“I write about my own work because I want to speak for myself. I might not be the only authority, nor the best authority, but I want to participate in the writing of my own history. Why should artists be validated by outside authorities. I don’t like being paternalised and colonised by every Tom, Dick or Harry that comes along (male or female).”
Marlene Dumas Miss January 1997 oil on canvas 110 ¼ x 39 3⁄8 in. Price realised USD 13,635,000
“Abstract means literally to draw from or separate. In this sense every artist is abstract for he must create his own work from his visual impressions. A realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts.” — Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) Ocean Park No.121 1980 oil on canvas 78¼ x 78 3/8 in. Price realised USD 7,698,500
“Real art doesn’t have a message, doesn’t necessarily say anything. It is an arrangement of shapes, a pattern of words. If you want an antidote to this idea of art, watch Bob Dylan manically arranging and rearranging words on a shop sign he and the band spotted one day. That is art.”
