One picks one's way about through the glass and aluminum doors, the receptionists' smiles, the lunches with too much alcohol, the openings with more, the mobs of people desperately trying to define good taste in such loud voices one can hardly hear oneself giggle, while the shebang is lit by flashes and flares through the paint-stained window, glimmers under the police-locked door, or, if one is taking a rare walk outside that day, by a light suffusing the whole sky, complex as the northern aurora. Samuel R. Delany
About This Quote

The words in the quote “One picks one’s way about through the glass and aluminum doors, the receptionists’ smiles, the lunches with too much alcohol, the openings with more, the mobs of people desperately trying to define good taste in such loud voices one can hardly hear oneself giggle, while the shebang is lit by flashes and flares through the paint-stained window, glimmers under the police-locked door” are describing windows in an art gallery or museum. The artist is talking about how people who are in the process of creating art aren't always pleased with their own work. They go through all their frustrations with their art in public where everyone can see it. This is a very common struggle for artists. The last line is also saying that these people are probably happy when they are in front of their work because they know it's good when it looks good.

Source: Dhalgren

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