002 - agnes martin

I don’t mind going to concerts alone. Matter of fact, I enjoy it. You can move about as you wish, easier to slide through the crowd, easier to buy a single ticket at the door.

I was alone and at a show in London. Waiting for the band to take the stage, I saw a fellow solo-show-goer sipping on a beer against the front rail. I went to say hello and learned he often goes to shows after work to avoid riding the Tube during rush hour. My new friend’s name was Jake. He was 22, already wise in his decisions and he knew a lot about music.

Fast forward 18 months, I was back in LA after a relationship ended in South Africa. It was rough. I needed new music. Something to occupy my mind. I texted Jake and he replied saying Amen Dunes just released a new album called Freedom and I should give it a listen.

The album starts with a kid chanting:

This is your time.
Their time is done.
It’s over.
I’m sick and tired, hearing about…
Screw ‘em!
This is your time!

And then a woman’s voice breaks in:

“I don’t have any ideas myself. I have a vacant mind.”

I introduce to you: Agnes Martin

Rather than sentences with dates and events, separated by commas, I prefer to notate Agnes’s life in a timeline because it’s inspiring to see her movements and the ages she took them:

Year: Age - Event
1912: 00 - Born to Scottish farmers in Macklin, SK, Canada
1931: 19 - Came to the US to help her pregnant sister
1942: 30 - Received her Bachelor of Arts
1952: 40 - Received her Masters
1954: 42 - Painted this piece in Travis’s post
1957: 45 - Moved to New York City
1958: 46 - Had her first solo art show
1963: 51 - Painted one of her most well known pieces
1964: 52 - Stopped reading the news
1967: 55 - Left New York City
1973: 61 - Returned to art
1976: 64 - Made her first film Gabriel
1993: 81 - Settled into a retirement community
1998: 86 - Painted this piece in Eleanor’s post
2004: 92 - Passed Away. Her last creation.

Charles R. Rushton. *Portrait of Agnes Martin in New Mexico,* 1992.

Agnes Martin was known for her creative process of keeping a vacant mind. Alone in her studio, her canvases facing the wall, she would sit in her rocking chair until an idea came into her head. She called this idea her inspiration. She’d sit for weeks, months, even years.

A perfectionist, Agnes would repeat the same painting over and over until it was just right. Her dealer said she could paint a painting ten times and destroy nine of them. It took two decades for her to develop her signature style of grids, repetitive lines and passages of pale color.

Agnes was fearless. As her career began to take off, she left New York, bought a truck and a trailer and lived in parks across the country. After nearly two years on the road, she settled down in New Mexico and built her first adobe home by hand. No electricity or running water. One winter, Agnes survived on walnuts, cheese and tomatoes.

Agnes was patient and persistent. Although dissatisfied with the results, she continued to work while waiting for inspiration: “Everyday I painted, and I got closer and closer to abstract painting, but it took me 20 years.” And when the inspiration came, she didn’t take credit for it: “I think we don’t deserve any credit. The inspiration comes to you, tells you exactly what to do…”

Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes identified with her philosophy and chose to start his band’s album with her words because “she’s a guiding post.” Her words precisely articulated his feelings. His work doesn’t come from him. Her work doesn’t come from her. The inspiration travels to and through them.

Gianfranco Gorgon, *Agnes Martin at her house near Cuba, New Mexico*, 1974.

Agnes thought about nothing but painting. Even admitting to giving up ‘keeping house.’ The older she got, the more she liked to paint. “Born to do it. Do you think that you’re doing what you were born to do?” Agnes asked an interviewer. “That’s the way to be happy. Fulfill your potential,” she finished.

Think about your interests. About what you were born to do. Are you doing something you’ll enjoy more with time? Are you doing what you were born to do?

If you’re unsure, sit still and try to keep a vacant mind. Play an instrument or go to a show. Try one time on your own. As Agnes said: “The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone.” — Phillip Dillon

Here are a few other quotes of agnes’s that made me think or smile:

A story from Agnes’s art dealer, Arne Glimcher: “My granddaughter was about 11 eleven years old and she was in Agnes’s apartment and there was a rose in a vase and she was mesmerized by the rose and Agnes saw that, picked it up and said, “Is this rose beautiful, Isabel?” And Isabel said yes this rose is beautiful and then Martin put the rose behind her back and she said to Isabel, “Is the rose still beautiful?” And Isabel said yes the rose is still beautiful, and she said, “You see, the beauty is not in the rose. The beauty is in your mind.”

“The worst thing you can think about when you’re working at anything is yourself. Because when you do, you make mistakes.”

“Artists have too much faith in their ideas. Ideas are the enemy of art.”

Q: “Do you meditate?” A: “I used to meditate until I learned to stop thinking.”