Solitude lies at the lowest depth of the human condition. Man is the only being who feels himself to be alone and the only one who is searching for the Other.
Octavio PazRead
Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.
Interpretation
Art is a creation influenced by aesthetic ideas that originate from philosophical thought, emphasizing its playful nature.
In this quote, Octavio Paz reflects on the nature of art as a construct that arises from aesthetic principles influenced by philosophical discourse. He suggests that art is not only a serious endeavor but also a game, indicating that it involves exploration, creativity, and a playful interaction with ideas. This perspective invites us to consider art as an evolving concept rather than a fixed definition.
In practice
During a discussion about the role of creativity in society, this quote could illustrate the playful nature of artistic expression.
Solitude lies at the lowest depth of the human condition. Man is the only being who feels himself to be alone and the only one who is searching for the Other.
By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death
The North American system only wants to consider the positive aspects of reality. Men and women are subjected from childhood to an inexorable process of adaptation certain principles, contained in brief formulas are endlessly repeated by the Press, the radio, the churches, and the schools, and by those kindly, sinister beings, the North American mothers and wives. A person imprisoned by these schemes is like a plant in a flowerpot too small for it he cannot grow or mature.
Poetry is not a genre in harmony with the modern world; its innermost nature is hostile or indifferent to the dogmas of modern times, progress and the cult of the future.
If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.
Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.
The kind of writing that matters most to me is something you don't learn about. It's constantly coming out of what I don't know rather than what I do know.
I'm not a politician. I don't know how to solve the problems of the world. But as an artist, I have one duty: to ask questions.
My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.
A museum should not just be a place for fancy paintings but should be a place where we can communicate our lives through our everyday objects.
Making music has gotten easier; selling it has gotten harder. Making music has been democratized, but the market is in the hands of fascists.
My life, my reading, everything about me revolves around the cinema. So for me, cinema is life, and vice-versa.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.