solipsism

'i was the world in which i walked, + what i saw
or heard or felt came not but from myself;
+ there i found myself more truly + more strange.'
--wallace stevens, tea at the palaz of hoon, 1923


the solipsism of artists is not the same solipsism of children + ignorant adults. it is to be, as jesus said, "in the world" yet not "of the world." with the difference being that the other world to which artists belong is the passing instant, as perceived fleetingly in a mind that is responsive to impressions, yet not responsible to tradition, faith, science, or any logic other than the particular clarity of the moment.