David Smith - Identity Quotes

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Art has its tradition, but it is a visual heritage. The artist's language is the memory from sight. Art is made from dreams, and visions, and things not known, and least of all from things that can be said. It comes from the inside of who you are when you face yourself. It is an inner declaration of purpose, it is a factor which determines artist identity.

David Smith
I will not change an error if it feels right, for the error is more human than perfection. I do not seek answers. I haven't named this work nor thought where it would go. I haven't thought what it is for, except that it is made to be seen. I've made it because it comes closer to saying who I am than any other method I can use. This work is my identity.

David Smith
I maintain my identity by regular work, there is always labor when inspiration has fled, but inspiration returns quicker when identity and the work stream are maintained.

David Smith
.. sculpture as a process of recognition.... in the great quiet of stopped machines — the awe, the pull... Part is personal heritage... Since I've had identity, the desire to create excels over the desire to visit [the ancient sites and museums in Italy].

David Smith
There is no unity or organization or even aesthetic unity [in Abstract Expressionism / New York School (art)], but we do have a very strong bond in our defense, but we also are strongest in our own individual identity. Our effort, I think, is all shooting off in independent directions. And the artists themselves will not admit to the existence of the New York School. They won't admit to any classification, and most of those painters known as Abstract Expressionists are the first to say they are not.

David Smith