on naming oneself as an artist

"As a child, I'd even put the date and my name on my drawings, whereas when I thought of becoming an artist as an adult, at first I wouldn't put my name on them because I dared not think I was really an artist. I was afraid to call myself an artist until August 15, 1960. Thats when, as an adult, I first put the date and my name on a drawing. It was like jumping off a building"


William Anastasi, American artist, in conversation with Rachel Nackman.

March 2012, New York.