Art Appreciation

10/24/13
11x14 Collage on Paper

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

Art Appreciation

  

I've come to the conclusion that if a person is set on plastering TV monitors and iPad's all over a building, it's hard to convince them to appreciate Art for the value it can bring to the overall design of a space, providing a place for the eye to rest and the mind to contemplate... and elevating the soul in the process.  Van Gogh and Monet are becoming merely images in a quick-cycling slideshow, if they're present at all.  (Wonder how they'd embrace technology if they were around today?) 

Today's collage is about the role of Fine Art and technology in workplace design, and a few challenges I've been experiencing in my work lately.  The background of the collage represents the two-hour long commute I travel each day to get to a job where my better design judgment and personal feelings are many times shipwrecked by a clueless 'moose in the tundra' that happens to be higher up the organizational chart than I am.  The red stapler references the movie Office Space and its appreciation for many of same themes I encounter every day in corporate life. 

Day 147 Gratitude and red staplers

147:365

Day 147 Gratitude and red staplers

02/24/13

Louise Hay daily affirmation:   “My day begins with gratitude and joy.”

Inspiration exercise from Noah Scalin’s 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Make something inspired by your favorite movie.

OFFICE SPACE

Media:  Office plan blueprint, Magazine photos, Mod Podge, Tissue paper, Sharpie, Watercolors, Button

Time:  55M

Comments:  Not sure if I have a 'favorite'  movie, but there is one that I can sit through whenever I run across it on rerun television.  Office Space.  The iconic red stapler, the waitress' buttons of flair on her vest, and the bleak, fluorescent, cubicle-dwelling existence of the office workers are poignant symbols of work and life in an age of low wage service jobs, open office environments, computers and broken laser printers. And, human cogs in the anonymous wheels of American mega-corporations.  

Feeling gratitude and joy at the beginning of each day on the treadmill that is modern day work/life can some days be challenging... But not impossible.  

Inspired  by this movie, I keep a red Swingline stapler in my drawer at work that reminds me to be grateful that I'm gainfully employed, and to help me keep a humorous perspective on things.  Besides, there is something inherently joyful about a bright red stapler in a drawer full of otherwise boring and bland office supplies.     

Link for more info:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/61b7/?rkgid=275668648&cpg=ogpla&source=google_pla&gclid=CLf54YPiz7UCFQPnnAodwUUA4w