I lost myself in all kinds of activities. . . leading what everybody else would consider an absolutely meaningless, destructive existence. But in retrospect, it’s like painting, too. You have to destroy a little bit in order to build a little bit.
Jay DeFeo, oral history interview with Paul Karlstrom for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, recorded June 3, 1975–January 23, 1976, audio file, excerpt available at aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-jay-defeo-13246.
