Carolina QuotesI want color and form to have contradictorily functions.
Josef Albers Connected to the Carolinas
Source
Quote from: 'Albers Paints a Picture' Elaine de Kooning, Art News 49, November 1950, p. 57; as quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, W.C, Seitz, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1983, p. 67
- year
- 1950
- locator
- p. 57
Cite this record
“I want color and form to have contradictorily functions.” Josef Albers. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-89E5500B16. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/89e5500b16
More from Josef Albers
In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually.
If one says 'Red' and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.
When we are honest – that's my saying – if we are honest then we will reveal ourselves. But we do not have to make an effort to be individualistic, different from others. You see that is the nonsense of the last 15, 20 years [Albers refers here critically to American Abstract Expressionism ]. What is wrong there is that everyone wants to be different from the already different ones. And then they ended up all alike. And we are tired of that. And the youngsters feel that now. And they don't continue, you see. They see this will not last. These exaggerated performers always speak in the highest dramatic voice. And in order to achieve it get always drunk before you come to action. Sick. It's over. So I'm quite critical against many of my colleagues. It is not their self-expression. What makes me to be more than my neighbor only when I think I have to say something more than he can. That is self-disclosure. I once gave a talk in Chicago and right in the beginning I said – a lady came to me and said, 'You are against self-expression. And I am mad against you now.' 'And I'll stand upside down to demonstrate that, I said, 'Stop the sentence. You are self-disclosing; you are not self-expressing.'