New pod paintings

Lately I feel like I've written so much about other people's art that I haven't made time to write about my own work.  And that's a shame because I've been working on some new pieces.

I'm hoping to have this large one done in time for my next open studio in August.

I'm not going to say what color I plan to paint it. It's a surprise.

This yellow and fuchsia pod painting is a custom piece for a very good friend of mine.  The color scheme was a challenge for me because I tend to use analogous combinations. It was nice to have an assignment that pushed me to do something out of the ordinary and get out of my comfort zone.

That's a great thing about friends, they keep you from getting stuck in a rut.  I am very happy with the way my friend's painting came out and look forward to sending it to her.

I'm also excited about finishing the other pod paintings. Check back here for pictures of them when they're completed.

Book review: Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic by Daniel Harris

It's funny, but I appreciate books like Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic by Daniel Harris now that I am no longer a stressed-out college undergraduate.  It's a book about aesthetics, particularly "The Aesthetics of Consumerism" as Harris has subtitiled it.  What I like about books like this one is the way they look at the objects with analytical scrutiny.  What does "cute" or "quaint" or "delicious" really mean in the context of our modern world?  This book is an attempt to answer those questions.  I think that what it does for the realm of the visual is similar to what TV Tropes does for creative writing, finding common symbols in our culture, grouping examples of them together, and even giving examples of their opposites. 

As an artist and designer, I feel like it isn't enough to just make pretty things.  It's also important to consider subtle nuances of subtext and symbolism.  I think Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic is a good introduction to the topic, particularly because of the clever definitions Harris gives:

Cute

Something becomes cute not because of`a quality it has but because of a quality it lacks, a certain neediness and inability to stand alone, as if it were an indigent starveling, lonely and rejected because of a hideousness we find more touching than unsightly.

Quaint

Quaintness is an aesthetic not only of clutter but also of imperfections, of scratches, chips, and cracks. It loathes the regularity of modern products so completely that it goes out of its way to create artificial irregularities in brand new things, thus faking the necessary dilapidation of quaintness, as when decorators "distress" exposed beams with motor oil and drill bits to counterfeit smudges of soot and the ravages of woodworm.

Cool

Far from reflecting confidence, coolness grows out of a sense of threat, of the strain from living in metropolitan war zones where our equanimity is constantly being challenged, giving rise to a hyper-masculine folk religion that fetishizes poise and impassivity.

Romantic

Lovers are portrayed as refugees from their own kind, ostracized and oppressed by society at large, which has been eliminated from romantic advertisements, creating eerily unpopulated spaces, the echoing ruins of a civilization that the aesthetic wipes out as effectively as the neutron bomb.

Zany

Zaniness allows us to misbehave and yet minimizes our risk of being ostracized as eccentric. It is based not on real individuality but rather on the harmless iconoclasm of the typical prankster...

Futuristic

The futuristic creates its imagery through willful disobedience, an almost bratty, aesthetic misbehavior, rather than through a genuine spirit of inventiveness, of artistic prescience about the appearance of tomorrow.

Delicious

The misrepresentations of the aesthetic of deliciousness must be understood as a part of a systemic campaign, not only on the part of chain restaurants but of food manufacturers in general, to camouflage the insipidity of packaged foods and neutralize the skepticism of a society still adjusting to its loss of control over all aspects of food production.

Natural

The vision of nature presented in magazines is tailored to rival the artists of Madison Avenue, to supply eyes spoiled by the fluorescent tones of consumerism with their chromatic fix, the addictive drug of loud, saturated tints that can only be found it the most exotic reefs and rain forests.

Glamorous

Bad posture and and grooming are key components of contemporary glamor because they exhibit the contempt that this sylph-like slob feels for the dress she is wearing, a blase attitude that sends an unequivocal message to readers that that woman in the snakeskin Versace dress and Medusa curls is above posing, above trying to look good, above conforming to social expectations.

Clean

Faced with the unglamorous task of persuading people to buy products whose function is purely negative, namely, to get rid of dirt, companies have devised an imaginary, exhibitionistic type of cleanliness that we can see and smell, a glittering mirage that makes an emphatic impression on our bodies and seduces us with its lustrous sheen and mirror-like polish, thus reassuring us that we have indeed gotten something for our money.

I hope these little tidbits have intrigued you enough to read the book.  If you do, come back and comment on it.

An open letter to the design firms that won't hire me

 

Something has changed within me 
Something is not the same. 
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. 
Too late for second guessing 
Too late to go back to sleep. 
It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap.

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But 'til I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost...

And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free...

"Defying Gravity," Wicked


I just want to design, but for some reason, you won't let me. I don't know why you won't hire me. It seems as though no amount of computer drafting skills, product knowledge, interest, or enthusiasm is ever enough for you. Somewhere in the void between what I want to do for a living and what I actually do, somewhere in the canyon between what I went to school for and what people will actually hire me to do are the entry level positions you've constantly denied me. They are the bridge you forbid me to cross.

 You don't even consider me worthy of answering your phones as a receptionist. (Funny, the lawyers and investment professionals I've worked for don't see it that way.) I've done my best to try to please you by taking refresher courses, attending NeoCon every year, and reading design magazines, but there is nothing I can do to make you want me.

While I waited for you to give me a design job, I found some terrible substitutes. And I endured horrible bosses, horrible commutes, and horrible customers, all in the hopes that it would matter to you. But noting I have ever done has mattered to you.

The time has come for this unrequited love affair to end.

I'm tired of trying to impress people who don't respect me. This year I attended NeoCon for myself and not for you because I don't want to work for you anymore. I'm working for myself. It's too late. You made me wait too long.

Do not insult my intelligence by suggesting I work as an intern again. Now that I am 33, I am too old to be anyone's free intern. I refuse.

No longer will I make sacrifices to gain your approval. I've paid enough with my own blood, sweat, tears, and debt. And even if you never acknowledge me, I have earned the right to be where you are. I belong in the Merchandise Mart every bit as much as you do, and I will not allow your haughtiness and snobbery to drive me away.

Perhaps the truth is that you are unworthy of me. After the way you've treated me, you do not deserve my contribution, my talent, or my particular skill set.  I will not share them with you. I refuse. I will use my abilities to benefit my own clients.

For so long I've resented you for blocking my career path. Now I realize that I can create a path of my own. I don't need your blessing. You are not the whole of interior design. You're just one part, the part that I despise for its ugly ways. Design itself is beautiful.

I'm the best thing that you never had.  And now you'll never have me.

I'll let the ladies of En Vogue break it down for you just so you understand:



This is my declaration of independence.