Re: GG: Sights and Sounds

[Manuel Martinez <Manuel.Martinez@Schwab.COM>]

Joseph:

Thank you for the lengthy email. I doubt if I can match its lenght, but I
do have a few things to say. I printed out your email so I can read it
at home with vodka since coffee did not work. Just joking!

I agree with most of the things you said about synesthesia, the convergence
of the senses to a common (sensory) center. I feel that this occurs 
naturally and inevitably in all the arts. Language in itself, would be
dull if not ineffective without it. For lack of better imagery, better
words, or better aural representation, we steal from other sensory realms. 
Hence, the metaphor. Although we describe some modes of thinking as 
metaphorical (e.g., linear vs. scattered, prosaic vs poetic etc.), 
we all create metaphors to be able to think (synthesize) at all. 

There is, however, another derivation and meaning to the word "sysnesthetic"
(if I remember correctly) since you also used this term. It refers to the
combination of two or more sensory media and the effect it has on the 
beholder. Based on this theory, a scupture is more powerful than a mere 
painting because you can both see and touch a scupture. Or, the visual 
impact of a picture is greater when accompanied by music (and vice versa) 
than the effect of of these two art forms when perceived singly. The effect 
is supposedly synergistic, greater than the sum of its parts. I can see GG
purists screaming now. Well, this isn't my theory.

The pertinence of all these is that it is somewhere along these lines that 
I have rediscovered (or have been trying to learn more about) Glenn Gould. 
I have been researching on information theory, a science that views the 
world as composed of different information systems (language, genetics, 
computers, art, mental processing, that sort of thing). 
GG's mental processing prowess came to my attention. GG's capacity for 
multi-perception is remarkable. He exhibits a contrapuntal mind in almost 
every mental aspect. The vaccuum cleaner story, the mania to hum while 
playing, the centipede analogy, his dialogue writings, his conversational 
manner, are all indicative of this sort of contrapuntal mental processing. 
If GG watched television, I wonder if he clicked that channel prestissimo,
120 clicks per minute. He'd be bored with just one channel.

His genius for separating the voices of a fugue and give them distinct 
individual voices should come as no surprise. I see GG's visual art form 
as a montage of different pictures on a single canvas. It is also in 
high relief. 

I have been repeating what GG fans already know. Enough said.

In your discussion about Mondrain and Severini, you talked about the
problem of labels. I agree. And yet, labels are important too becase
they provide paradigms and help us learn and understand art, or any
thing for that matter. When we listen to music and reconize certain
styles, in essence, we start to depend and use labels. We can sometimes
be wrong in our judement, but the process is okay. 

After all, I believe that true art survives. It can't be smothered
by labels --- and GG-bashers!

- Manuel