fiefoe

"Whoever Has The Most Rugs When He Dies Wins" / Lawrence Kearney

Without form, without selection and the clarity that comes from letting go, an essential creative element is missing from a person's collecting.
the intellectual and emotional limitations of certainty
In the same way that intellectual certainty can prove to be an impediment to one's curiosity and openness of inquiry, good taste can breed a complacency of aesthetic inquiry -- in other words, Snobbery.
Great Oriental rugs are only the best because they stand on the shoulders of rugs that are note quite as good.
This seems as good a place as any to put forward a pet theory, which perhaps makes up in cynicism what it lacks in originality: namely, that in most forms of intense human endeavor Narcissism must never be overlooked as a ferocious motivational force.
The main problem with an obsessive pursuit of the beautiful, I believe, is that it cuts us off from the real source of aesthetic appreciation, which is delight. The sad fact is, obsession is not delight.

essay on rug collecting