It takes time to see a painting. I like that an abstract, or non-representational work (they’re ALL ‘abstract,’ when you get down to it)… gives little or nothing back at a glance. You can’t walk by and say to yourself, ‘nice waterfall.’ It refuses to be reduced to one of the ready made identity tags people hold in store to stick on the art–an act of dismissal, really.
It takes time to actually SEE any work of art. And more than one viewing.
Painting for me, is a retreat from words. I can appreciate works that are are rich with literary allusions, or symbolic puzzles (Van Eyck;s Arnolfini Wedding — an endless maze of riddles!) — but they are for another time, another age.
Living, as I do, in this Empire of Money and Death–language is too deeply corrupted. Even much of the language of abstractions… but there, at least, I can offer my refusal to words. What that refusal means.. is for the viewer to figure out.
Jacob Russell's Magic Names 