Able Quote by Jasper Johns

“I would like to have insights into things like government, all those big ideas that you brought up that I simply don't have ideas about. I would like to be able to since so many people discuss them, but I don't want to work at them. I don't think my ambition is that strong in that direction.”

Jasper Johns

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Able Ambition Big idea Big ideas Bigs Government Ideas Insight My ambition People Politics Strong Thinking Want Wisdom

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Early on I was very involved with the notion of the painting as an object and tended to attack that idea from different directions.

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Make something, a kind of object, which as it changes or falls apart (dies as it were) or increases in its parts (grows as…

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In my early work, I tried to hide my personality, my psychological state, my emotions. This was partly due to my feelings about myself…

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I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don't think that's a painter's business. He just paints paintings without…

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I have meant what I have done. Or I have often meant what I have done. Or I have sometimes meant what I have…

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Art as a fantasy has been one of my earliest experiences. I suppose a lot of my childhood was a fantasy that involved getting…

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I was raised in South Carolina; I wasn't aware of any art in South Carolina. There was a minor museum in Charleston, which had…

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Sometime during the mid-50s I said, 'I am an artist.' Before that, for many years, I had said, 'I'm going to be an artist.'…

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That's what painting does; it organizes vision in a certain way or suggests that certain things be paid attention to and certain other things…

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I assumed that everything would lead to complete failure, but I decided that didn't matter – that would be my life.

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I tend to like things that already exist.

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Bend color names which should be made of neon or copper tubing. Place an object on a surface - trace the object - then…

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Explore all 80 Jasper Johns quotes

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