I could get away from LA to do business, give lectures to other colleges, travel at will. Richard had developed a business in windmills, methane generators and energy conservation, and used the plane incessantly to go to conferences around the country. We had been flying it for three years. Jim Turrell and I have agreed that airplanes and art both represent a form of risk that can be just as lethal. Airplanes we know.
Art can be more subtle because it takes longer for the dangers to become visible.
I knew from my experience and observations of the woes of others the gradual turn to anger and bitterness and the subsequent graveyard spiral of buoyant, energetic, creative artists of my generation. In short, it is a case of not enough support to go around for all those who practice art, the lack of resonance of our culture to art and the expectations of all the players exceeding any ability of the art world to deliver on them. It is a tough business if you could even call it a business. And so here I was in a fine mess I had created all by myself. I was functioning intensely with the problem, my focus was brighter than I have ever or since experienced.