Quote of the day (um, “quotation”)

(First, a word from our avocados: let me make clear that by giving this post the title “Quote of the day,” my client does not mean to imply that he will post intelligent quotations on a daily basis. Nor does he accept any responsibility to do so.)

“There is at the centre of painting an apparent paradox: painting is an art which takes surfaces for its immediate subject and uses surfaces for its medium. But the only art worth the fleas on a streetwalker’s crotch is art which deals with essences. How this paradox is to be explained is the central question of all aesthetic theory in regard to painting; and how it is to be solved in practice is the central problem for all painters.”

From Century, by Ray Smith.