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Moments with an Artist

Written by: Keith Ferrazzi

Article Overview: I really do feel that the world conspires to bring you amazing things if you are open to them.

Moments with an Artist

I really do feel that the world conspires to bring you amazing things if you are open to them.

Years ago I heard about Robert Wilson the artist/director/producer/musician from my “Uncle” Bob Wilson (one of my closest friends and mentors). Uncle Bob used to say there is Robert Wilson the Rich (Uncle Bob) and Robert Wilson the Brilliant. I recently sat next to Robert Wilson the Brilliant on flight 347 from New York to LA (oddly enough, the same day I read the New York Times report on his new production of Wagner's ''Ring des Nibelungen''). Here's what I learned.

Art is received, not created. Robert told me about the art that he has seen and experienced and I have to admit that I really didn’t get it all. But then it hit me. Art, as many other things, isn’t really created. It's just received. There are days when I try so hard to come up with great insights, but there are others when they come around and slap me or grab me in powerful ways. Robert Wilson is open to receive art and emotion and is moved by the things around him that may confound and frustrate the rest of us. I’m really not a big opera buff. But somehow I suspect that I could make myself open to receiving opera. Others block the relationships in their lives and I naturally receive them. To some extent, I have to begin to think about how to make people receptive, and not as much about how to get people to be something or create the relationships.

It's OK to Get Lost: We go to the theater and it's so direct and simple. “Do you get it?” and we laugh. “Do you get it?” and we cry. The audience response is as choreographed as the dance on stage. And that’s OK, but imagine it also being OK to be lost. Frankly, so many of us go through life lost. I was speaking to our flight attendant Dian and 5 years ago (at the ripe old age of 34) she achieved her dreams of seeing all the great places in this world. And now? No dreams. Everything else from now on out is fuzzy. I was deeply in love once with someone who fled the country and our relationship to get lost in Asia. Did I understand that? No way! But Robert Wilson does. He embraces the position of being lost as a transition phase that we can’t run away from but should embrace and enjoy. Not something that I’ve frankly been able to understand in my very planned and orchestrated life, but I sure respect the courage of those who can love life in that way.

Respect the object. I was really struck by the respect Robert had for objects. When he talked about a piece of ancient clay, he seemed to have a reverence for it and an intimacy with it that was awe inspiring. Do we treat the people around us with the same delicacy as we would use with an ancient vase? I suspect not, but I promise that those we love and those who love us and those who we count on are more precious to us in the long run than any piece of clay, however beautiful it might be. Still, we don't treat our relationships with the same respect.

I asked him how he prayed. He was talking about a piece of living art he had directed in Paris with a woman whose hands were extended out, palms up to the sky. It reminded me of the time I was in Rome, praying at the Vatican. All my life, I had prayed with my hands clenched in front of me, so I couldn't help but notice everyone with their hands reached outward and upward, their palms open as if to fully receive what the world had to offer them. They seemed to be fully vulnerable and open to whatever was out there. It was so tough for me to do the same, but once I did it felt so liberating. Robert goes through life with his hands reached out and open. Do we?

People’s transparency and truth is awe inspiring. Ultimately, I think Robert was a great reminder of the power of transparency. When I put out there what I am and what I am afraid of, the things holding me back lose their power over me and my relationships become so much stronger. Robert works hard to portray that same kind of transparency and truth in so many art forms. Let's all do the same in our own lives.

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Article Tags: amazing things, art and emotion, artisti, audience response, bob wilson, dian, dreams, extent, flight attendant, insights, laugh, mentors, musician, new york times, opera buff, relationships, ring des nibelungen, robert wilson, uncle bob, wagner



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