Fairfield Porter Observation

Whenever I make a somewhat different painting someone is likely to ask, "Is that a new direction?" They want to know what you are planning next. But I think this question arises from the misconception that what is interesting in painting are the ideas it expresses. Painters are concerned with things. The most prominent things in the painter's experience are right in front of him, like the paint on the canvas. It is better if he does not achieve a plan, and that the painting eludes him, with a life of its own. The painting unfolds, gradually and with difficulty, and he doesn't quite know what it is even for quite a while after he stops painting it. Then it falls into place for him, or it doesn't, but for another person who looks at it it may have a peculiar character right away. So far as it has merit, a painting is a fact, arbitrary and individual.

--Fairfield Porter 1974