Farber on Farber: in his more than 50 years as a film critic and painter, Manny Farber has brought an essentially autobiographical sensibility to bear on a wide range of visual idioms, from process-driven abstractions to rebuslike figurative studies. Here, he tells the story straight
Art in America, Oct, 2004 by Leah Ollman

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The objects in the paintings of the '80s and '90s came out of the garden. Patricia grew them and she would bring them in, and we would communicate very loosely and easily. Almost all of the objects are either grown by her, or they're from Chino's [a nearby vegetable farm], or they're picked up on our walks, or, like the rebar, they're references to my work in construction. When I think I've finished a painting, then she looks at it, and she decides whether to put something else in or not. Batiquitos (1995) came a lot from our walls along the lagoon, when we had a dog. I would pick up the leaves that looked good to me, that I wanted to paint. At the end of that painting, she thought it needed a spray of leaves going up one side, the right side of the picture. It took me a long time to paint it, and it works. It's what you see almost immediately, like a time-step. You're looking at the painting, and suddenly you see this addition of a branch of leaves. It's the same as all those objects: they march in time, from points, from one object to another, and in the time you get a lot of aging.

LO: You co-authored a number of written pieces with Patricia, which are attributed to both of you. It sounds like you co authored a lot of paintings as well. Have you thought about co-attribution?

MF: I've thought about it, but one, I'm too selfish, and two, it got out of hand. I don't hide the fact, but people, especially in this period, make so much of identification. I don't know. I can't answer that.

The first shows I had in New York were with Ivan Karp, and he came over and looked at the work. He decided he wanted to give us a studio show--wanted to give me the show. It never occurred to him that Patricia and I were cohabiting as painters. And it never occurred to us. I mean, it's something you do. You set your sights on a career, and you move into galleries and so forth. It's bard to make your way. I don't have any discomfort with this. It's a fact of life, it sort of amuses me. It throws a different aspect into the game.

LO: When you wrote criticism together, you and Patricia complemented each other in terms of temperament. Is that true in the paintings as well?

MF: Yeah, it's very true. And we both like the same kind of paintings. We're very involved in going back in time, to the masters, and figuring out which ones are the right ones for us.

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