In 1989, Cage produced a group of prints that signal a new confidence in his own artistic ability. He conducted chance operations to select and position small stones on the plate, determine their orientation (vertical or horizontal), and choose color. But he utilized brushes to trace the stones, a practice he had long resisted, claiming he was not a painter (see image below).
John Cage working on a print from the Stones series, 1989; here, using an acid-loaded brush, he traces the outline of a small stone positioned on a copperplate. Still image from John Cage at Work, 1978–1992, a film in four parts by Kathan Brown, 2013, Courtesy Crown Point Press
Banner image: Detail, John Cage, Eninka 29, 1986, burned, smoked, and branded gampi mounted to paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point Press, 1996, © John Cage Trust
Next: John Cage, Where There is Where There / Urban Landscape, 1987, 1989
"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)
Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)
"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)
Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)