Agnes Martin

"It was so flat, you know, you could see the curves of the earth. And when a train came into vision at nine oclock in the morning, it was still leaving at noon.. ..it took that long to get across the prairie."

"When I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence, and I still do, and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision."

"The adventurous state of / mind is a high house // To enjoy life the adventurous / state of mind must be / grasped and maintained // The essential feature of adventure is that it is a / going forward into / unknown territory // The joy of adventure is unaccountable // This is the attractiveness of / art work. It is adventurous, / strenuous and joyful."

"When I cover the square surface with rectangles, it lightens the weight of the square. Destroys its power."

"My work is anti-nature The four-story mountain You will not think form, space, line, contour Just a suggestion of nature gives weight light and heavy light like a feather you get light enough and you levitate"

"Nature is like parting a curtain, you go into it. I want to draw a certain response like this.. ..that quality of response from people when they leave themselves behind, often experienced in nature, an experience of simple joy.. .My paintings are about merging, about formlessness.. .A world without objects, without interruption."

"When I draw horizontals you see this big plane and you have certain feelings like youre expanding over the plane Anything can be painted without representation"

"..the function of art work is.. ..the renewal of memories of moments of perfection."

"Architect/arcetects/arcatects/arcetects/archetes"

"I used to look in my mind for the unwritten page if my mind was empty enough I could see it I didnt paint the plane I just drew this horizontal line Then I found out about all the other lines But I realized what I liked was the horizontal line Then I painted the two rectangles correct composition if theyre just right"

"Of course we know that an untroubled state of mind cannot last. So we say that inspiration comes and goes but really it is there all the time waiting for us to be untroubled again. We can therefore say that it is pervasive. Young children are more untroubled than adults and have many more inspirations."

"I am staying unsettled and trying not to talk for three years. I want to do it very much."