I don't know about you but I judge another artist's worth entirely by the quality of the clutter in his house. I don't blame an artist for having clutter, that's normal, but an artist's clutter should be...what's the word I'm looking for.....artistic!
Even insurance salesmen have clutter but the difference is that our clutter is ..."heightened!" We know how to create interesting piles. Our piles lean in interesting ways and contain challenging shapes and colors. Even our kitchen utensils hang in a stimulating way.
My advice to artists who are talented but somehow never acquired the ability to make interesting piles is to hire a pile advisor right away. Don't procrastinate! You may already have lost jobs due to your inattention to this area! For the convenience of artists who live in L.A. I'll mention that I'm open for consultation but I warn you that I don't come cheap and I must have classical music and occassional saltines while I work.
I don't know about you but I judge another artist's worth entirely by the quality of the clutter in his house. I don't blame an artist for having clutter, that's normal, but an artist's clutter should be...what's the word I'm looking for.....artistic!
Even insurance salesmen have clutter but the difference is that our clutter is ..."heightened!" We know how to create interesting piles. Our piles lean in interesting ways and contain challenging shapes and colors. Even our kitchen utensils hang in a stimulating way.
My advice to artists who are talented but somehow never acquired the ability to make interesting piles is to hire a pile advisor right away. Don't procrastinate! You may already have lost jobs due to your inattention to this area! For the convenience of artists who live in L.A. I'll mention that I'm open for consultation but I warn you that I don't come cheap and I must have classical music and occassional saltines while I work.
Thanks for sharing the photos of your house, Eddie!
ReplyDeleteSee ya
Steve
EF,
ReplyDeleteI have a budding Space Needle on my desk at home made up of a sleeve of blank dvdr's, a couple of books, and some bills. All I need now is the needle on top. Any suggestions?
Jason Kranzusch
Finally! Now I have a justification for maintaining my high-level of clutter! It's for the art!
ReplyDeleteClutter is an art! That's what I told my mother everytime she would destroy my pile of very important things that must remain stacked artistically on top of one another.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had some more recent photos, but what do you think of my clutter circa 2004, Eddie?
!!! and !!!!!
Kali: A noble clutter, Kali! I'm envious! Its better than mine!
ReplyDeleteAlicia: You had the courage to admit that you're neat and that's the first step toward a cure! The next step is to learn clean avoidance.
Drop a gooey old kleenex in the middle of your living room floor and don't pick it up. Just leave it there! If you have a friend who could stay with you for a couple of days while you wrestle with the temptation to pick it up, that would be ideal. You can do it!
Steve: Actually it's Hans Calder's house.
My room was recently tidied by my mother.
ReplyDeleteCould you have discovered the soloution to my recent block?
Is negative space permissible when creating artistic clutter?
ReplyDeleteahahah this is funny. I feel guilty because i cleaned up the mess on my desk because i thought it was TOO cluttered and unorganized.
ReplyDeletealso, I checked to see if i was right about the album recommendation, and i was. It is indeed, in fact, "Johnny smith featuring Stan Getz - Moonlight in Vermont" I'll be doing a post on it soon and add a sample so you can listen to it. hopefully it should be on my blog soon.
Unrelated Question!
ReplyDeleteO! Mighty Theory Chair Highmaster! How would you go about drawing someone eating bacon delicately? Like as if the bacon were black oysters or something- your thoughts your gracious, fastidious, majesty-ness..........excuse my english!
Kali: I alresdy posted something like that on June 26th!
ReplyDeleteEddie! That's the exact opposite! They are chugging down their food!
ReplyDeleteA great man once offered this cutting criticism of an uncluttered artist: "he's probably the kind of guy who keeps all his pencils in perfectly straight lines on his desk!" Quelle disdain! I've never forgotten that.
ReplyDeleteKali: "Pictures That Influenced Me #1A", 6/26/06. You must have dialed up a different date. The guy I'm talking about isn't chugging.
ReplyDeleteOne tip:
ReplyDeleteIf your clutter includes old food, dirty dishes or deceased rodents, you are not an artist. You are a slob.
I did pass that one over! I feel like a fool! Thanks Eddie this one is perfect!
ReplyDeleteUm, does dogs playing poker make my clutter artistic?
ReplyDeleteSometimes I yearn for the artistically uncluttered look, the sort of look set dressers for sitcoms produce, that probably doesn't exist in many places that are actually lived in.
And an image comes to mind I have never seen in a sitcom (probably because, almost no one ever sits in these rooms, so they would never be shown with actors)... Those transparent vinyl clad, off limits, suburban living rooms, I have seen several times in several homes, that everyone avoids, as some sort of shrine to furniture or whatever it is.
Eddie, I am a total packrat! I realize I have been throughout my whole life. I love it, yet despise it.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing is, when you have to move, what do you DO with all this stuff? I still have a bunch of carp back at my folks' house, and I don't know what it's future will forsee! Is it time to start anew?
It's just too bad, because I feel like every object has it's story, and that story is hard to trash.
I have a towering pile of junk on a table in my bedroom that's becoming quite impressive...but it's could use some improvement, and perhaps coincidentally so could my art.
ReplyDelete