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KNOW_WHAT_I_LIKE

                                                April 13, 2003

It occurs to me that I like Cage's 4'33"
better than Rauschenberg's white paintings.

   Cage makes the point that shadows on
   the canvas are like background noise
   at the performance, but the analogy
   breaks down: shadows are all too
   easily obliterated by harsh white
   museum lighting.  Noise is not such
   an easy victim.

But then, I think I also like Rauschenberg's
black paintings better than the white.
Darkness strikes me as a more appropriate
metaphor for nothingness than whiteout, I
suppose.

   Though it could just be that
   I'm goth at heart.

      I'm more likely to want to
      decorate the place with
      panels of black --

      Wait. I've actually done that.
      When I was an undergrad at Stony
      Brook, I had a sheet of black
      contact paper lying around, and
      on impulse I just peeled off the
      backing and slapped it on the
      wall.  It filled the space well,
      and made a nice contrast against
      the crest-blue paint they used         This was literally crest-blue.
      in the dorms there.                    When you were moving out of a
                                             room, it was standard proceedure
      I didn't think very much of            to smear toothpaste in any
      this, one way or another as far        little knicks or holes in the
      as creative acts go -- but it          walls to make sure you got your
      got some reactions out of the          deposit back.  The toothpaste
      other undergrads.  One woman           was a perfect match: it made
      stopped, looked at it stunned,         completely invisible (if
      and exclaimed "I like it!".     temporary) patches.
      Another said timidly with
      (mock?) fear "He has a black                As long as they didn't
      picture on his wall --"; and                notice the mint smell,
      one of my suite-mates responded             you were home free.
      "Yes, it's an existential
      poster!"                                              Ah, Stony Brook.

I hadn't heard of Rauschenberg at that point.                     SUNY
But the Cagey ideals of modern art had long
since slipped the bounds and infected the minds
of anyone susceptible.








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