Imagine a world alive with incomprehensible objects, and shimmering with an endless variety of movement and innumerable gradations of colour. Imagine a world before the 'beginning was the word.'
Interpretation
The quote encourages envisioning a vibrant, dynamic world full of color and movement, prior to preconceived notions.
Stan Brakhage's quote invites us to imagine a reality that transcends linguistic constraints, where the beauty of the world is seen through its colors and movements rather than limited by words. It suggests a state of pure perception that is devoid of the semantic interpretation we usually impose on our experiences, encouraging a deeper appreciation of the visual and sensorial life surrounding us.
In practice
This quote can be shared during an art exhibition to inspire attendees to view the artwork with fresh eyes.
Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of βGreen?β How many rainbows can light create for the untutored eye?
How many colours are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'green'? How many rainbows can light create for the untutored eye?
When I design buildings, I think of the overall composition, much as the parts of a body would fit together. On top of that, I think about how people will approach the building and experience that space.
An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.
A nation devoid of art and artists cannot have a full existence.
There is a music for lonely hearts nearly always. If the music dies down there is a silence. Almost the same as the movement of music. To know silence perfectly is to know music.
No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.
Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.