Abstract Random

Graffiti as Fine Art

// June 26th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Art

One thing I miss about living back in Washington is a friend of mine named Nathan. (I’d link to his website here, but it seems that it isn’t up anymore).

I met Nathan while we were both enrolled in the Graphic Design B.F.A. program at The Art Institute of Seattle.  It turned out that we were both living in or near Tacoma, WA and would ride the bus up to school together nearly every day.

Nathan is a very accomplished and talented artist who has been writing graffiti since he was a young boy.  His work can be seen all over the streets of Tacoma. (all the work he does is legal and he gets the building owner’s permission before painting).  My wife an I got the privilege of getting a personal tour of Nathan’s work when he asked my wife to photograph his graffiti for a book he was putting together.

Before I met Nathan, I never really saw graffiti as much more than juvenile vandalism.  Boy was I wrong!  Nathan’s style of design is heavily influenced by graffiti, and I have to tell you that every project Nathan worked on turned out amazing.  He has inspired me on many different levels, and I miss not hanging out with him.

Nathan’s talents and passions include graphic design, graffiti, interior design and many other forms of artistic expression.  He truly is a fine artist and his work (wether it’s painted on a leather chair, on the side of a building, or in a magazine) speaks volumes to me.  I’ve come to love graffiti and ’street’ style design work (although I’m not cut out to work in that style like Nathan is) and feel very strongly that graffiti is a genuine form of fine art.  I’d go to a gallery any day to see his work!

Thanks Nathan, for your friendship and your inspiration throughout the few years we’ve known eachother.

100 Thing Challenge

// June 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // Life

I came across this article on Time magazine’s website today. Dave Bruno, a 37 year old online entrepreneur, looked around his San Diego home one day last summer and realized how much his family’s belongings were weighing him down. Thus began what he calls the 100 Thing Challenge.

“Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we’re no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe free; we’re huddled masses yearning to free up space on a countertop. Which is why people are so intrigued by the 100 Thing Challenge, a grass-roots movement in which otherwise seemingly normal folks are pledging to whittle down their possessions to a mere 100 items.” – Excerpt from Time

Photo credit: Donald Nausbaum / Photographer’s Choice / Getty

Finding this article came at an interesting time for me, because I have been thinking a lot lately about how much ’stuff’ I have. All this stuff, but not enough time to use and enjoy it. All this stuff, and I still buy more every week. Some of it comes from moving into a house, and feeling the need to furnish it and decorate it with stylish things. That I don’t feel so guilty about. It’s all the ‘personal’ stuff that I have. My office is cluttered with things, knick-knacks, collections, junk and more. It’s all stuff I really like, but is it really stuff that I need?

I’ve been thinking of what I can do to consolidate down to the essentials, and this 100 Thing Challenge is very intriguing to me. Could I actually do it? I’m not sure. I’ve done a few things lately to consolidate. For example, I probably have over 600 CDs that sit in a bookshelf in our livingroon. Recently, I got a large external hard drive, and I am working toward moving all my music to digital files. I’ve already sold my 7 speaker stereo system as well as my 300-disk CD changer. Now, I have a speaker that I can plug my iPod into and I’m just as happy with that. I know that’s a minor change, but as I live out my life and think things through, I’m going to try hard to rid myself of the unnecessary.