Alex Katz Quotes

#1. You usually want to get something out of a painting other than the ideas that you had in your head.

Alex Katz

#2. I like to make an image that is so simple you can't avoid it, and so complicated you can't figure it out.

Alex Katz

#3. If you're going to go for 'it' you have a common thing you share with other artists; that's desperation. You jump out a window style-wise. Try to put it together before you hit the ground.

Alex Katz

#4. Most important, for openers, work six hours a day, seven days a week for six years. Then if you like it you can get serious about it.

Alex Katz

#5. Paint faster than you can think.

Alex Katz

#6. Painting seems an old man's business. After a certain time you're out of it, and you just paint masterpieces.

Alex Katz

#7. Realist painting has to do with leaving out a lot of detail. I think my painting can be a little shocking in all that it leaves out. But what happens is that the mind fills in what's missing ... Painting is a way of making you see what I saw.

Alex Katz

#8. Part of what Im about is seeing how I can paint the same thing differently instead of different things the same way.

Alex Katz

#9. Make a painting you can work on for a long period, and make it look like it doesn't show any effort.

Alex Katz