I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.
Interpretation
Painting fragments can convey meaning more effectively than the complete picture.
Georgia O'Keeffe suggests that by focusing on the fragments of objects, rather than representing the entirety, she can communicate her artistic vision more powerfully. This approach allows the viewer to engage with the essence of her subject, encouraging a deeper interpretation and appreciation of the details that might be overlooked in a complete depiction.
In practice
An artist discussing their approach to minimalism in a gallery talk.
I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
You are one of my nicest thoughts.
It was in the 1920s, when nobody had time to reflect, that I saw a still-life painting with a flower that was perfectly exquisite, but so small you really could not appreciate it.
Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression.
Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something.
Photography is the easiest thing in the world if one is willing to accept pictures that are flaccid, limp, bland, banal, indiscriminately informative, and pointless. But if one insists in a photograph that is both complex and vigorous it is almost impossible
I feel a lot of pressure when I'm writing because I know, you know, if they looked at a synopsis of the book, what they read could only confirm all the stereotypes that they have about us and about people like us.
What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound than a portrait.
Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.
I am careful about fiction. A novel is not a tract or an essay. If I want to write about land reforms, or Hindu-Muslim relations, or position of women, I can do it as it affects my characters as in 'A Suitable Boy.' I could only write about issues specifically through essays. But I'll do that only if I have something worthwhile to say.
A musician is a professional, whether he or she is successful or not. The profession itself must be regarded as a stable job.
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