Aha Moment: Cultural Hall — Feature Issue #78

“… a crucial function of art is to communicate in a language without rules.”

This just into my inbox today from Culture Hall and it suddenly hit me that when I move back and forth from design to art, literally getting up from my computer, walking 10 feet into my studio, I am confusing the functions of both. No wonder I worry if my art is too messy or if my design is too stilted. I am going to hang a sign over my studio doorway that says “NO RULES” and put a smaller sign on my computer monitor that says”Specific Results with a Determined Need.”

From Feature #78 of Culture Hall:
“Design can be defined as producing specific results that address a determined need, conveyed in the most concise and direct manner possible. The language of design is seductive for its rationality, yet fundamentally lacks the humor, invention, and criticality that distinguishes a painting from an advertisement, or a sculpture from an imposition. In contrast, a crucial function of art is to communicate in a language without rules. Giving speech to the speechless spurs an infinite cycle of creation and inspiration where the limits of accepted terms, familiar and invented signs are constantly redefined. In abstraction the practicality of the grid, visually pleasing patterns, primary elements and the expectations of formalism are a logic to operate with and against. Captivated by this timeless and unending dance, the artists in ‘Logical Conclusions’ borrow and obscure the aesthetics of design to reveal the beauty in precarity.”