Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal

Design is, in abstract terms, a sum of individual signals, which combine to produce a powerful overall signal. Good design is by no means the result of purely rational thoughts. And that’s what makes our mission so difficult. After all, design is always the reflection of attitudes towards life, views and convictions.

Visiting and view art in galleries is one of my favorite activities, so with this project in mind I have been trying to find the right person and place to do a bit more in-depth research on a do this write up. While browsing the Lawrence gallery in portland I found a few artists who I found particularly interesting and had begun to look into them but, as my father took me away to do a bit of test driving for my new car... the gallery at Audi stole my heart. Unlike most car dealerships, Audi truly embraces the concept of design, lines, and experience and they take that into account from the second that you step into the storefront. This is an installation of sorts, preparing you to see and experience their beloved vehicles.

As all their cars are quite elegant and the TT and R8 steal the 'show', the new audi A5/S5 series truly came through as a unique creation and what I will be describing. Currently there are a lot of coupes on the market, each with their own look, but many can fit into a basic category... muscle, luxury, cheap... the list goes on, but the A5 looks aggressive, and mean, its lines smooth and elegant, very james bondsy. It is rare that I like a car all the way around, but this one made me get up close and personal, trying to get every angle to understand the lines, the shapes. Audi has been progressive in the last few years about limiting there boxyness and this is a prime example. The car grows from front to back and then pulls into a very refined rear. The interior you can tell was a place of great innovation as well, pulling several lines from the exterior into the interior while focusing on minimalism and style. There are many cars on the market right now, but none in this lower eschelon of pricing can truly be considered artistic throughout... R/D just makes it to hard to have it all.

To research more, I wanted to know about the designer himself. The showroom told me his name was Walter De'Silva and he had taken over Audi design in 2003 and was the lead designer for Lamborghini as well. Through a bit more background checking I found that he was born in Lecco, Italia during 1951 and had started his career at 21 with Fiat in Turin, Italy. After a few years he moved to Studio Benetto in Milan where he focused on interior building design. In 1986 De'Silva joined the Alfa Romeo Design team where he worked until 1994 when he took over for both Fiat and Romeos design. In 2000 he shifted to Volkswagen and in 2003 he took over for Audi and Lambo.

What makes De'Silva so interesting is his ability to think beyond cars and towards larger ideas, something I think that many car companies have forgotten... in an interview with Car and Body Design in 2006 he said, " A further task for me was to establish a strong family resemblance within the growing model range, whilst emphasising the individual characters of our cars. Although this appears to contradict itself, nature has already provided a brilliant solution to this problem. We took the analogy with real human families seriously and, in doing so, defined the genetic building blocks of the brand, the DNA, as it were." His vast experience in many fields allows him to pull experiences, meanings and connectivity into the creation of his artwork. In connection to the A5 he has said, "I am convinced that the Audi A5 is the most beautiful car I have ever designed in my career." This vehicle is true work of art

With the development of further knowledge. looking at the A5 only makes it appear as more of a work of art, than a vehicle. Each line has meaning beyond aero dynamics, his inspirations pull far beyond the desire to sell a vehicle and its uniqueness is quite impressive. As industrial designers get more and more freedom and our technology allows them to conquer their dreams, I am quite excited about the future of modern design.

What Is an Artist

1. Creative

2. Innovative

3. Risk Taker

4. Intellectual

5. Detailed

6. Talented

7. Open Minded

8. Intelligent

9. Business Savvy

10. Unique

How do you define “spirituality”?

For me spirituality is a connection between ones self and another aspect of nature, life, or in some cases religion. Primarily it comes from a trust, connection or bond with something else that allows for a deeper more intimate relation which allows for greater things to be exposed. For me, my greatest spirituality comes from whitewater kayaking. Each river, creek or ocean wave has its own personality, character and requirements, you have to carefully study, approach and respect the water and do you best to navigate your way through. Being out in nature, understanding the hydrolic pushes and really thinking through simplistic situations is truly and spiritual situation for me.

Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think that there is a significant difference. Religion is a forced sense of spirituality, they tell you to beleive and you do. I do think it is possible through connections and studys to gain a deeper meaning within religion but that in the most common cases a false sense of spirituality is what is typically seen. Obviously however, I am hypercritical of religion, at least the caucasion interpretation which is more a forced lifestyle than a set of goals and guides to live your life.

How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity for me is having the ability to see something, examine it and then look outside the box to develop it, make it better or expand the concept. Two examples, on the river, there may be one easy path, but, a better line may be better if you more throughly go through each paddle stroke, considering your postion to get to the next place. Also, in areas of engineering and design... Engineers typically make the product where as they have little concept of its shape, look or future outcome. Where the creativity of say an industrial designer has to see a product, make it better and then sell it, which is much more creative.

What is the source of creativity?

As I sort of previously stated it comes from a desire to understand and hold a deeper meaning or development of something even ordinary or extrodinary. It can range from golf shots, to pencil strokes. Creativity comes when there is a set of standards "the easy road" and an alternative which requires a greater set of skills.

Enjoying Horror 101

Fear 101:

The blog entry discusses the reasons in which we enjoy watching horror films, shows and books. It lays it that men and women like the for different reasons but in the end it comes back to the human desire to want to see things through. We want to empathize with those in trouble, we want them to survive, and so the lows and the highs keep us so involved and active that we get deep enough for the suspense to take us and make us jump at the slightest scare. At least a good horror film does. He argues that some of these movies are overdone. agree that the violence is overdone in some, heck, many movies. The first Hills Have Eyes had decent image of what people pushed to the limit will do, but the second one lacked any good psychological evaluation in favor of pure grit. As for Saw, I think the mentality is fascinating. How far are people willing to go? And how obsessed is this madman with his belief? It is a dark view of what is right and wrong. He is punishing those who deserve to be punished as well as trying to make them appreciate their lives, but are his methods just? Would any other methods work?

