2/5/10

Kierkegaard meets ( not quite) Irwin but the two had a connection?


From Kierkegaard's Either/ Or, reprinted in Seeing is Forgetting...

...one tires of living in the country, and moves to the city; one tires of
one's native land, and travels abroad; one tires of Europe, and goes to
America, and so on; finally one indulges in the sentimental hope of
endless journeyings from star to star. Or the movement is different but
still extensive. One tires of porcelain dishes and eats on silver; one tires
of silver and turns to gold; one burns half of Rome to get an idea of the
burning of Troy. But this method defeats itself: it is plain endlessness...
The true rotation method resembles changing the crop and the mode of
cultivation ( rather than the field). Here we have the principle of limitation, the only saving principle inthe world. The more you limit yourself, the more fertile you become in invention. A prisoner in solitary confinement for life becomes very inventive, and a simple spider may furnish him with much entertainment.

2/1/10

Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees

yay, I ordered this online for $3.50 and it just arrived...
already I found good quotes by R.I. :

"Basically, I can have a terrific time doing nothing. I am quite at ease, and always on the plus side."

Regarding Guston's "really smart paintings"...

"...that God damn Guston...some people call it ' the inner life of the painting'...all that romantic stuff. A good painting has a gathering , interactive build-up . That's what a good Vermeer has, or a raku cup, or a Stonehenge. And when they've got it, they just jump off the goddamn wall at you. They just, bam!"