Travelers in a Mountain
Fan K'uan, ca. 1023

"Traditional Chinese painting has had a profound influence on my directing and writing.  Chinese art was founded on the very subtle differences one finds in the brush strokes of their calligraphy.  Their brushes most often contained over one hundred different kinds of hair, so when the artist applied the ink to the canvas, in effect every nerve impluse of his psyche was expressing itself; as both a director and writer, I find I must also do the same.  The Chinese artist strove to discover the most meaningful limitation of the theme or moment and then worked to express himself within that limited convention and to discover the subtle threads within its form which echoed a fundamental human truth.   When I write or direct, I have learned that, by expressing the finite brush strokes found within the appropraite limitation, then and only then, could I begin to communicate anything of substance to an audience."

  -- Mickey Grant