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Nature's Silence
This entry is in response to Cory’s comment and to similar questions I have been asked in the past.
Cory wrote: “To me, what is important in art is reaching deep into the silence of nature's ‘building.’ I do not find theoretical understanding of art helpful in this pursuit, and I really just want to know if you do.”
I think I understand the spirit of the question but I disagree with its underlying premise. The question, consciously or unconsciously, frames an opposition between “the silence” and reason, an opposition that, in most cases, comes from prejudices about the nature and use of reason as well as “the silence.” I don’t think we are able to reach into “the silence of nature's building” but it might be possible to sense aspects of what I think Cory means by “the silence.”
However, I haven’t met too many people who have a direct channel to this silence, or perhaps it is more accurate to say I haven’t met many people whose claim to direct channels seem credible. Any help in clarifying one’s work— theoretical or not—is good and necessary because, for the most part, we are lost. Each of us has ways and methods we prefer—as it should be. Of course, there is a time for everything; a time for theory and a time for doing; a time for looking and a time for not looking.
Cory wrote: “To me, what is important in art is reaching deep into the silence of nature's ‘building.’ I do not find theoretical understanding of art helpful in this pursuit, and I really just want to know if you do.”
I think I understand the spirit of the question but I disagree with its underlying premise. The question, consciously or unconsciously, frames an opposition between “the silence” and reason, an opposition that, in most cases, comes from prejudices about the nature and use of reason as well as “the silence.” I don’t think we are able to reach into “the silence of nature's building” but it might be possible to sense aspects of what I think Cory means by “the silence.”
However, I haven’t met too many people who have a direct channel to this silence, or perhaps it is more accurate to say I haven’t met many people whose claim to direct channels seem credible. Any help in clarifying one’s work— theoretical or not—is good and necessary because, for the most part, we are lost. Each of us has ways and methods we prefer—as it should be. Of course, there is a time for everything; a time for theory and a time for doing; a time for looking and a time for not looking.
Labels: Ramblings
posted by EMC at
4:55 PM
7 Comments:
Dear long lost friend,
I came across your book in one of my recent moves and remembered you well. tonight I come across your blog I am reminded of your sensitivity and am touched. It can be such a beautiful thing to slice through a question with a subtle knife, to reach the presumptions underpinning it, and yet leave uncut and respected the hueman longing for truth which lies, always, just out of our grasp.
I hope you are well, well enough anyways. May your finger heal well. I hope it is not bad.
I just wanted to say hello.
I am well and so is my family. I have a son and daughter now.
Best wishes to you and yours.
Love,
Kate Russell
NIGHT RAIN
Night rain tumbles like velvet rose petals
Lingering on wet grass, goose bumps ripple
nostrils flair savoring scents of muddy soils
Pupils dilate as liquified sky melts into trees
Sounds of night bugs bend grass expanding presence
Clutching air
Rose petals transform allowing penetration
As Limbs break open swallowing fear
Earthly shackles will be transcended
"The silence of nature's building." This silence is the sound of uncertainty. It is towards this sound that we should take flight to, as artists and human beings.
at first I thought I would say nothing on this, this "silence of natures building"...but, well, ...nature does not build, nor does it create buildings, this is only human. And only in such human places do we ever find "silence", for nature is not silent, nor does she seek it, for she is full and knows only life.
And to what is it that we "should run"? or are you lost in the mazes of man and seek solace?
For that, nature is there. She is always there for that.
As for we who are hueman, there is more than silence to seek: there is truth, there is justice, there is wisdom; and if nothing else, gratitude.
why are so many lost? Can we not help eachother into the light? or hold eachother in the darkness? Please be not lost in dreams.
There is much to be dons still.
I used to have much more anxiety about the theoretical premises of art. My graduate program required a great deal of theoretical research and often seemed to privilege this type of framework to a perverse degree. It made it very difficult to get on with the real business in the studio.
What I have learned since then is that "theory" is only a theory, a guess, a stab at explanation or illumination. Some of it is useful for certain things, some of it is aimed at coercion, but understanding enough to pick and choose intelligently is immensely useful.
Well said. I teach at a small university and many of my students aren't interested in theory or in research. The difficulty for me lies in deciding how much effort I put into convincing them that such endeavors are beneficial... as time goes by, I notice that the ones who are going to put the effort in are that way from the first day of class. As always, the best results come from some kind of balance that is struck between action and investigation, which each person has to navigate for themselves. It's interesting that when operating from either extreme (hypertheoretical vs. anti-theoretical) there is a real danger that exists....people can become unable to have any clarity when their focus is so narrow.
to comment on the issue of being "lost";
I dont feel there's any harm in that, In a sense we're always lost, in search of something beyond us... when interacting with people and in the studio, I find it effective to throw myself in "dark waters", and figure things out, understand my actions, maybe find another way back... In a time of GPS and cell phones, we are programmed to fear getting lost and the unknown… never to truly embrace it and be introduced.
To, “leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” -Solnit
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