Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin
Agnes Bernice Martin, born in Canada, was an American abstract painter. Often referred to as a minimalist, Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion, inwardness and silence"...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth22 March 1912
CityMacklin, Canada
CountryCanada
thinking perfect mind
I often paint tranquility. If you stop thinking and rest, then a little happiness comes into your mind. At perfect rest you are comfortable.
self pitfalls devotion
The enormous pitfall is devotion to oneself instead of to life. All works that are self-devoted are absolutely ineffective.
thinking worst worst-things
The worst thing you can think about when you’re working is yourself,
giving-up mind progress
To progress in life you must give up the things you do not like. Give up doing the things that you do not like to do. You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind.
beach ocean looks
There's nobody living who couldn't stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall .... Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting. Nature is like parting a curtain, you go into it .... as you would cross an empty beach to look at the ocean.
artist feet mind
I want to emphasize the fact that we all have the same experience and the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly. Once he sees this fact his feet are on the path. If you want to know the truth you will know it. The manipulation of materials in an artwork is a result of this state of mind. The artist works by awareness of his own state of mind.
adventure house joy
The adventurous state of mind is a high house... The joy of adventure is unaccountable. This is the attractiveness of artwork. It is adventurous, strenuous and joyful.
art perfect sublime
Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern. They are immeasurable, completely lacking in substance. They are perfect and sublime. This is the subject matter of art.
art feelings emotion
Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
art night thinking
I once taught art to adults in a night course. I had a woman who painted her back yard, and she said it was the first time she had ever really looked at it. I think everyone sees beauty. Art is a way to respond
art inspiration surprise
That which takes us by surprise-moments of happiness-that is inspiration.
ideas careful
I'm very careful not to have ideas, because they're inaccurate.
disappointment discipline paint
It's through discipline and tremendous disappointment and failure that you arrive at what it is you must paint.
thinking tree mind
When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision.