Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Fish Wish

I wish I were a fish.

In the now classic The Incredible Mr. Limpet there was the line spoken by Don Knott's character, "I wish, I wish, I wish, I were a fish." And from that wish sprang forth a variety of songs and story with a heartwarming ending.

Pioneering computer graphic artist Yoichiro Kawaguchi also had a similar fish wish. His love for scubadiving was the motivation for his odd, sea-like colorful environments and creatures. He proved that abstract art, is usually better, when it's not abstract.

Today I see fish. Although not intentionally of course. I'm plodding away working on different algorithms for generating images for my upcoming show in Paris. I guess I'm a bit like a fish. Kind of floating around, wandering around, looking for some kind of 'food.' It's a peaceful ocean with no predators in the water. Swim swim swim.

David Womack points out the following passage from Chuang-tzu as translated by Burton Watson, "The two masters were strolling along the Hao River, when Chuang-tzu noticed a school of fish down in the water. "See how these minnows swim around as they please!" he said. "That is what fish really enjoy!" Hui-tzu, skeptical in his logic responds: "You are not a fish; how do you know what fish enjoy?" Chuang-tzu said, "You are not me, how do you know I don't know ... " Huit-tzu agreed, but was still not convinced: "I admit I don't know what you know, but it still proves that you don't know what fish enjoy!" Chuang-tzu then said: "Let's get back to the original question: You asked me how [whence] I know what fish enjoy — so you already implied that I knew it. Well, I know it from standing here along the river." It'll take me a longer swim to grasp the meaning of this passage.

Posted by maeda at May 15, 2005 10:35 AM