I'M NOT GOING TO CALL HIM A LIAR BEHIND HIS BACK BUT I WOULD SAY IT TO HIS FACE IF HE WAS HERE
2 May 2009
Time for Jon
"Who is the Spectator, also called the Viewer, sometimes called the Observer, occasionally the Perceiver? It has no face, is mostly a back. It stoops and sneers, is slightly clumsy. Its attitude is inquiring, its puzzlement discreet. He – I'm sure it is more male than female – arrived with modernism, with the disappearance of perspective. He seems born out of the picture and, like some perceptual Adam, is drawn back repeatedly to contemplate it. The Spectator seems a little dumb; he is not you or me. Always on call, he staggers into place before every new work that requires his presence. This obliging stand-in is ready to enact our fanciest speculations. He tests them patiently and does not resent that we provide him with directions and responses: "the viewer feels..."; "the observer notices..."; the spectator moves...." He is sensitive to effects: "The effect on the spectator is....""
– Brian O'Doherty
When I heard him play this live, I just sat down with a cigar, a glass of red and watched. It was quite possibly the greatest things that's ever happened to me.
ReplyDelete3 months ago Jowshy said that?
ReplyDeleteBut it remains true to this day.
ReplyDelete