I don't paint to live, I live to paint.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the deep passion an artist has for their craft, indicating that their existence revolves around creating art.
Willem De Kooning's statement illustrates the profound connection between an artist and their work. It suggests that for true artists, the act of creating is not merely a means of survival but a vital aspect of their identity and essence. This compulsion to create speaks to the dedication and devotion that artists have towards their art, highlighting how it infuses their lives with purpose and meaning.
In practice
An artist might use this quote during an art exhibition to convey their dedication to their craft.
I paint the way I do because I can keep on putting more and more things in - like drama, pain, anger, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas of space. It doesn't matter if it differs from mine, as long as it comes from the painting, which has its own integrity and intensity.
The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.
Spiritually I am wherever my spirit allows me to be, and that is not necessarily in the future... Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure.
Im not someone whos ever said anything definitive about his work. In my life also I have very little fixed form. I can change overnight.
Art should not have to be a certain way.
My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.
Drawing includes three and a half quarters of the content of painting... Drawing contains everything, except the hue
Writing! The activity for which the only adequate bribe is the possibility of suicide, one day.
I wasn't a fashion editor. I was the one and only fashion editor.
Horror, of all the genres, is the only one that can provoke an involuntary visceral reaction.
I would passionately make the case that the harder the times, the more we need things that aren't just about keeping our job and making a buck - important though those things are. Arts programming isn't some sort of add-on or ornamental luxury.
Fantasy is totally wide open; all you really have to do is follow the rules you've set. But if you're writing about science, you have to first learn what you're writing about.
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