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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Ambiguity = pleasant surprise = happiness?

The worse your art is, the easier it is to talk about, at least I would like to think so. Ambiguity seems to be the same thing as happiness or pleasant surprise. I am assuming that from the moment life cannot be one continual orgasm, real happiness is impossible, and pleasant surprise is promoted to the front rank of the emotions. The idea of relief from pain has something to do with ambiguity. Ambiguity supposes eventual resolution of itself whereas certitude implies further ambiguity. I guess that is why so much "depressing" modern art makes me feel cheerful. - John Ashbery

3 comments:

  1. Ambiguity is just that, it has not certitude, as to why you are happy, in that you are confusing ambiguity and certitude as a mixed metaphor.

    Perhaps it is what you are assuming that makes you happy, or in what you are unsure about, but without certitude there is no certainty in what is impossible, and I call absurd. So you are attempting to deal with the absurd, in your ambiguity, without certitude, seen as futility
    in expression which is mindless without specific meaning and certitude of purpose.

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  2. Actual relief from pain isn't about fear, which both ambiguity and surprise have something to do with.

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