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"Uncultured"
"The Reason why I say I'm "uncultured" or "anti-intellectual" probably goes all the way back to the time when I was in high school. I was worried about being a sissy; I didn't want to be too delicate. To me, no real man ever paid attention to poetry and such things. How poetry every got written--that never struck me! So I developed a negative attitude toward the guy who studies French literature, or studies too much poetry--all those "fancy" things. I admired better the steel-worker, the welder, or the machine shop man. I always thought the guy who worked in the machine shop and could make things, now he was the real guy! That was my attitude. To be a practical man was, to me, always somehow a positive virtue, and to be "cultured" or "intellectual" was not. The first was right, of course, but the second was crazy."
--from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
--from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Jirayr Zorthian
(to see his official website click here, to see Zorthian's tribute to Feynman, "The Wall of Passion," click here
"Once I was at a party playing bongos, and I got going pretty well. One of the guys was particularly inspired by the drumming. He went into the bathroom, took off his shirt, smeared shaving cream in funny designs over his chest, and came out dancing wildly, with cherries hanging from his ears. Naturally, this crazy nut and I became good friends right away. His name is Jirayr Zorthian; he's an artist.
We often had long discussions about art and science. I'd say things like, 'Artists are lost: they don't have any subject! They used to have the religious subjects, but they lost their religion and now they haven't got anything. They don't understand the technical world they live in; they don't know anything about the beauty of the real world--the scientific world---so they don't have anything in their hearts to paint.'
Jerry would reply that artists don't need to have a physical subject; there are many emotions that can be expressed through art. Besides, art can be abstract. Furthermore, scientists destroy the beauty of nature when they pick it apart and turn it into mathematical equations.
One time I was over at Jerry's for his birthday, and one of these dopey arguments lasted until 3:00am. The next morning I called him up: "Listen, Jerry," I said, "the reason we have these arguments that never get anywhere is that you don't know a damn thing about science, and I don't know a damn thing about art. So, on alternate Sundays , I'll give you a lesson in science, and you give me a lesson in art.'
....'Of course, you'll have to work,' he said.
I promised to work, but I still bet that he couldn't teach me to draw. I wanted very much to learn to draw, for a reason that I kept to myself: I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of the world. It's difficult to describe because it's an emotion. It's analogous to the feeling one has in religion that has to do with a god that controls everything in the whole universe: there's a generality aspect that you feel when you think about how things that appear so different and behave so differently are all run "behind the scenes" by the same organization, the same physical laws. It's an appreciation of the mathematical beauty of nature, of how she works inside; a realization that the phenomena we see result from the complexity of the inner workings between atoms; a feeling of how dramatic and wonderful it is. It's a feeling of awe--scientific awe--which I felt could be communicated through a drawing to someone who also had this emotion. It could remind him, for a moment, of this feeling about the glories of the universe.
We often had long discussions about art and science. I'd say things like, 'Artists are lost: they don't have any subject! They used to have the religious subjects, but they lost their religion and now they haven't got anything. They don't understand the technical world they live in; they don't know anything about the beauty of the real world--the scientific world---so they don't have anything in their hearts to paint.'
Jerry would reply that artists don't need to have a physical subject; there are many emotions that can be expressed through art. Besides, art can be abstract. Furthermore, scientists destroy the beauty of nature when they pick it apart and turn it into mathematical equations.
One time I was over at Jerry's for his birthday, and one of these dopey arguments lasted until 3:00am. The next morning I called him up: "Listen, Jerry," I said, "the reason we have these arguments that never get anywhere is that you don't know a damn thing about science, and I don't know a damn thing about art. So, on alternate Sundays , I'll give you a lesson in science, and you give me a lesson in art.'
....'Of course, you'll have to work,' he said.
I promised to work, but I still bet that he couldn't teach me to draw. I wanted very much to learn to draw, for a reason that I kept to myself: I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of the world. It's difficult to describe because it's an emotion. It's analogous to the feeling one has in religion that has to do with a god that controls everything in the whole universe: there's a generality aspect that you feel when you think about how things that appear so different and behave so differently are all run "behind the scenes" by the same organization, the same physical laws. It's an appreciation of the mathematical beauty of nature, of how she works inside; a realization that the phenomena we see result from the complexity of the inner workings between atoms; a feeling of how dramatic and wonderful it is. It's a feeling of awe--scientific awe--which I felt could be communicated through a drawing to someone who also had this emotion. It could remind him, for a moment, of this feeling about the glories of the universe.
Painting of Zorthian by Feynman:
Scroll down for more sketches and paintings by Richard Feynman. For a larger collection, visit the Museum Syndicate Page
Note: Feynman used the pseudonym "OFEY" for his art, in an attempt to have people critique his work without knowing who he was. He signed most of his work with that pseudonym.
Note: Feynman used the pseudonym "OFEY" for his art, in an attempt to have people critique his work without knowing who he was. He signed most of his work with that pseudonym.