"Quiet Vision": Prints by John Cage

On View: February 5 to April 2
Gallery Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His transformative ideas about musical composition are matched by his experimental approach to image creation. Cage was an inspiration to some of the most significant visual artists of his time — Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Nam June Paik, to name just a few of his collaborators. Additionally, starting around 1978, he made numerous prints of his own. The etchings that Cage produced, together with a handful of lithographs and serigraphs, hold their own alongside his widely discussed musical contributions and essays. Using chance operations and unconventional materials — smoke, rocks, Plexiglas — Cage developed a repertoire of arresting images that merit attention in the present. Quiet Vision: Prints by John Cage includes a group of important works from Crown Point Press in San Francisco, where the artist made the majority of his etchings, as well as loans from private individuals, together with several works from USD’s own permanent collection.