Bram van Velde Quotes
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I am well aware that a painting must inevitably be a bizarre, incomprehensible thing.
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It is true that other people can help you, and to lasting effect.. .If I hadn't had Beckett in 1940, I'm not sure I could have stood it. I am really not sure.. .At that time he he was driven by an extremely aggressive and fiery Irish spirit. That has lessened as time has gone on.. .I don't know anywhere in modern art any more faithful or more impressive picture of contemporary humanity than the one he offers us in 'The Unamable'.
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I am in the void. Nothing to hang on to.
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They make you and you have no say in it. It’s w:Godot all the time. A chain around your neck and the whip cracking behind you.
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The most incredible thing is that so much happens outside of the will. You can't will anything. Not even solitude is an act of will. You simply endure it. You must hold on until the very end, without weakening. You can do nothing else. But you must not believe that because you accept being nothing, you are anyone special.
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I think there is a degree of primitivism in what I do.. .You have to see without illusions. Without trying to protect yourself.
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What makes a painting fascinating is its sincerity. Sincerity is such a rare thing. Most people don't dare to be sincere.
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When you cross any border there is always an uneasy moment when you feel yourself automatically an enemy. Artists don’t belong to any group or country... When you are living the truth, the world no longer exists, events become unimportant. But the way of truth is not easy.. ..if you are on the side of truth, you have no power. That’s why you are always defeated. The power, all the power, is on the side of the world.. .I have been completely absorbed in my adventure. No country, no family, no ties. I didn’t exist anymore. I just had to press on.
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Painting lives only through the slide towards the unknown in oneself.
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I don’t set out to speak a comprehensible language. But my language is authentic.
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Each of my paintings is a cycle. It’s like existence, life. They are always in motion.. .If they were fixed and static, they would be false.
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Painting, an oeuvre, is not such a big deal, it is so unimportant. But that’s precisely what makes it interesting.
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I have to try to see where seeing is no longer possible, where visibility is gone.
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Each time it’s an attempt to get there. To get to see. To get where you can see.
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There's a perpetual duel going on between the world of the spirit and the world of things. Although the one only has meaning in relation to the other.
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A painting is not a battle against other people, but against oneself.
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Because it's an adventure out of all proportion. You have to devote all your strength to it and it's never enough.
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The beauty other people create is not for the artists. Artists have to live alone.
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Van Gogh.. Fascinating. The fragility of that strong spirit.
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Yes, perhaps there is some enjoyment in it his paintings too, somewhere.
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I feel myself tied to life. To the immensity and complexity of life. Each painting is an impulse towards life.
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Life is wrecked by living.
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Artists don’t live in the everyday world. That’s why people think they’re an odd bunch.
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The most difficult thing is when you can’t do anything. When you just have to wait.