Until very recently, the artist was a magician who did his magic in public view but kept himself and his effects a matter of mystery.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you talk to an author - to any artist, really - you learn something about how they do what they do. I've never come away from that kind of experience feeling disillusioned, as if the magician had explained his tricks. I always find a greater appreciation for the form.
I love artists. I find them fascinating. To me, there really is a genuine magic in what they do.
Alan Funt was the first hidden-camera magician. It was the playful nature of the way he worked that really inspired me. A lot of prank shows and hidden-camera shows can be a little mean-spirited. Funt was never like that.
The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him.
Magicians are typically introverted; they don't tend to work with others, but I work with software programmers, composers, designers, so it's a very diverse group and the result is always more interesting than something I could have done by myself.
David Blaine, I think, was the first TV magician to really turn the camera around and make it about the spectator's experience. That's really what magic is all about.
Like every art form, there are jealousies and angers and competitiveness in magic. But there's camaraderie among magicians, whether you perform it for a living or you're an enthusiast.
Magic's an art where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder. And I was just intrigued with that idea.
The artist is the medium between his fantasies and the rest of the world.
Magic, historically, has been a man doing tricks with no wider story behind it.
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