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 have trouble writing, I step outside my studio into the garden and pull weeds until my mind clears--I find weeding to be the best therapy there is for writer's block.
The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.
Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms.
My strength is looking for composition and light, and I think those things come in the quieter times of war or photographing people affected on the margins of war - civilians, refugees; that is where I really excel.
Filmmaking creates a sort of - trust, maybe. It has led me to a group of people I feel good with. We have something in common because of film, when otherwise we might have nothing.
The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.
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