one of the terms i came across in the gift that i love is wise blindness. it is in a quotation hyde uses from rainer maria rilke. it’s getting at the idea that when we create if we get too analytical we’ll lose the giftedness of what we are doing. i guess the most obvious case of this is when a performer suddenly becomes self conscious and tongue tied in front of an audience. this actually applies in lots of areas of life – standing back and being analytical robs the moment of its magic. there’s a great folk tale that hyde tells…
a brief entry in a mid nineteenth century collection of english fairy tales tells of a devonshire man to whom the fairies had given an inexhaustible barrel of ale. year after year the liquor ran freely . then one day the man’s maid, curious to know the cause of this extraordinary power removed the cork from the bung hole and looked into the cask. it was full of cobwebs. when the spigot next was turned the ale ceased to flow.
in other words the gift is lost in self consciousness. this isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for analytical thought. but the creative moment isn’t it. wise blindness also applies to the sense that poetry or a song or an idea comes to use from beyond ourselves, from god or whatever it is we believe is beyond us. best just to receive it as a gift. i actually think this is the best approach to the whole of life – life’s a gift. the planet is a gift. friends are a gift. family are a gift. live out of gratitude. faithless say it better actually in the track i want more
…hills to climb sights to see seas to cross
friends to make hands to shake the world is yours
foods to taste sounds to hear love to feel
seeds to sow things to know fish to reel
space to quiz stones to lift
life’s a gift…
i was thinking about wise blindness in relation to photography and mark’s killing our darlings. i like the process of thinking a bit about photos and what makes a good photo and have enjoyed a couple of books on the subject, but actually when i am looking through photos e.g. the top 500 interestingness ones on flickr on a particular day, i prefer blindness – in other words i just like what i like and that isn’t the moment to worry about why. the photos are a gift.
there’s a parallel with worship and i am the worst culprit here. i get analytical way too quickly rather than worship in the blade of the moment, receive what others have prepared as a gift and offer my own gifts.
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most of what i do demands i be analytical… you have to have opinions about what goes where and why. even if the decisions you make are intuitive at the time, i’m fairly sure you base those decisions on analysis done previously… decisions are not made in a vacuum, very often you are doing what you’ve rehearsed… even if you do something you’ve apparently never done before you are calling upon previous analysis of your own work or someone elses.
i find part of the pleasure of listening to a piece of music or looking at a great pieces of art is working out what it is i’m responding to… analysis for me is part of the gift… it’s part of the joy of the experience.
however, picking something apart at the expense of valueing it simply for what it is should be a no no. you can value the work of a child for what it is… the inexperience and raw expression from the young artist can be a gift that you ignore at your peril. however, i will still analyse what it is i like in it, it gives me great joy to do so.
Mark Wallinger’s ‘Angel’ – his ‘blind man’ character walking/speaking backwards/forwards is one of my favorite pieces of all time…
there’s a new wallinger installation at tate britain from tomorrow i think
I got a lot out of Marks piece, gave me some new perspective on images, although I tend to agree with you as well, I think photography is a gift and sometimes you will just like images that maybe aren’t technically or creatively brilliant.
thanks jonny. your wise words gave wings to my sermon this afternoon.
If you set the challenge – create a piece of work which breaks the rules and challenges art as we know it, what’s the first thing you would you do? Learn the rules?
Maybe Jon’s internalised rules are invisibly pulling his strings, but since he’s aware of what the common assumptions are he may be better placed to challenge them.
I’ve seen how hard some professionals work at understanding the rules before they break them. I know there’s a risk that we become slaves to the rules and at its worst, insecure professionals may refer to the rule book in self defense and be very aggressive about it.
Perhaps it’s a journey though valley of the shadow of analysis that we have to trudge through. Or not. My indecision is final.