This week we spend some time with surrealist Salvador Dali, speaking to reporter Mike Wallace in 1958.
Sometimes it is important to pay attention to things we don’t necessarily understand. Diving into subjects outside my own skill set can lead to inspiration and ideas which furthers my own work. I enjoy hearing from experts in almost any field discussing their work and ideas, and keep a notebook fo tips and tricks I’ve come across.
One of the things about experts, especially those working on seemingly other planes of existence, is that almost any one sentence they write or utter can be very deep, and can take a while to fully absorb. Often what seems like nonsense at first can turn out to make perfect sense if one spends a bit of time, and is open to what is suggested.
Like this answer Dali gives to the question of the Cosmogony of Dali:
The last development of nuclear physics proved to a new conception of space-time is completely flexible. Now it is in microphysics the time brought in reverse and this proved that this object of completely surrealistic approach of soft watches for what is completely true and scientific…
What is he saying? That he, Dali, is creating art that recognizes the new physics. Einstein says time is relative, so Dali paints melting watches.
While you watch this, get a notebook and a pen, write down a phrase or two that grabs you, and draw a quick cartoon or two of Dali and his moustache.
It doesn’t seem that this video is able to be embedded, so here is the link to the Dali interview video, hosted by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
oneself
One of Dali’s main messages, I think, is to be yourself. The more you that you can be, the better for all. Original thoughts count for something, and define us. Our role is to be ourselves, as best we possibly can be. We’re each experts on ourselves. (or, we become pale, weak imitations of other individuals…)