WHY I DESIGN

I never knew why I designed.

My very good friend Ryan came over on Thursday - he's one of the smartest, most instinctive and original minds I know. I asked him over because I wanted him to see what little I've created for the show so far, and talk to him about my idea, and ask him to weigh in.

I told him I had originally wanted to make objects inspired by poetry, but that individual words and phrases equating so directly to a color of paint or a piece of cloth seemed too limiting somehow. Then I'd had the idea of building an entire scene to express the meaning of a single poem - broader, looser, but still focused, and much more emotional. Much more poetic. He told me that it all made sense, and then we began to talk about theory.

Earlier in the week, Natalia had helped me to understand that poetry, at its best, is a medium that can express a universal experience from a unique perspective. This is why it resonates with us so perfectly. ("That's how I've felt all along! I just never knew it.") And this is what I want my BFA project to achieve. I want the poem and the scene I create to act like a beautiful conversation between two voices - my feeling is the very same as your feeling, but the presentations are unique and maybe the tones of resonance are a bit different.

Transforming the mundane, transcending the ordinary. LOVE DESTROYS DEATH. Whatever you want to call it - I haven't decided yet - this is what love does, what art does, what we do for each other. Modernism is a solution when there is no other solution, and often it's very smart and elegant, and often it's very limiting and very full of itself and very soul-destroying. But it has its place, certainly. And then there's the soul of the poet: the poet knows that self-expression is a powerful force which connects people through the bond of common experience, which makes them want to get along and work together and be good to each other. Our souls matter, you see. And you can't shape them to fit inside modular units, to be added and removed according to the demands of our everyday lives. Modernism is an answer, but it will never be the only answer.

I believe that those of us who have the privilege of a roof over our heads and food on the table have a unique ability (responsibility?) to create beautiful things, to show the world how life could be. To present to others an idealized existence that isn't monetized or commodified. Something that's within reach for everyone, because it's about people knowing each other and loving each other. We must create space for the soul to breathe and be. And grow. Even if it is only the space of ideas.

Anyway. That's why I design.