“Faith, Hope and Impossibility” Philip Guston 1966

A cross-post from Fine Lines,

To will a new form is unacceptable, because will builds distortions. Desire, too, is incomplete and arbitrary. These strategies, however intimate they become, must especially be removed to clear the way for something else — a situation somewhat unclear, but which in retrospect becomes a precise act….

Interpenetrated, charcoal on paper, 32" x 40" ©Antonio Dias

…The closer I get… the more intensely subjective I become — but the more objective too. Your eye gets sharper; you become continuously more and more critical.

There is no measure I can hold on to except this… making.

Philip Guston, Faith, Hope and Impossibility XXXI Artnews Annual 1966

---

Originally published at Light on Canvas on May 25, 2011.