Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Coincidence : the "No" quote by Richard Avedon


I'm always troubled with coincidence, as I'm fascinated by randomness. Even though most improbable coincidences likely result from play of random events, we always try to look for a hidden meaning...

It happened some days ago, I was visiting the superb exhibition of Richard Avedon in the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris and got stuck by a quote from the photographer published between the 1st and 2nd floor :


"I've worked out a series of no's. No to exquisite light, no to apparent compositions, no to the seduction of poses or narrative. And all these no's force me to the "yes." I have a white background. I have the person I'm interested in and the thing that happens between us."



Just a few days after, reading Small is the New Big by Seth Godin (a reallllly great book I strongly recommend), page 152, appears the quote by Avedon. Second shock. That's it !

As S. Godin wrote, and you, do YOU have a NO ?

© 2008 the Richard Avedon Foundation

1 comment:

Henri Kaufman said...

Le psychanalyste Gérard Miller ne croit pas du tout aux coïncidences. Pourtant, il y a qd même des occurences troublantes. J'en ai décrit quelques unes qui me sont arrivées :
http://tiny.cc/XVFO9

http://tiny.cc/wJpeD

Les coïncidences n'arrivent qu'à des gens qui sont très attentifs, qui "voient ce que les autres ne voient pas" !
Henri