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.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the complex relationship between spirituality and art, suggesting that art does not always provide the peace or clarity one seeks.
Willem De Kooning's quote reflects on the fluidity of spiritual existence and the inherent struggles within the artistic process. He acknowledges that while his spirit can transcend temporal boundaries, the act of creating art may not lead to the tranquility or purity often anticipated. This hints at the dissonance artists experience, where the pursuit of art can be fraught with internal conflict rather than the serene resolution they might hope for.
In practice
In an art class discussing the emotional struggles behind creative expression.
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.
I don't paint to live, I live to paint.
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.
The role of a museum of modern art is to make a good selection and identify what we believe to be the coming movements, and that requires taste.
Art is the gift of God, and must be used unto His glory. That in art is highest which aims at this.
A challenging economy is always good for design. It unites necessity and functionality. You are forced to be creative with poor materials.
I believe that the best cameraman is one who recognizes the source, the story, as the basis of his work.
It's ironic that while I was a worker in Detroit, which I left when I was twenty six, my sense was that the thing that's going to stop me from being a poet is the fact that I'm doing this crummy work.
Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.
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