Frustration is one of the great things in art. Satisfaction is nothing. — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Painting seems like impossibility, with only a sign now and then of its own light. — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Painting seems like some kind of peculiar miracle that I need to have again and again. — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
If the artist starts evaluating himself, it’s an enormous block, isn’t it? — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see. — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
I should like to paint like an man who has never seen a painting, but this man -myself - lives in a… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
That's what I mean by something grips in a canvas. The moment that happens you are then sucked into the whole thing.… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
I'm not interested in painting; I'm not interested in making a picture. Then what the hell am I interested in? I must… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
The canvas is a court where the artist is prosecutor, defendant, jury and judge. Art without a trial disappears at a glance. — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Usually I am on a work for a long stretch, until a moment arrives when the air of the arbitrary vanishes, and… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
To paint is always to start at the beginning again, yet being unable to avoid the familiar arguments about what you see… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Probably the most potent desire for a painter, an image-maker, is to see it. To see what the mind can think and… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
It is possible to make a living thing, not a diagram of what I have been thinking: to posit with paint something… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
There comes a point when the paint doesn't feel like paint. I don't know why. Some mysterious thing happens. I think you… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
When I see people making 'abstract' painting, I think it's just a dialogue and a dialogue isn't enough. That is to say,… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see. I don't know what a… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
I don't know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint? It might be things, thoughts,… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Painting and sculpture are very archaic forms. It's the only thing left in our industrial society where an individual alone can make… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
All these troubles revolve around the irritable mutual dependence of life and art - with their need and contempt for one another.… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Lots of artists who paint have the experience to one degree or another... where their thinking doesn't precede their doing... It's a… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
I do not see why the loss of faith in the known image and symbol in our time should be celebrated as… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
No good to paint in the head - what happens is what happens when you put the paint down - you can… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
In my experience a painting is not made with colors and paint at all. I don't know what a painting is; who… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
The painting is not on a surface, but on a plane which is imagined. It moves in a mind. It is not… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
There are so many things in the world - in the cities - so much to see. Does art need to represent… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
I have a studio in the country - in the woods - but my paintings look more real to me than what… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Usually I draw in relation to my painting, what I am working on at the time. On a lucky day a surprising… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
The things I felt... about certain painters of the past that... inspired me, like Cezanne and Manet... that complete losing of oneself… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Sometimes I scrape off a lot. You have on the floor, like cow dung in the field, this big glob of paint...… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
It is the bareness of drawing that I like. The act of drawing is what locates, suggests, discovers. At times it seems… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Then you learn about composition, you learn about old masters, you form certain ideas about structure. But the inhuman activity of trying… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Many works of the past complete what they announce they are going to do, to our increasing boredom. Certain others plague me… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
But you begin to feel as you go on working that unless painting proves its right to exist by being critical and… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
Studio Ghosts: When you're in the studio painting, there are a lot of people in there with you - your teachers, friends,… — Philip Guston Copy Share Image
That's what I mean by something grips in a canvas. The moment that happens you are then sucked into the whole thing. Like some… — Philip Guston Copy Share
Then you learn about composition, you learn about old masters, you form certain ideas about structure. But the inhuman activity of trying to make… — Philip Guston Copy Share
I go to the studio everyday because one day I may go and the Angel will be there. What if I don't go and… — Philip Guston Copy Share
Sometimes I scrape off a lot. You have on the floor, like cow dung in the field, this big glob of paint... and it's… — Philip Guston Copy Share
Painting seems like impossibility, with only a sign now and then of its own light. — Philip Guston Copy Share
Many works of the past complete what they announce they are going to do, to our increasing boredom. Certain others plague me because I… — Philip Guston Copy Share
Probably the most potent desire for a painter, an image-maker, is to see it. To see what the mind can think and imagine, to… — Philip Guston Copy Share
No good to paint in the head - what happens is what happens when you put the paint down - you can only hope… — Philip Guston Copy Share
The canvas you are working on modifies the previous ones in an unending, baffling chain which never seems to finish. What sympathy is demanded… — Philip Guston Copy Share
I do not see why the loss of faith in the known image and symbol in our time should be celebrated as a freedom.… — Philip Guston Copy Share
The things I felt... about certain painters of the past that... inspired me, like Cezanne and Manet... that complete losing of oneself in the… — Philip Guston Copy Share
I am a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. — Philip Guston Copy Share
Usually I am on a work for a long stretch, until a moment arrives when the air of the arbitrary vanishes, and the paint… — Philip Guston Copy Share
All these troubles revolve around the irritable mutual dependence of life and art - with their need and contempt for one another. Of necessity,… — Philip Guston Copy Share
