[b]John Cage
As far as consistency of thought goes, I prefer inconsistency.[/b]
Just short of, say, a contradiction in terms.
There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.
Well, since the big bang anyway.
When you start working, everybody is in your studio- the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas- all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone. Then, if you are lucky, even you leave.”
Just what we need, another metaphsyical pragmatist.
Artists talk a lot about freedom. So, recalling the expression “free as a bird,” Morton Feldman went to a park one day and spent some time watching our feathered friends. When he came back, he said, You know? They’re not free: they’re fighting over bits of food.
Besides, it’s all in the genes anyway.
The emotions - love, mirth, the heroic, wonder, tranquility, fear, anger, sorrow, disgust - are in the audience.
Whether you put them there or not.
Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we’re living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and desires out of its way and lets it act of it’s own accord.
Tried that once myself. And I still don’t understand it.