From an on going series on the use of theory, coincidence, and literature in my art-making process. enjoy.... :)

www.schnaas.com/SxThPhp

"We must die as egos and be
born again in the swarm,
not separate and self-hypnotized, but
individual and related."
–Henry Miller, 'Sexus'

It was Stephen Prina's after-art-opening dinner at Botinno in NYC. Sitting right across from me was Lynn Tillman talking to Barbara Kruger –whom I had met through Steve in LA. The conversation with Lynn revolved around current projects and as I described my series of book images, Lynn mentioned a book I must look up. It was a version of the 'Illuminations' poetry series by Arthur Rimbaud, one with the captivating face of a boy on its cover. Having made a loose note on the fact, I continued my NYC stay with the planned museum visits, one of which was the Whitney and not knowing what the main show was, I simply embarked on a chance enlightenment pilgrimage. The main exhibition featured mail art by a single artist who had, over the years produced a series of mail art and all sorts of writing, print, stamp and cartoon-ish formats, and mailed the elaborate pieces to whomever he met and had long standing postal contacts with, Ray Johnson.

The show was exhaustive and exhausting. Towards the end, thinking of food, I walked through the last room which, compared to the previous others was sparse. Two glass vitrine tables held a different artwork format than the rest of the exhibit: books. One in particular caught my attention. On the cover, it had a black and white rendition of the face of a young man, the sort of profound pensive face in a man that will inevitably arrest my attention. Underneath, scribbled in a strange calligraphic font was the title: Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud. It took about 30 seconds to go from the recognition of the fascinating facial features of the subject and wondering whether that book could still be in print, to when I realized that that was the book Lynn was talking about just the night before over dinner. A rush of blood went to my head. I had to get the book as soon as possible.

Upon researching, I found that not only was the book out of print, the catalogue for the exhibition was being published late. It took three months to get a copy, all the while keeping the faint memory of the Illuminations book cover clinging to my mind, like that of the face of some enigmatic man one meets or sees in public but whom one is bound to never see again. Kind of like a "Double Life of Veronique" type of split-second of recognition, the film by Krzysztof Kieslowski where Veronique sees, from a moving student tour bus, though her camera lens, her double self being whisked away by the riot police at a plaza in Poland. For a whole year, like Veronique's small contact-sheet print of the film frame with her double, I held to the small picture in the exhibition's catalogue until the new edition of the 'Illuminations' book was republished, fortunately with Ray Johnson's cover design, once again.

During yoga classes at Crunch in LA, I met Bob (a.k.a. StepGod, trainer to the stars, and most popular spinning instructor) who would do unforgettable down-ward dogs in the mat immediately in front of mine, for months. The Tattoo on his right arm had always fascinated me, as had his gaze. He agreed to do a photo shoot. By then the Illuminations book had already found its way to my studio and I had made the connection between a CD my friend Maryam once gave to me: Hector Zazu's "Sahara Blue' , a compilation of commissioned music written to Rimbaud's poetry from... Illuminations.

I had Bob read from 'Phrases' which opens Sahara Blue and has ever since, ignited my mind and ceased my heart. And so, we shot:
"When we are very strong, –who draws back? very gay, –who cares for ridicule? When we are very bad, –what would they do with us? Deck yourself, dance, laugh. I Could never throw Love out the window.
...
I have stretched ropes from steeple to to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance."


Fz.S