there is only the world

 

Front foot (tarsus) of a male diving beetle, Dr. Igor Siwanowicz

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May I repeat what I told you here: treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything in proper perspective so that each side of an object or a plane is directed towards a central point. Lines parallel to the horizon give breadth, that is a section of nature or, if you prefer, of the spectacle that the Pater Omnipotens Aeterne Deus spreads out before our eyes. Lines perpendicular to this horizon give depth. 

But nature for us men is more depth than surface, whence the need of introducing into our light vibrations, represented by reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blue to give the impression of air.


—Paul Cézanne
Letter to Emile Bernard, 15 April 1904, 
from Theories of Modern Art, Herschel B. Chipp

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[Shapes] have no direct association with any particular visible experience, but in them, one recognises the principle and passion of organisms.

—Mark Rothko

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There is no such thing as an artist: there is only the world, lit or unlit as the light allows.

—Annie Dillard

Holy the Firm

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