“John,” Soft Pastel on Sandpaper, 22” x 28” (image), 1989.

* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.

The freedom he enjoyed came at a cost.  But those fears and irritations evaporated amid the support the artists gave one another immediately after the war.  A community developed that sustained them and gave them courage.  “You have to have confidence amounting to arrogance, because particularly at the beginning, you’re making something that nobody asked you to make,”  Elaine [de Kooning] said.  “And you have to have total confidence in yourself, and in the necessity of what you’re doing.”  That was much easier done in a group of like-minded individuals.

Mary Gabriel in Ninth Street Women

Comments are welcome!