Francis Picabia

I have a growing fascination with Francis Picabia, not least of all because of some of the quotes I have found attributed to him:

“Who is with me is against me.”

“What I like least about others is myself.”

“The world is divided into two categories: failures and unknowns.”

“My ass contemplates those who talk behind my back.”

His poetry is strangely inspirational:

IN ORDER TO LOVE
SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO
HAVE SEEN IT OR HEARD IT

FOR A LONG TIME YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS

I find it fitting that he challenged order and reason in a way commonly associated with the term “hacker” today. So sad he has already passed. He would have been an amazing keynote to Blackhat, unlike the inanely boring LSE professor who was chosen for this year.

My early thoughts were to resist Dada-ism, but I wonder if with age I might be sliding into it nonetheless.

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