish what I want - only what I would have wanted had I thought of it beforehand.
• Don't 'discover' a subject of any kind.
• Somehow don't be bored, but if you must, use it in action. Use its destructive potential.
• One wants to see the artifice of the thing as well as the subject.
• If you get an image try to destroy it.
• I want painting to be difficult to do.
• Mistakes can't be erased, but they move you from your present position.
• Do search, but in order to find other than what is searched for.

Richard Diebenkorn Famous Quotes And Sayings

Abstract means literally to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract for he must create his own work from his visual impressions. A realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts. — Richard Diebenkorn

When I am halfway there with a painting, it can occasionally be thrilling... But it happens very rarely; usually it's agony... I go to great pains to mask the agony. But the struggle is there. It's the invisible enemy. — Richard Diebenkorn

As a work progresses, its power to elicit and dictate response mounts. There seems to be an optimum moment when this power is at its greatest which just precedes the point where 'elicit' is no longer apt usage. 'Dictates' is the word for this condition and tyranny is the adversary. — Richard Diebenkorn

All paintings start out of a mood, out of a relationship with things or people, out of a complete visual impression. To call this expression abstract seems to me often to confuse the issue. Abstract means literally to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract . . . a realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts. — Richard Diebenkorn

Maybe the given person, cup, or landscape is lost before one gets to painting. A figure exerts a continuing and unspecified influence on a painting as the canvas develops. The represented forms are loaded with psychological feeling. It can't ever just be painting. — Richard Diebenkorn

I came to mistrust my desire to explode the picture and supercharge it in some way… what is more important is a feeling of strength in reserve – tension beneath calm. — Richard Diebenkorn

Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may then be a valuable delusion. — Richard Diebenkorn

My freedom consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings. — Richard Diebenkorn

My freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful, the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. — Richard Diebenkorn

All paintings start out of a mood, out of a relationship with things or people, out of a complete visual impression — Richard Diebenkorn

Life Lessons by Richard Diebenkorn

1. Richard Diebenkorn's work emphasizes the importance of experimentation and exploration in the creative process, showing how experimentation can lead to unexpected and beautiful results.
2. He also emphasizes the importance of balance and composition in art, showing how careful consideration of the elements of a painting can lead to a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing work.
3. His work also demonstrates the importance of taking risks and pushing boundaries in art, showing how bold and innovative approaches can lead to unique and captivating works.