Gaut argues that people who either complain that the movie wasn't scary enough or complain of the quality of production comes back to a notion that deals with a emotional heightening. The individual truly wanted to be scared, but just could not get into the movie, "people seem to enjoy experiencing negative emotions" so when you go in trying to get scared it often makes this exponentially more difficult.

Dexter

Enjoying Horror:

The American nation is obsessed with death, killers, murder. We have numerous forms of murder mystery, who done its and horror films. Dexter, a TV show in its fourth year at Showtime takes all of them together into one well designed creation. The show is based around the lead character, Dexter, who grew up as a troubled child and thus his dad a police officer for the Miami police department decided to train Dexter to become a serial killer, to take justice into his own hands and kill people who were unpunishable or catchable by the American Judicial System. Thus, dexter is a serial killer who kills serial killers. What is documented in the show is a tremendous attention to detail, and preciseness to his actions and a toss up in personal emotions about whether or not to like the character of Dexter, as one side Dexter represents a murderer or the other side which is the vigilante we all desire. Another interesting twist, is the development that dexter is crime scene investigator so he is able to tamper, follow and prowl his victims. The show in general carries a creepy tone with a overshadowing inner monologue as we watch dexter live all fascets of his life.

For this sense of horror we can look at the writings of Berys Gaut, as he writes that "interpretations of horror fictions are used to express personal sexual fears, fear of death (297)" and so on. Dexter represents that little voice in our head that would love to take action into our own hands, kill those who are guilty and suspicious. We all have our inner problems and his are far worse than many of ours. We find similarities that make us happy to watch his struggles. CSI gives us the good guys solving crime, Prison break gives us the bad guys trying to escape. Dexter gives us the bad guy working for the good guys who kills the bad guys. And we love it.

http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do

Who I am... Through How I Dress

1. My personal upbringing developed the way I express myself in several ways. First off, my parents while emphasizing the utter importance of education, and success allowed each of the three boys to find their paths to that point. My eldest is a industrial designer, wears very 'rei' outdoorsy type clothing, my younger brother is on the path of athletics as I was for a while and thus wears a lot of Nike and other sporty type clothing. However my success after passing through an age of athletic wear when I played sports in high school has developed to follow my beliefs about success, and where I want to be in 5, 10 and 30 years. I dress for success, I want that first impression to stick and I want it to be positive for every person you meet could be your next business partner, boss or client and it is important for them to think highly of you. Another aspect in how I put myself together in the morning, comes from my active involvement in the gay community in portland and especially my idolization of my uncle mike, who is a very successful architect. The community stressed the importance of fashion, dressing well, dining well and how that two and two get you to bigger and better places... just look at the forbes top 100, there are a tremendous number of homosexuals, they also typically live in the richest regions of most major urban cities... they know how to be successful.

The hardest thing for me is knowing that in the process of trying to get into a relationship with a girl, my professional demeanor is quite different from that of a typical college male and thus it takes more time to read my book.


2. Number one in my family is to do something that benefits the people, number two in my family is be successful and number three in my family is be original. While I have yet to see if my effects on the people of this world will impact my dress. I have created opportunities in the banking world through my professional demeanor to be successful, and get to a place where I can do tremendous good through my creativity. I think that my demeanor and dress played a significant impact in getting invitations to these type of positions.

3. Because of my core beliefs I do my best to surround myself with individuals who have the same drive and desires that I do, which typically leads to the same sort of dress. Typically you'll catch us in polos, designer jeans and a nice jacket. My freshman year I joined a fraternity which preached the importance of brotherhood, accountability, integrity, academic success and community giving... while this group brothers vary significantly, we are all driven and looking for future success.

Plating Food

As an individual who thoroughly enjoys the art and process of food preparation the need for proper plating is absolutly essential in my opinion to any dish. Much like you and I find a women or man attractive and thus first impressions tell a great deal about the future like or dislike, the first view of a dish is just as important. In an article found in How to Cook Gourmet, titled, How to Plate Like a Pro, the author Chef Kathy discusses the reality of food, in her opinion, if the presentation is excellent, it can over power the taste of the food, making for a masterful dish. To do so she discusses, plate size... bigger the better.... color... natural earth tones, the need to build height and depth to your plating, the use of bright colors and contasts to bring interests to the dish and also the need for simplicity due to the fact that you must serve the dish quickly so that when presented it will still be warm.

In terms of 'food as art' the process detailed by the Chef on plating using the clock it method : The conventional "smiley face" (starch at ten o'clock, meat at two o'clock, and vegetables at six o'clock) is always a safe bet... where you also use the vertex as a focal point matches with the formulas and patterns often found in the methods that artists approach their canvasses.

A perfect real life example of the importance of plating through a comical sense can be seen in recent ads by Carls Junior and Pizza Hut. In the Carls ads they plate one of their 'six dollar burgers' in a nice restaurant, serve them for more money and then reveal to the client that they just paid for a fast food burger. The individuals are relatively shocked but this concept works, because when put down on a nice platter, things that appear visually are often considered to taste better. Next time you buy fast food for someone, plate it... I am sure the will be quite impressed.

Kathy, Chef. "How to Plate Like A Pro." How to cook gourmet. 26 Apr. 2009.