When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I've got to draw. And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.
Ellsworth KellyRead
Everything that I saw became something to be made, and it had to be exactly as it was, with nothing added. It was a new freedom: there was no longer the need to compose. The subject was there already made, and I could take from everything. It all belonged to me: a glass roof of a factory, with its broken and patched panels, lines on a road map, a corner of a Braque painting, paper fragments in the street. It was all the same: anything goes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the idea of finding inspiration and freedom in existing forms and objects, rather than creating something entirely new from scratch.
Ellsworth Kelly's quote emphasizes the notion of artistic freedom and the idea that inspiration can be derived from the mundane and commonplace. Instead of adhering to traditional composition methods, he suggests that everything around us can serve as a canvas or a source of creativity, encouraging artists to embrace their surroundings and see beauty in the overlooked. This perspective promotes the understanding that art does not always require invention but can be about interpretation and recontextualization.
Themes
ArtFreedomCreativityInspirationInterpretation
In practice
Example use cases
In an art workshop, while discussing abstraction, one might quote this to inspire students to see beauty in everyday objects.
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