Whatever an artist's personal feelings are, as soon as an artist fills a certain area on the canvas or circumscribes it, he becomes historical. He acts from or upon other artists.
Source: A Desperate View, paper, delivered to friends, 18 Feb. 1949; published in William de Kooning, by Thomas B. Hess, 1968.
-- Willem de Kooning, (Apr 24 1904-1997), Dutch-US painter; He was one of the leading exponents of Abstract Expressionism, particularly the form known as Action painting.