Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kellywas an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing simplicity of form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. He lived and worked in Spencertown, New York...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
Date of Birth31 May 1923
CountryUnited States of America
nature
I'm constantly investigating nature - nature, meaning everything.
piece
When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I've got to draw. And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.
people
I've always wanted... I wanted to give people joy.
brooding geometric kept work
All my work comes from perceiving. I kept seeing things that were brooding in me. I'm not a geometric artist.
call close draws essence everybody leaves shape
Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'
felt painted
I always felt that a painted edge between two colors was a depiction somehow.
draw flashes note
My ideas I can find anywhere. And I draw because I have to note down my ideas or flashes - I call them flashes, because they come to me, like that. Not so much in the plant drawings. I have to see them.
hope maybe
I just feel like I can live on. I hope I can reach 100. I think today if you just keep doing, keep working, that - maybe that's possible.
eye gave since trained
I have trained my eye over and over ever since I was a kid. I was a bird watcher when I was a little boy. My grandmother gave me a bird book, and I got to like their colors.
time
I only like artists older than myself. Time is so important. It's always been the same way, I guess.
drawings drawn five swift ten
I like to be able to get swift curves in the plant drawings that are usually drawn in five to ten minutes.
bird color fascinated learned
I learned my color in Europe. I've always been a colorist, I think. I started when I was very young, being a bird-watcher, fascinated by the bird colors.
life love pleases
I'm not an Expressionist. I love to look at de Kooning, but I've got this kind of secret life, and that is something that pleases me. I have to try and make something out of it.
forms interested painting react space surface viewer work
I'm interested in the space between the viewer and the surface of the painting - the forms and the way they work in their surroundings. I'm interested in how they react to a room.