*SILENCE*IS*THE*SPACE*
The postmodern urban landscape is over-filled with ;:V:I;S"U:A}L S`T;I.M:U!L.A|T:I{O;N. I am surprised |
| that the average human being has not descended into some 12CA3TA4TON5IC678STAT9E. Sanity, |
| I suppose it is the ability to F I L T E R out what we don't wish to know. This is the great |
| challenge for graphic designers: How to scream the loudest, attract readers' attentions but |
| not cause someone to F I L T E R out the message. The process of F I L T R A T I O N interests |
| me greatly. John Cage, the spiritual leader of F=L=U=X=U=S, provided an interesting |
| s+o-l+u-t+i-o+n t+o n-o+i-s+e by giving his audience a defined space in which the |
| F I L T R A T I O N of sound is acknowledged. In Cage's composition 4:33 the listener's attention |
| is focussed on random sounds. This simultaneously encourages heightened awareness and selectivity. |
Cage once said in an interview that one definition of art is merely "paying attention". He |
| categorizes sound to be "momentary ephemera" and, like Junk mail, it keeps coming...relentlessly. |
| The parallels with graphic design are obvious. Designers provide platforms or spaces where the |
audience (receiver) is encouraged to pay attention. That moment of attention is fleeting. Like |
sound, graphic design is `N`E`V`E`R M`E`A`N`T T`O S`T`A`Y around for long. Once the message has |
been received  |
|
| I avoid clutter, it gets in my way and interferes with my thinking. It stops any rhythm from |
| establishing itself. The cliche goes that the truly creative artist works in a STATE OF C.H.A.O.S. |
| and out of the cluttered studio (the world) comes the b~e~a~u~t~i~f~u~l ~ w~o~r~k. |
| The craftsperson is expected to have a fastidiously ordered workshop; a place for everything |
| and everything in its place. As a designer, a combination of craftsperson and artist,it feels |
| right to treat c)l%u@t{t+e>r as d:i:s:t:u:r:b:a:n:c:e, as interfering noise. Yet T H E . |
| A R T I S T . I N . M E . H A S . T O . A C K N O W L E D G E . T H A T . S O . M U C H . |
| E N E R G Y. A N D . V I T A L I T Y . I S . P R E S E N T . I N . A N . U N C O N T R O L L E D . |
| E N V I R O N M E N T . . T H E . M O D E R N I S T . I N . M E . S A Y S . T H A T . I . |
| S H O U L D . B E . C L E A R I N G . S P A C E S , . G E T T I N G . R I D . O F . A L L . |
| D I S T U R B A N C E S . S O . I . C A N . T H I N K . A N D . C O M M U N I C A T E . |
| C L E A R L Y . The post-modernist in me accepts that it is hard to communicate without making |
| references to everyone's everyday experience which for most of the time is about distraction |
| and the {{{warmth} {of} {idiosyncracy}}} and |
| imperfection. The post-modernist in me also realises that without modernism I have no method of |
| organising this everyday F=L=U=X into something understandable. |
| .I seek colour and form and uniformity in design that somehow harmonise to keep |
| the discordance of c}l7u@t&t+e^r at bay. |
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