“To write for others,’ she thought, ‘it seems one must be a spy—or a teller of tales.”
Source: Neveryóna (1983), Chapter 11, “Of Family Gatherings, Grammatology, More Models, and More Mysteries” (p. 313)
“The Watchman falls "into" the trap of looking. The "spy" is a different person.... The spy must be ready to "move", must be aware of his entrances and exits. The watchman leaves his job & takes away no information. The spy must remember & must remember himself & his remembering. The spy designs himself to be overlooked. The watchman "serves" as a warning. Will the spy & the watchman ever meet? In a painting named SPY, will he be present? The spy stations himself to observe the watchman. If the spy is a foreign object, why is the eye not irritated? Is he invisible? When the spy irritates, we try to remove him. "Not spying, just looking"”
Watchman. Somewhere here, there is the question of "seeing clearly". Seeing what? According to what?
Book A (sketchbook), c 1965: as quoted in Jasper Johns, Writings, sketchbook Notes, Interviews, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996, p. 60
1960s
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American artist 1930Related quotes
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[Qiu, Linda, Trump Incorrectly Quotes James Clapper to Falsely Claim F.B.I. Spied on Campaign, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/us/politics/fact-check-trump-clapper-campaign-spy.html, 27 July 2018, The New York Times]
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