Artists From The United States

"Enjoying an extraordinary knowledge of languages (ancient and modern), literature, and art, by his cultured personality and reflective conversation he greatly influenced all who knew him. Though naturally a questioner he venerated the traditions of religious art, and preserved always his childlike Catholic Faith and reverence."

"One scarcely knows to whom to complain."

"Of course I believe in graphology, also palmistry, the I Ching, the tarot, astrology, and all those other delicious things you can find in places like thesaurusi (can that be the plural? No, it can't, it must be thesauri), which turn out to mean prognostication by means of snail tracks or something."

"Well, I'm neither one thing nor the other particularly. I suppose I'm gay. But I don't really identify with it much... I've never said I was gay, and I've never said I wasn't... What I'm trying to say is that I am a person before I am anything else."

"Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable."

"I used to maintain that if it couldn't be put into words it didn't exist; if anything I believe rather the opposite now."

"If you're doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there'd be no point. I'm trying to think if there's sunny nonsense. Sunny, funny nonsense for children—oh, how boring, boring, boring. As Schubert said, there is no happy music. And that's true, there really isn't. And there's probably no happy nonsense, either."

"I think style chooses you... if I could choose, I would write like Jane Austen and I would draw like Rembrandt."

"New England! ours Art thou, as England's thine: thy children own The common parentage. Nor they alone, But wheresoe'er is heard our English tongue — World-widely flung For coming hours. Be with us then, Thou greater England! second but in time: Our age shall welcome our young giant's prime, As in his sons a father takes delight, Proud of the height Of younger men."

"ONLY Ü CAN DECIDE WHAT CHANGES TO MAKE IN A POSITIVE WAY"

"DO A ZINE ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS"

"Be the glue that holds it all together, if you can be, and it's ok if you can't yet - it will be ok!"

"I think what matters the most - is what kind of person you are and were. The rest can get sorted later."

"Remember: Simple is sometimes best."

"Deaf art expresses the values of Deaf culture — the beauty of sign language and its painful oppression, the joys of Deaf bonding, communication breakdowns between signers and non-signers, the discovery of language and community, and the history of Deaf people."

"I no longer paint what people would like to see. I paint for myself. It is about my own experience, my love of ASL and pride in our Deaf heritage. I sometimes create works that have no particular relation to the Deaf."

"The Deaf theme in my work relates to my own experience as a deaf human being; my genre is De'VIA."

"Today, Wallace’s work feels like a whisper from a deeper source. It invites us to slow down, tune in, and consider the possibility that consciousness is not confined to the brain and that art can be a form of spiritual technology. For audiences drawn to esoterica, mysticism, and the aesthetics of the unseen, Wallace offers a rare synthesis: the rigor of a journalist, the imagination of a mystic, and the hand of a visionary. His drawings are portals to another world. And though the Ricco/Maresca exhibition has closed, Wallace’s psychic radio is still broadcasting. All you have to do is listen."

"I always seem to be in the process of learning about line and land forms. I learn from what I see and what I draw. What my hand-eye draws is different from what the computer draws. A computer helps by offering new visual ideas. These ideas in turn enrich new hand work which generates additional ideas which extends my thinking about computer generated lines. The learning circle closes on itself. The computer and Jeff force me to verbalization and conception of what the making of a graphic drawing really is about. And I in turn force Jeff to think about the programming of serious aesthetic drawing problems. Together we try to define what makes up a drawing we would like to see. Without conscious understanding of what a drawing is we could not use the computer as a drawing medium."

"A line carves out form on a white sheet of paper, a line carves out implied visual space. A line is an abstract element which I have seen and explored. A line is grass or the edge of a leaf, a shape, a symbol. The line does not exist, it can be drawn."

"A field has no center, and is not really flat, so I use no flat areas. The form of grass as grass, leaves as leaves, is what I’m exploring…Line as form. Grass as form. Grass is also random and random is a natural computer facility. Computer grass is natural grass."

"Jeff and I use the computer as a traditional drawing medium. The resulting drawings are to be seen, to hang on a wall, to communicate. They are not just examples of computer technology, not just geometry, not just mathematics. We ask this new medium questions and get new (and old) answers. But some of the answers were there from the beginning...landscape. That it is possible to use mathematical formalism and pure geometry while attempting a humanistic exploration to us is one of the primary advantages of the use of the computer as a drawing medium."

"I was always interested in Egyptian mummies […] but later on, during the Vietnam War, when I saw all these bodies in plastic bags […] then I thought of that whole thing too. […] The string does have to do with imprisonment. […] I am very concerned about the political prisoners all over the world, and of course it had to do with my own past experiences, where I was not tied up, but it does not mean literally, physically tied up. [Y]ou can be in prison without being in a locked room. You are imprisoned by your own fears, inhibitions, phobias."

