Goodbye, Merce

"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation. " -John Cage

"We need not destroy the past. It is gone." -John Cage

One of the greatest artists and philosophers who has ever lived has died. I'd like to write something here that would even begin to express how mixed up I feel right now, and how lost, and how sad, and how small. I can't though, because when it comes to summing up something of this scale, I'm a cricket climbing Everest. Wholly insignificant.

My only consolation is this:

I just know they're together somewhere. Conspiring. John is smoking while Merce doodles. Bob sips his drink and the ice cubes chime on the inside of the glass and that's music. And there's laughter, and thought, and joy, and it's all art.



(Photo via artnet.com/artnet magazine--dont miss this wonderful article about the competetive dialogue between Rauschenberg and Warhol by Charlie Finch.)