The Collected Writings of Michael Snow

Crafts, 1967

24 The Collected Writings of Michael Snow Sadism. Interesting that certain aspects of my personality are in all the work which I've ever done. Have you noticed how that happens to you too? Is there no escape? Who has the foreground? It would seem desirable that one ought to experience as deeply as possible... with Ecstasy as a goal. "Nothing will stand in my way." "Gimme." "Gotcha." I guess not. Sorry. Almost anybody should/would admit under questioning that extreme pleasure is the most pleasant, most desirable thing.Yeh that's a nice idea. Do you like it when you "disappear" when very drunk, for example, or when working very hard? That can't really be answered. Conceptual art. Classical planning, giving a great deal of thought to all the ele­ ments involved. Judicious selection. Refinement. Finishing, Polishing. The tendency of work of this kind in the arts has always been towards Science. All machines are Mental Projections. Consider the attempt, the striving for a material­less, no­traces­of­the­hand Image: the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Ingres and Vermeer too yearned for photography, for film. Not very physical not especially emotional but mental. Words seem absolutely devoid of information. Of course I'm not a writer. That next to last sentence for example. "Do you mind? Yes I do mind a lot. (Answ.) Not just all Machines are Mental Projections but everything Man­Made. Now that's really a Point of View! OK, short pause to consider . . . diversity. The sentence referred to (by that next to last sentence for example) is: "Not very physical not especially emotional but mental." That doesn't reely mean anything. 'Cause everything's physical, emotional and mental. What I mean is the tendency. Aside. Preceptual Art: Romantic. Spontaneous. Warm, Wet, What we're calling emo­ tional. If something hurts, you maybe scream. If something pleases you in a certain way you might sigh, murmur. Expression. Expressionism. Moving material, leaving marks. Hand. Tends towards Actions, Events, Music. Especially very Vocal, spontane­ ous music. Afro­American music. Last 4 or 5 or 6 years "Jazz" has been going through a great period. Word hang­up. The line of descent of music that has been called Jazz. Nothing's pure is it? Purity would be a classical ideal. Nothing. Negation. Happy time. Marvelous presence of Elizabethan music repatriated from Old Souf and lots of other, swallow capsule, get whole story, developments forced "Jazz" publicly there. Interesting, allover pattern of western human entertainment demands. Song form finally unusable, strict rhythm finally unusable in "Jazz." It goes "ahead" where it has to. Hole. Surprise! Demand for Song and Dance so natural there can be "new" Songs, "new" Rhythm, "new" Dances. A very pleasant surprise. Rock. Digression: Constants: scales of Opposites and pseudo­opposites. A Handy Delu­ sion with which to form. Sex is sub­personal, personal and super personal. Blue and Yellow and their daughter Green. Thank God. New York Eye and Ear Control is "about" what this is about. It was very care­ fully, I might say, (to get your sympathy) painfully composed. This could be Around about New York Eye and Ear Control 25 as arbitrary as something found or bought or something done while high or done by someone else. But. It doesn't SEEM arbitrary. One of the elements in the story is a length of a very strong, very vocal, very spontaneous, almost wholly "emotional" music. This length is about 20minutes. The visible film is 34 minutes long. The sum requests an audience of selves. Starts with Words. Words flat on screen which is Flat. Words don't have much vis­ ual space unless you're asked to see that. Curfew. God Bless You. Then the end of this piece arrived. Cold bras Statements118 CanadianArtists mi This text first appeared in the exhibition catalogue Statements/18 Canadian Artists, published by the Norman MackenzieArt Gallery, Regina, 1967. Yes,2000words,upto,fores,2000words,upto,forthecatalogue.Justhadalotoftroublewiththetype­es,2000words,upto,forthecatalogue.Justhadalotoftroublewiththetype­thecatalogue.Justhadalotoftroublewiththetype­ writer ribbon. Now the usual disclaimer about not being a writer. Stress the visual aspect, being an artist. See See See See. Well lama writer. Attempt to prove it: I'm probably not as much of a writer as some other people, but this is writing and what if this was the only piece of writing that I ever did but that it was really remark­ able in...