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Home>Yes No Maybe Introduction>Yes No Maybe Cage Introduction>Yes No Maybe Cage Ryoanji

# 

Exhibition Introduction

Note to the ReaderAcknowledgments

IntroductionKeithJohnLeslieSelf-Portrait

IntroductionTouched RedGreenCombinationHigh Green Version 1

Introduction17 Drawings by ThoreauSeven Day Diary (Not Knowing)Changes and DisappearancesWhere R=RyoanjiFireThe Missing Stone 75 StonesEninkaStonesWhere There is Where There

IntroductionAnne ApplebyPia FriesDarren AlmondSusan MiddletonJoel FisherBrad BrownTom Marioni

IntroductionMamma AnderssonSol LeWittFred WilsonRobert BechtleKiki Smith

IntroductionJulie MehretuWayne ThiebaudJockum NordströmTomma AbtsNathan OliveiraChris Ofili

IntroductionPat SteirLaura OwensWayne ThiebaudAmy Sillman

# John Cage, Where R=Ryoanji, 1983

John Cage, Where R=Ryoanji, 1983
*R 2/1 (where R=Ryoanji)*1983drypoint in blackplate: 7 × 21 3⁄8 (17.8 × 54.3)sheet: 9 1⁄4 × 23 1⁄2 (23.5 × 59.7)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,1996© John Cage Trust

John Cage, Where R=Ryoanji, 1983
*(R3) (where R=Ryoanji)*1983drypoint in blackplate: 7 × 21 3⁄8 (17.8 × 54.3)sheet: 9 × 23 1⁄2 (22.9 × 59.7)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,1996© John Cage Trust

John Cage, Where R=Ryoanji, 1983
*R3 (where R=Ryoanji)*1983drypoint in blackimage: 7 × 21 3⁄8 (17.8 × 54.3)sheet: 9 1⁄4 × 23 1⁄2 (23.5 × 59.7)National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,1996© John Cage Trust

Cage's *Where R=Ryoanji* prints take their title and inspiration from the rock garden of a famous Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan. The garden consists of fifteen large stones situated in a rectangular bed of carefully raked gravel. Cage placed a selection of stones from his collection, positioned by chance operations, on the plate and traced their outlines. Like a mathematical formula, each print’s title dictated the number of times he outlined each stone. For example, the dense, allover mesh of marks in *R3 (where R=Ryoanji)*represents fifteen stones, each traced 225 times to produce a total of 3,375 stone silhouettes (15 x 15 x 15 equals 3,375).    Made during his fifth visit to Crown Point, the Ryoanji prints illustrate Cage’s growing readiness to assert his aesthetic will: Although chance dictated the position of the stones, he rotated any that extended beyond the edge of the plate so that the entirety of their outline could be traced on the plate. “I can’t fragment the stone...So the stone is either in the drawing or not. And I choose that it is!”

A selection of Cage's rocks and scores relating to the *Ryoanji*prints, 1983, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Banner image: Detail, John Cage, *Eninka* 29, 1986, burned, smoked, and branded gampi mounted to paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point Press, 1996, © John Cage Trust

Next: John Cage, *Fire*, 1985

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

John Cage in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Press release

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