"Now I am beginning to see what a line is about. To see that I can choose to draw little lines, a one big sweep of the arm line, a coiled or an uncoiled line, crossing lines, spiraled lines, decorative lines, random lines, and it's all the same line. Where and how these lines are placed and colored make the drawing what it is, that composition is perhaps the truly difficult element in the making of a drawing. Now I have really to think about what I am doing while drawing in order for Jeff to write a program to deal with what I can do as second nature. This thinking has made the making of the hand work much clearer. We consider each drawing element as an independent element. This is artificial. Yet, this artificiality is precisely one aspect of the use of a mathematical attitude—the separation and isolation of individual elements of a problem. Our computer graphic efforts have shown us just how complex even the most simple meaningful hand made drawing is. In addition to making drawings using the computer, we appear to be finding out just what the making of a drawing is about regardless of its medium."

"When we found that there was a device, a plotter which could draw lines, and a device, a computer, which could perform the calculations for driving the plotter resulting in lines which I only partly thought of beforehand, we found a very exciting but very difficult drawing medium. Using a computer-plotter extends my hand-eye-head. The computer draws, my eyes see, my hand draws, the computer is programmed by Jeff, the computer draws...in an endless productive cycle. Computer drawn lines enrich my hand lines which in turn enrich my computer drawn lines..."

"without conscious understanding of what a drawing is we could not use the computer as a drawing medium…We ask this new medium questions and get new (and old) answers. But some of the answers were there from the beginning."

"To me, the impact of the computer on the art of drawing will be profound. If I and Jeff and a computer can formulate visual ideas which communicate more clearly to ourselves and to others than just I alone can by hand, certainly the computer's effect on other artists will be even more profound. A new kind of renaissance is beginning. All those now working visually with the computer are Giottos announcing the coming of a new visual age. Just as the technical development of the camera changed people's visual experiences and changed art during the last hundred years, the computer will affect the visual dimensions of people's lives. The pre-camera, pre-computer Chinese artist took a life-time of understanding in order to make one meaningful ink filled brushstroke. It may take a life-time to develop a computer program to make one new communicating pen line which is meaningful for us."

"Everything I’ve done is a statement on the, as they say, ‘human condition."

"Jeff and I have been making two-dimensional art for a long time. I've been making paintings and drawings since childhood and was educated as an artist. Jeff has been thinking what mathematicians think and writing it down since childhood and was educated as a mathematician and as an artist. In the 1960's Jeff became involved with computers and their programming and with using the computer to help people solve their problems."

"When the University of Kansas was given a plotter in 1967, Jeff was asked to test it. We began to think of drawing lines with it in ways that we found visually interesting. Together, we had enough common background and experience to begin to use the computer graphically. Together we draw with the computer and sign the drawings ."

"The subject of all my work has been landscape. The elements of both the computer work and my hand work are often repetitive, like leaves, trees, grass and other natural landscape elements are. There is sameness and similarity, yet everything is changing. Landscape yields both texture and form. The pictorial form is usually all-over, with non-focus details which form patterns, since I feel these as essential properties of landscape. A field has no center, and is not really flat, so I use no flat areas. The form of grass as grass, leaves as leaves, is what I'm exploring."

"I like wrapped things like Egyptian mummies, American burial costumes, and other archaeological finds."

"“I always think that if I let go and go into the large outer space, I won’t find my way back. It’s just fear of the unknown…and I don’t know if I could come back…. I have fear of the unknown in general, whereas other people want to go out and explore the unknown."

"Process work doesn’t appeal to me. That’s why I like drypoint and not just an etching. I’ve done only twenty-five bitten etchings in my life because I don’t care for all that business that goes on that gets between you and the work. I love drypoint and I think that actually it gives you the same wonderful satisfaction that carving in stone must give to a person. You’re really making something with great effort. And I think that effort is very important in the production of any work of art. If it’s too easy, if you’re just gliding around on a wax surface and then biting it in acid, it doesn’t give you that sensation of making something … That wonderful feeling that you have for the material and the real strength that you have to employ to get the line the right depth and richness and to do the cross-hatching so that the metal doesn’t break down but still you get a rich black. It gives you, oh, a great sensation"

"Pin-head, parsimoniously covered with thin dark hair, on a short, dumpy body. Small features, prominent nose, chipmunk teeth and no chin, conveying the sharp, weak look of a little rodent. Absent-minded eyes with a half-glimmer of observation. Prim, critical mouth and faint coloring. Personality lifeless, retiring, snippy, quietly egotistical. Lacks vigor and sparkle."

"Weaving has been the thread that has held my life together for more than fifty years. One has to fill the minutes, hours, days and years that are given to you with something, and it seems that weaving chose me. In essence, I see my life as the latest iteration in the long line of weavers that stretch back beyond recorded history. I feel blessed to be in this lineage."

"I consider all work as studies, just one step on the path from here to there—and who knows where there is going to end up being. However, with time, the nature of weaving itself became more prominent in my work. So you find notations about how they are made, diagrams of weave drafts, and recordings of their materials. This also became helpful in my teaching. Instead of looking for written notes on the work, I could just refer to the work itself."

