The Sight of Silence: John Cage's Complete Watercolors
Composer and performer John Cage (1912-1992), the epitome of the avant-garde artist, expanded from music composition into the world of visual art, and employed the philosophy of non-intention.... Cage's visual works began with etchings called Where R=Ryoanji, a series of outlines of stones, inspired by the Ryoanji Zen garden in Kyoto. He continued to work on this project at Virginia's Mountain Lake Workshop in Virginia, founded and directed by Kass. Cage produced his series, River Rocks and Smoke, using papers burned and pressed, then painted with various washes, and finally outlined using local stones from the New River. His depth of purpose is evident here, as is Cage's incredible talent.(Publishers Weekly)These remarkable paintings bring together fire (for smoked paper), water (the paint and washes), earth (both pigments and river stones for tracing), and wind (the all-important breath) in exciting ways that suggest the great silence that is possible when we allow ourselves to get out of the way.(The Bloomsbury Review)