My work has to do with a defense against fervor. People are always in a rush. To do what? To do nothing! There is a kind of fervor that is completely meaningless. This drawing is a call for meditation.... I am an insomniac, so for me the state of being asleep is paradise. It is a paradise I can never reach. But I still try to conquer the insomnia, and to a large extent I have done it; it is conquerable. My drawings are a kind of rocking or stroking and an attempt at finding peace. Peaceful rhythm. Like rocking a baby to sleep.
Louise BourgeoisSurrealism is anathema for me. Because the surrealists made a joke of everything. And I consider life a tragedy.
Louise BourgeoisLook at it this way - a totem pole is just a decorated tree. My work is a confessional.
Louise BourgeoisEverything I do is inspired by my early lifeโ, Bourgeoisโ looked up to her mother who was the most important person in her life for many reasons, โMamanโ symbolizes her mother; โThe friend, because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider.
Louise Bourgeois