At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act-rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze or express an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.

As with other modern artists, his readings provided not an organized outlook but a kind of metaphysical hum that surrounded his mental operations.

Abandoned by philosophy, politics, and sociology, historical determinism continues to hold out in formalist art criticism.

The aim of every authentic artist is not to conform to the history of art but to release himself from it, in order to replace it with his own history. However …