Here’s a short anecdote about Milco and some of Cioran’s quotations.

When Frans Stapert entered ‘De Pels’ wearing a hat like ‘little green man’ (Ample Männchen) on the traffic lights in Berlin, I said ‘Guten Tag Herr French Biberkopf’ [the main character from the tv series Berlin Alexanderplatz, who had just such a hat].
Milco burst out laughing. When the beer that Milco had offered us was finished, someone else offered Frans a new beer in the meantime, from which he took a small sip. When I asked Milco if he wanted another beer, Frans put his index and middle finger horizontally on the top of his nearly full glass and said ‘Me too, because I am technically empty’. Milco roared with laughter and said ‘Oh oh, very convenient, so from now on we are also technically empty ‘.

Quotations by Cioran:

– Being modern is tinkering with the incurable
– Chopin elevated the piano to the status of phthisis
– Everything has to be revised, even our sobs
– Hope is the most common form of madness
– Reality gives me Asthma
– If pessimism doesn’t lead to serious physical ailments, it is just a mental exercise

Veron Urdurianu

(left) Technically Empty, 1998
pencil on paper
29,7 x 21 cm

(right) Milco, 2016
oil op canvas
50 x 40 cm