Aphorism #90
Life is more important than art.
Clement Greenberg used to say this on occasion.
In college I was listening to Glenn Gould play Bach when a brilliant composer friend came into my room to visit and asked me to shut it off.
I was shocked. “Why turn it off? I thought you really liked Gould. It’s great music!”
“I know,” he responded. “I’m just tired of music right now.”
I still remember that. It taught me something that seems stupidly obvious but which I needed to comprehend. Nowadays, though art is my life’s work, I freely admit that occasionally I get sick and tired of it.
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