If you're going to be a visual artist, then there has to…
“If you're going to be a visual artist, then there has to be something in the work that accounts for the possibility of the invisible, the opposite of the visual experience. That's why it's not like a table or a car or something. I think that that might even be hard for people because most of our visual experiences are of tables. It has no business being anything else but a table. But a painting or a sculpture really exists somewhere between itself, what it is, and what it is not-you know, the very thing. And how the artist engineers or manages that is the question.”
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Artists must embed the unseen within visible works, balancing what is and what is not.
In simple terms: Art blends visible and invisible aspects.
Balance visible and invisible in art.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- painting
- sculpture
- installation
- conceptual design
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you convey the unseen?
- What does “the opposite of visual” mean?
The invisible may be too abstract for some audiences.