Tony Smith: ( T: ) “Time is a funny peculiar thing. We frame it because we see meaning in things; we divide it into centuries and decades, which is meaningless. But we need to do that or we can’t cope with it. Because everything is too big, we can’t cope everything at once,… The moment you break everything into bits, you are not seeing what’s really there. Because of “what’s really there” is big and complex. We can either look at the whole world to see as it is and it blows your mind then you go insane, …or we break it up into small bits and look one bit at a time…. which means you have no understanding of what’s really going on. You can’t win it, it’s a paradox.”
time you are making it, it makes life more tolerable, it stops you considering the realities. You build around that project a whole web of meaning. And life becomes easier. When there isn’t a project on, when there isn’t an immediate goal, then I feel a bit lost.” J: “ …the first time in my life I had real connections is the day I walked into the art collage and for the first time, I was in step….because everyone else was as mad as I was.” ....
Shizico: (S:) “ does this mean, human is incapable of being happy? It’s like whatever you do, it is never enough. You just want to get to the next thing you are wanting …..” T: “ this one is, yes, never could be absolutely happy…” Tony continues “ I like things I don’t understand, I like “not to understand”… The fact that the world is so unknown makes me want to look into the stars ( then he poses) ….wonder. I don’t actually want to know what’s up there, it’s much more fun to wonder” John: ( J: ) “Everything we evolve to do is to discover, to explore. I am like a hamster, I have to get in that wheel every day and do it. Once you had achieved it, it satisfies some inner drive, then I can relax…. I always think I can do something better and I am confident I can do better every time. I want to see it, I want to visualise it.” T: “That is why when John and I got to the Chelsea flower show and got a gold medal, it starts to make sense of this life. The winning of that gold makes the life in between this and that,… more tolerable. Making something, whether is an art work or a bridge; for the
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