[rumori] FW: Cage-a-licious!

illegal art [rumori] FW: Cage-a-licious!
Wed, 6 May 1998 23:41:46 -0700 (PDT) (00894552106, Pine.LNX.3.95.980506231752.23196H-100000ATflotsam.detritus.net)



> bunch of >crazy stuff (serialism, WWII, >his sexuality exploding, NYC)
> and went pretty far in the other direction just >to find some ground
> that was clear enough to stand on. What he made though, >was a place for
> Steev to come to his "chaos and desire" place...and thank god >for that.

i think a lot of people find themselves somwhere in the middle as going to
the extreme of self expression seems too romantic yet adopting cage's
views 100% leaves us with no identity. cage, though, found identity since
it was his philosophy but for us to do it would simply be an imitation of
cage (similar to writing a piano sonata that sounds liek beethoven). so
maybe we have nothing but middle ground to stand on.... but that is where
it gets interesting. it is much more difficult to balance between
opposing ideas than to go to an extreme position.


> clinging to romantic notions, but I think >the same charge could be
> levelled at Cage. He was conflicted, just like >Steev is, and so should

yes, i think that cage's rejection of the romantic idea of self-expression
in art was more than anything an attempt to find his own identity as a
composer. even though his quest for 'no purpose' was anti-romantic the
very fact that he (and the avant-garde) seemed so concerned with doing
something new and is a rather romantic idea in and of itself (that is that
every artist's work should be unique... becuase art is about self
expression).

philo

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