I. MANIFESTO: 1. Beneath the simplest form lies unimagined depths of detail. 2. Absurdity and subtlety are aesthetic necessities. 3. Every object has its own history and name. 4. Change is inconstant. 5. The fantastic can be quantified and decorated. 6. Life is connections.
II. SUCH PALE CREATURES OF TENUOUS FLESH: Observing alters the experiment; reader response is inadequate. Intention, not paramount, is indispensable to truth, but art attempts to peer into it dimly. Truth is not a bad idea. Truth is still vital, because.
III. A SECRET HOURGLASS: The glorious, mythical past of cities like Katmandu, Istanbul, Prague, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Alexandria; the fantastic as described by Polo, Borges, Dunsany; a world of tired majesty and new improbabilities, the forgotten, the legendary, the baroque, all just slightly askew: these are the antecedents and components of Subminimalism, shown not described, revealed not explained, uninterpreted and true.
IV. FENCES AND FINGERPRINTS: Since observation alters the experiment, criticism and analysis of a work materially changes the work itself. Deconstruction becomes reconstruction along new lines – with the architect’s tacit approval but without benefit of the original plans.
V. SCATTERING THE HURRICANE: “I am the king of the world,” he said with such conviction and authority that the gathered few could not but believe him. While the Ur-Priests in their shadows at the top of the mountain chant and fret and warn the heedless of inevitable apocalypse, the old King patiently explains that no one can pull a king from his throne. Finally, the priests convince even themselves to fly the storm and the courtiers abandon the palace and the kingdom. The mountain tears itself away from the earth and into spirit lake.
VI. A cascade of fallen leaves swept across the road before the wind.
