N:O:T:H:I:N:G

Based, in part, on the Tibetan Mandala of the Five Dhyani Buddhas / a journey toward the center of pure consciousness (Dharma-Dhatu Wisdom) / space and motion generated rather than illustrated / time-color energy create virtual shape / in negative time, growth is inverse decay.

"The screen, illuminated by Paul Sharits' N:O:T:H:I:N:G, seems to assume a spherical shape, at times - due, I think, to a pearl-like quality of light his flash-frames create ... a baroque pearl, one might say - wondrous! ... One of the most beautiful films I've seen." - Stan Brakhage

"You are pulled into the world of color, your color senses are expanded, enriched. You become aware of changes, of tones around your own daily reality. Your vision is changed. You begin to see light on objects around you. ... Your experience range is expanded. You have gained a new insight. You have become a richer human being." - Jonas Mekas

"In essence there are only three flicker films of importance, ARNULF RAINER, THE FLICKER, and N:O:T:H:I:N:G. ... In terms of the subject we have discussed here, it is Sharits' N:O:T:H:I:N:G that opens the field for the structural film with a flicker base." - P. Adams Sitney

The film which followed, “N.O.T.H.I.N.G,” perhaps Sharits’ greatest work in his entire career upped the ante from “T,O,U,C,H,I,,N,G” by multiplying its duration by two, its structural complexity and narrative elements several times, and its grim humor by a hundred. Stan Brakhage called it “the most beautiful film I have seen.” That it has not been screened here in the city of its making – despite continued interest in it in New York, Germany, Austria, England, Japan, etc. - in many, many years is a mystery best not contemplated. That “Razor Blades,” the film which followed “N.O.T.H.I.N.G” is rarely screened at all is due largely to its technical requirements, which demand two simultaneous and synched side-by-side projections, foreshadowing Sharits’ 70s work as an innovator in installation.