John Cage

After nearly 60 years of composing experimental music and poetry, John Cage, 78, is a living legend. Cage's biography reads like a 20th century history of the avant garde in America. Born in California and a longtime resident of Manhattan, Cage became curious about experimental writing and music early on. In 1928, long before the rest of America, he was reading the Cubist work of Gertrude Stein, By 1934, he was studyin counterpoint music theory with Arnold Schoenberg, one …

…of those paintings as being 'airports for particles,' or a way of making emptiness visible. In his artwork contours of rocks are placed within the white space of the paper according to a process of chance operations. "What I am doing is not using choice, but asking questions," he said. The questions he asks have to do with the selection of rocks, the choice of paper, and the materials used to make the imprints.