The Gift as Art: An Interview with Stephen David Ross - Pt. 14
Faille et Rouge bv James Coignard, Konstramjandet i Halland. "Within this new ordering of space, it is no longer the figure which bears the colour, but the colour itself, like memory, turned into the refuge of ages which orders figures. Here the signs rush to pursue a meaning which they alone can define but which unavoidably escapes, beyond thier reach (Pleynet, p. 36)."
Interruption #6: Origin
“I understand that art strives for the good, but perhaps not good over bad, greatness over mediocrity. Fame contaminates the circulation of the good, stocks up reputation against the movement of time, resists the interruption of being…Fame and greatness halt the circulation of gifts, including the gift of beauty, the good as art. The ideas of origin and essence, like fame and greatness, may express a contaminated idea of nature and good, may constitute a betrayal of the call of the good (p.196).”
“Does art know or care about the nature or essence of art or work or artist? Does art care about its name, the name given to it by others (p.198).”
“We are on the cusp, crossing the threshold, entering the rift between world and earth. The work of art inhabits these divided and mobile regions, dividing and joining like and unlike regions, diaphoric places (p.205).”
“If we understand that an art industry plays a crucial role in the production of the label of greatness, a Western art industry I would add, which appropriates non-Western art as it sees fit, as primitive, ungainly, and distorted; as remarkable, exotic, sometimes beautiful, depending on the market (p.207).”
“Works of art may open up their worlds, including the worlds of the art industry, museums, and markets, may open them to other and deeper possibilities, to abundance and truth. But they cannot do so away from that industry, not in this or any other world. They cannot do so by themselves, though Heidegger suggests they can…. Nowhere in the art industry is the work itself. Nowhere in the world is anything itself. I wonder if the work itself is another domination (p.207).”
