Art & Design Series

Design & Shibui

In Phil Paratore’s book Art And Design, he states the following about design. “ Design is a statement of order and organization. Its goal is unity. For this reason, the symbolic value of design in humanistic philosophy is clear: It is the expression of man’s ubiquitous quest for order.”

Regarding Shibui and this train of thought. Foundations being made out of action art are what they are. When I work a Shibui foundation I feel what I seek is the creation of order or organization. I say this because my goal becomes to solve what I find. As I developed the foundations, over time my reaction was that the watercolor mediums I used had “something” and that something was a commonality. There were types of relationships happening. Some islands of watercolor tint could be grouped into “something” found. A shape. This meant there was an interaction, a common relationship in the group that allowed it to become a whole “something-event” such as a flower or bird. Other events happen in a foundation, Perhaps their commonality is that they make a mountain top and shrubbery at the bottom of the foundation.

Shibui creates its own organization as it is solved. If you add the attribute of design work, with thick to thin lines, filigree work, then that is yet another form of organization.

Phil’s train of thought continues: : A design must stand as an organized entity or idea, whether it is a painting, poem, sonata, or bridge. It must “hold together.” Even the highly charged emotional works of Van Gogh or Beethoven transcend personal chaos and disorder to achieve plastic organization.” In other words, they come together in a cohesive way that makes sense to the brain. “Organization itself comes in almost infinite number and variety of forms. Birds fly south in formation, systematic erosion of a lakeshore, faceted brushstrokes in a Cezanne still life, and the floor plan of the local library are all expressions of order and organization.”

The need to solve what we see, and make sense of it and even the act of creating art becomes storytelling uniquely. The view rediscovers the story and relies on the organization, the commonality of what he sees. His or her mind predicts, it perceives, and it translates.

Phil’s book is a marvelous book and a very interesting way to understand Art and Design. It made sense to my mind this is why I use it as a tool to explain the creation of Shibui Found Image Art.