I am pessimistic about a picture's power to be the emissary of just one thing. What I hope is that the picture says, "Here I am, this is what I am like," and the person seeing the picture says in return, 'You know a lot but you don't know half of what I know.'
Emmet GowinI feel that whatever picture an artist makes it is in part a picture of himself - a matter of identity.
Emmet GowinOf course, this is one of the really important things about art, that you can make more than you can understand at the moment the thing is being made. But the gap between what we recognize inside ourselves - our feelings- and our ability to trust ourselves and to trust exposing ourselves to those ideas, can be great.
Emmet GowinI need to say to you. There are things in your life that only you will see, stories that only you will hear. If you donโt tell them or write them down, if you donโt make the picture, these things will not be seen, these things will not be heard.
Emmet Gowin