"Shih-t'ao himself, like all traditional Chinese artists, learned by copying the styles of old masters; and he continued to advocate connoisseurship as a
necessary foundation for developing artistic insight. He was primarily addressing those who, having passed through this process of training, then found themselves
constrained by the weight of the Orthodox approach to antiquity and were unable, or unwilling, to define their own identity. How to understand, select, and utilize the
elements of the "Great Tradition" of landscape painting were of concern to all serious Chinese artists of the seventeenth century. Shih-t'ao's critique of Orthodoxy
is a response to this issue of creative closure. His solution ultimately requires a transcendence of the limitaitons of historicism and a recovery of a holistic
foundation in art. By regrounding the act of painting in concepts of unity and autonomy, Shih-t'ao sought to recapture the transparency of Nature, art, and mind which
the original theorists of literati painting in the Sung had formulated. The encounter with a spiritual order in Nature which then awaits visual representation from
within the self reestablishes the act of painting in an experience more primal than identification with the styles of other artists. It is this liberating and
empowering intention behind Shih-t'ao's theory which prevents the Enlightening Remarks from advocating painting as solely a commentary on other paintings,
or, from posing as yet another orthodoxy." - Richard E. Strassburg
"You should not cling to the words; just savor the meaning thoroughly and search out the root source.
If your mind opens up at a word, it will not be hard to enter right into the realm of noncontrivance." The Book of Balance and Harmony
Toru Takemitsu on Odilon Redon
"It is a long time since I have read with such a healthy appetite and at the same time with so much
gluttony. Each new idea drawn from my reading, as soon as it enters my head, links up with something;
it seems to me that I was waiting for it; its place was ready. I recall certain readings in my childhood,
so voluptuously penetrating that I felt the sentence almost physically enter my heart. This evening I again
felt that marvellous sensation." Andre Gide
"Reading about those things was like being way off in a wonderful world that nobody knows about,
and you're getting a kick not only from the delight of learning the stuff itself, but also from
making yourself unique." Richard Feynman
"I know that it gives one great inner force, calmness, and happiness
to communicate with such great thinkers... They tell us about what is most important
for humanity, about the meaning of life and about virtue... ." Leo Tolstoy
Hour of the Wolf BERGMAN
Modern Times CHAPLIN
The Passion of Joan of Arc DREYER
Cache HANEKE
HERZOG Bells from the Deep
The Dark Glow of the Mountains / Gasherbrum Der leuchtende Berg