"Falling in the lake the first time wasn’t what I would call traumatic. It was while it was happening —don’t get me wrong, but after, it was more of an exciting mystery. It was kind of like recovering from an intense illness. Or losing your virginity and wondering what the hell happened? I did feel an immense sense of power after I shot it last winter. I was in total control of the situation this time, which was more fun."

"I start researching and make calls to people whom I think can help me. The first 10 calls are all usually the same: “You can’t do that, it's impossible.” But then I find someone who is one the same page as me and the fun starts. When we finally have a date, then I prepare physically and mentally. Trampoline training, tai chi practice, ice baths, ashram stays, etc. A lot of research goes into the projects—the goal is to make the final image."

"Adrian Piper is incredible. I also love the work of Ana Mendieta, Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, Nam June Paik, Pipilotti Rist, Patty Chang, Diane Arbus, Nikki S. Lee, Hito Steyerl, Tino Seghal, T.S. Elliot, Wallace Stevens, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Frank O’Hara. The list is endless and always changing."

"Moving to New York to get an MFA in poetry was a pretty affirming moment. I started to research poets who were performance artists and discovered people like Vito Acconci. From there, my poems walked off the page and into the streets in an action poem style. Photography has always been a big part of my life and when I started researching early performance work, I never understood why the “documentation” of the work was of such bad quality. I went back to school, to the International Center for Photography, to learn the skills necessary to capture aesthetically compelling work, to eliminate the hierarchy between the performance and video and photos. At that point, I hit my stride."

"The day I decided to commit to being an artist was one of the best days of my life. I knew what I loved to do and what I now had to do. Although it was a totally frightening career choice, it was also one of the most liberating."

"There are two phases of the exhibition—day and night. When you walk into the gallery during the day, in this reality, it is actually night. There are 75 night-blooming jasmine plants in boxes with shop lights above them suspended from the ceiling. Because the lights are off, the plants are tricked into thinking it is night and release their rich smell. The viewer walks through a maze of flowers and arrives at the video projected on a screen of myself walking and falling through a frozen lake in the center of the gallery. There is an audio score accompanying the video by experimental jazz composer Jason Ajemian. Every day at 5:30pm, the video turns off and the lights start to turn on in a synchronized choreography to a piece of music. The "day" then begins and the lights turn off again at 5:30am. It is a very sensorial experience with smell, video, light, color, and sound."

"It’s sort of like building a puzzle. I get an idea and then see how it best fits. If it is an idea for a performance, I start to think, Should it be live? Is it best for video? What time of day? What kind of camera? Where should it be shot? Then I think, How should it be installed? Single-channel or installation? If it is for a live audience, then everything changes; now you are thinking outside the frame and with a 360-degree view. Then the questions start again. All the projects start with an image. If the work is physically challenging, then I work backward to figure out how I can make it. How can I cover myself with bees while doing tai chi? How can I throw myself through sheets of glass? How can I fall through the middle of a frozen lake?"

"For this project, I am wearing a suit made of raw silk inspired by William Turner’s color palette in "The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons." I wanted the fabric to reflect the light like the golden flames in the painting."

"On the day of, usually, I am just focused on all that needs to get done to get the shot right. When I am performing, I switch into my body and try to be as in the moment as possible. When I fell through the lake, I opened my eyes and it was so incredibly peaceful. Frozen lake water is this deep emerald green, and all I saw was this thick liquid that was so quiet. I held myself under the ice for as long as I could to experience it."

"When I was 15, I fell in a frozen lake. I was walking on a lake outside of Boston and the ice started cracking. The next thing you know, I was fighting to get out. The lake was a water reservoir so it was illegal to walk on it. Afterward, I was scared to tell anyone about what happened for fear of getting into trouble. Even though I was freezing for days after, it was also kind of exciting."

"References to weaving abound in literature throughout human history. The process of weaving takes hundreds of individual threads, and combines them into a cohesive plane. It is the perfect metaphor for how we build our lives from multiple identities and interests into a singular personality. It is also a good metaphor for interconnectedness of any sort—family, community, governance. Weaving doesn’t always yield narratives, but in my work, the resulting combination of images and words reveal a propensity towards storytelling. Rooted in the physical making of the work, I honor the skill that has developed in my hands from years of weaving; and I listen for the insights that arise from my hands to my head, and vice versa."

"I’ve tried to live a holistic life, honoring my general curiosity, acknowledging the wonderful diversity of human societies while noting the similarities of our species. I didn’t intend to be a weaver; it began as a tenuous thread, but it became my lifeline. It didn’t lead to a concise understanding of the world or even of the nature of weaving itself, but unfolded into ever-evolving questions about the mechanism of the process, what it has been, can be, and what could I make of it."

"Although the assassination at Sarajevo was certainly the crucial precedent of the European war that its conspirators had sought, it was not the historical cause. ... The implication is that the war was, if not inevitable, at least impending, so that the assassination acted as a lever, prying the various powers into predictable paths."