The Mirror of the Sea

"We remain in everlasting bondage to the productions of our brain and to the work of our hands. A man is bound to serve his time on this earth, and there is something fine in the service being given on other grounds than that of utility. The bondage of art is very exacting."
-Joseph Conrad, The Mirror of the Sea

At times, as artists, we look to the words of our colleagues for inspiration, justification, fortification (making art is tough business).

The Mirror of the Sea

"The attainment of proficiency, the pushing of your skill with attention to the most delicate shades of excellence, is a matter of vital concern. Efficiency of a practiacally flawless kind may be reached naturally in the struggle for bread. But there is something beyond - a higher point, a subtle and unmistakeable touch of love and pride beyond mere skill, almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art -- which IS art."
-Joseph Conrad-The Mirror of the Sea

Man in the Street

My teacher Stephan Wolpe was a Marxist and he felt my music was too esoteric at the time. And he had his studio on a proletarian street, on 14th Street and 6th Avenue… He was on the second floor and we were looking out the window and he said “what about the man on the street?” At that moment, Jackson Pollack was crossing the street.
-Morton Feldman, composer