LARRY RIVERS, U.S.A

From the earliest efforts I made to produce paintings and drawings, I have been attracted to copying or
using works of the past. A few years ago, I began a series of works finally named Art and the Artists in
which I painted portraits of some Modern Art Masters. I not only painted their face and parts of their
bodies but placed them in some work of theirs I chose that could easily be recognized as a Matisse or
Picasso or Ashile Gorky and many more - sometimes boldly up front, sometimes made to look as if they
were in the midst of painting the painting I chose of theirs to use. One day van Gogh and his art came up
for some kind of treatment. I don't remember exactly why I suddenly chose van Gogh. It doesn't matter.
I have always had mixed feelings about the works of van Gogh. This work of mine on van Gogh has not
done away with them. But I have lived a long time with mixed feelings about my own work.

Larry Rivers, September 22th, 1995