My forms are geometric, but they don't interact in a geometric sense. They're just forms that exist everywhere, even if you don't see them.
Ellsworth KellyMy drawings have to be quick. If they don't happen in 20 minutes or a half hour, then they're no good.
Ellsworth KellyPhotography isolates the world via an aperture and gives the photographer the means to see differently, to achieve a spontaneous vision that is direct and uncompromising.
Ellsworth KellyThe form of my painting is the content. My work is made of single or multiple panels: rectangle, curved, or square. I am less interested in marks on the panels than the 'presence' of the panels themselves. In Red Yellow Blue III the square panels present color. It was made to exist forever in the present; it is an idea and can be repeated anytime in the future.
Ellsworth KellyMaking art has first of all to do with honesty. My first lesson was to see objectively, to erase all meaning of the thing seen. Then only could the real meaning of it be understood and felt.
Ellsworth KellyA lot of young painters love to incorporate celebrity. One idea of being a painter is to use what's happening at the time. Velรกzquez was painting of his time. And so was Rembrandt. And Francis Bacon was painting his time in London. He was a real mover, but he saw the insect in the rose. But yes, when I do a painting, I want to take the "I did this" out of it. That's why I started using chance, like the markings on the wood. I never wanted to compose.
Ellsworth Kelly