String Prints, November 1980
John cage, born in Los Angeles in 1912 was a major influence not only in music, but as a thinker in all the arts. His 1988 Opera, “Europera” was commissioned by the Frankfurt Opera in honor of his 75th birthday. John delivered the prestigious Charles Elliot Norton Lectures at Harvard in 1988-89. Composed in 1985, the world’s longest concert began on September 5, 2001 in Halberstadt, Germany to continue for 639 years on a specially built organ, “Organ 2/ASLSP” or “organ squared/as slow as possible”, the work started with silence and the only sound for the first
1 ½ years was air. John died in 1992
John Cage was invited to participate in a two-day residency with the New Arts Program the first week of November 1980. Kermit Oswald had written him and asked if he would like to make prints with the help of student assistants. Cage stated the best time for him to come to Kutztown was in the fall because that was the best time for him to hunt a special mushroom growing in the area. Cage had much earlier published a book on mushrooms. He was also due to be an honored guest at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, so after the award was presented a chauffeur drove him up to Kutztown with Cage sitting in the front seat. The chauffeur commented that he did not know John Cage before but he knew him now. Cage dressed in blue jeans and a jean jacket, had a big smile that put everyone at ease. He was fascinating to watch, at the same time he was working with the prints he was having consultations and/or playing chess during the consultations.
The procedure for printing was to take one sheet of paper, which became the master print or plate and place it on the bed of the press, onto which strings were dropped. After each string was dropped a paper was placed on top of the master print and run through the press. We would take the paper from the top, take off the sting and proceed to drop another string onto the master print. All of the other markings are the residue of the marks that are on the master. Thereby each print becomes a monprint that produces a series of like impressions derived from the same master print. The prints’ singularity is achieved by altering or doctoring through the I-Ching process to make each print uniquely one of a kind, then signed and numbered accordingly.
The first step of this process was to help Cage find strings of various lengths and thickness, ranging from thread to rope, synthetic and natural materials. After a few hours Cage made a selection of 20 strings he opened his briefcase and took out a computer-generated chart based on the hexagrams of “I-Ching”, the Chinese book of divinations. When asked if the resultant hexagrams had a spiritual meaning? Cage replied, “Perhaps they have that meaning for some people, but for me it is a system for making art and music.” This computer printout was a surprise but we later realized it eliminated a lot of manual paperwork. He proceeded to set up some of his conditions of “I-Ching”. After Cage had selected the strings to be used, he chose the seven cans of colored ink. Next he selected a stepladder from which to drop the strings from various steps and heights and then he selected various pressures for the press. Cage used his computerized statistics to make computations in relation to these selections. After the first few dropping of strings they seemed to locate themselves in the same location on the paper, because he had dropped them from only one side of the press, it was suggested he use the four sides of the press as another variable. This proved to be the last element in the system of chance for making the prints. But before we decided to move the ladder to the other four sides of the press, Cage, in trying to step one foot over onto the press for support, missed and fell onto the press. A week later we learned that he had fractured a rib.
What we have in this exhibition of selected prints is the original pressured image appearing on each print together with the residue of the previous droppings. The residue is from the master paper or print. The colors were not measured physically, but instead measured visually. In other words, if we were to have a mix of 70% of one color and 30% of another, we accomplished this by a visual estimate, and the mixture being pulled over the string by hand. The pressure of the press was also made a variable, so with some big strings there could be tight pressure and with some thin strings or thread it was possible to have very loose pressure. By this process, before the day was over, we had finished the edition of 20.
Cage was asked if he wanted to make another edition and he enthusiastically said, “Yes”. As we were setting up for a second edition he was asked how many, thinking possibly less than the first edition or up to 40 at the most, he said, “62”. That was a random set number, which was from his hexagram printout. The second edition took the rest of the day and much of the second, intermixed with his continuing consultations and playing chess. After making the two editions, the student assistants asked for a print but it seemed they all wanted the same print. To resolve this it was suggested that Cage use the same random process of “I-Ching”. Each assistant received one print from both editions. Cage wanted some additional prints from both editions. Since he only used “I Ching” for making art or music his personal selection process of an additional nine prints was beautiful and fun to watch, we could almost feel the cogs in his brain moving as the different prints were put before him and he said, yes or no. We could almost anticipate his choices and preferences. We found one print did not become more important than another, it was only in the beginning that priorities were imposed.
Cage suggested calling Crown Point Press, a major printing house who he had made a print edition with, to inform them we had made two print editions. They asked for examples and slides of what we had done as they might be interested in handling them. Although the director found the prints interesting he thought the printmaker had not had enough control over the printing process. The director was reminded that John Cage WAS the printmaker, the artists, the controlling factor.
These prints are some of his most dynamic, embellished by the random dropping of strings, becoming embossed, fresh, raw and innocent. The prints have the theory and physical-ness of having been manipulated and dispersed by John Cage himself.
