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RAPHAEL SOYER INTERVIEW: 9/3/69

RS: revealed in those paintings. And this is something that is very difficult to explain. I don't do it deliberately, but all my paintings have a certain character. I mean, it's possible to recognize a painting of mine, because there is a revealment of myself in those paintings. But I'm not doing it deliberately. And this part, this element is impossible to explain. --- it's automatic. It's like one walks, one talks, or like one gestures.

LEA: It's one of the ways in which you express yourself.

RS: Like you cannot ask -- I mean, suppose you would ask, let's say, El Greco, the very same question. It would be impossible for him to answer. He just did his work. But he did it in a very, very personal manner. You see. And it was a very, very automatic -- on his part, it was automatic - except that he was a great personality, and, therefore, it's different from the work of other people. I don't know if that makes sense.
 
SR: Well, perhaps, we could get a little closer to this by my asking you whether, for example, you are aware of anything in yourself that has particularly come out in your paintings. For example, are you aware of the impact of your dreams or your daydreams, or your inner thoughts, and how they might affect how you paint or what you choose to paint.

RS: I never think in these terms. I never have thought about my work in these terms. I just want to say that I'm not always satisfied with what -- with my self-revealment. You see, I would want to be something else, but it always comes out this way. In other words, it -- I would like to be more objective in my work, more aloof in my work. But my work