---
title: "1 Think Painting Quotes By Nigel Cooke"
description: "1 Think Painting quotes by Nigel Cooke. Plus more from Nigel Cooke and more Think Painting sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/072/nigel-cooke-39620_absence_there-are-absences-but-there-are-also-pr_2392446.jpg"
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> [There are absences, but there are also presences. It's about how painting can evolve its own abstractions. I didn't know the painting was going to be about that, but it has to have that journey; I have to learn something,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/there-are-absences-but-there-are-also-presences-it-s-about-how/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/072/nigel-cooke-39620_absence_there-are-absences-but-there-are-also-pr_2392446.jpg)

## More by Nigel Cooke

> [I'm a quiet person, I'm not a flashy art world person. I'm in the studio in the middle of nowhere. There's sheep and fields.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/i-m-a-quiet-person-i-m-not-a-flashy-art-world-person-i-m-in-the/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [The paintings are kind of set in the past, present, and future all at once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/the-paintings-are-kind-of-set-in-the-past-present-and-future-all-at/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [Using painting as a metaphor for consciousness is what I'm interested in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/using-painting-as-a-metaphor-for-consciousness-is-what-i-m-interested/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [The paintings don't exist outside themselves. There's no lead photograph off the internet or anything like that. It all comes from my mind and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/the-paintings-don-t-exist-outside-themselves-there-s-no-lead/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [The moment is never perfect. It's like that right now - in my head I'm being super lucid, but you never are. You're always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/the-moment-is-never-perfect-it-s-like-that-right-now-in-my-head-i-m/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [There are certain times when a painting accelerates beyond you, and you have to try and understand and catch up with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/there-are-certain-times-when-a-painting-accelerates-beyond-you-and/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [Small thoughts grow into a picture. It may suggest an individual or it may suggest a place, but generally the painting's job is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/small-thoughts-grow-into-a-picture-it-may-suggest-an-individual-or-it/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [There are things that inform the works, but that doesn't go anywhere near what you're actually looking at.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/there-are-things-that-inform-the-works-but-that-doesn-t-go-anywhere/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [I felt like I had reached the end of a period of life, where the work was jumping about and pushing something new every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/i-felt-like-i-had-reached-the-end-of-a-period-of-life-where-the-work/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [What really surprised me was how strange my paintings are anyway. To me, it's like, "Let's paint some portraits and some objects. Don't make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/what-really-surprised-me-was-how-strange-my-paintings-are-anyway-to/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

> [There are absences, but there are also presences. It's about how painting can evolve its own abstractions. I didn't know the painting was going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-cooke/there-are-absences-but-there-are-also-presences-it-s-about-how/)

[Nigel Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-cooke/)

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