Yes, years ago (going back to the late 70′s/80′s, I was heavily involved in making art which took its cue from Los Angeles “Space and Light” artists. Their work went (and still goes!) well beyond any notions of minimalism as “design” like the sort we are talking about. What they did was push the boundaries of perception to the point where one could discuss a spiritual relationship with the viewer.
By the way, I still find their ideas and work (especially Robert Irwin and James Turrell) to be the most penetrating of anything I’ve ever experienced.
That said, I’m always amazed at how “telling” design can be. In the sort of minimalism we are referring to here, (where elements are reduced down to essentials), the focus is on form itself as “content”. When I look at your choice of font, its size, the overall proportion of your screen space and color (exactly what type of grey, etc., I am immediately attracted. I detect a certain savvy. And usually when I’m attracted at this level, it often (not always!) follows that the “package and the goods inside are of that same sensibility. This is certainly the case with your lovely space.
Now, I could have chosen a minimalist response to your question. I neglected to mention how highly I esteem irony.
finnegan: now I’m intrigued…what is that you exactly do? if I had to guess I’d say that you are an architect, no? on the contrary I find your short synthesis of what minimalism essentially means to you extremely illuminating…I’ve to admit that I’m not very conversant on Art Theory so excuse me if I make a fool of myself or sound pretentious…
But before I start I’ve a confession to make…except for the three main pages I did not really design both my blogs or my photo log…(even there my design is derived from a German photographer’s site with which I fell in love), however, I made some modifications wherever necessary to suit my taste…unfortunately, I’m still not very good with html and css to produce a new design right out of what is in my head…hopefully, I’ll do that one day…
Therefore, I naturally tend to gravitate towards designs by others which evoke the feeling of uncluttered space…where the beauty lies on the truth that less can mean more and fonts and forms are used to enhance this feeling of sparseness…where everything comes together in perfect harmony as visual poetry…this is the aesthetic that appeals to me…I do not like clutter or crowded spaces…
and thanks a lot for the links….what you have said has already sparked my interest and I’ll be off to learn more about my favorite field!
No architect me! Ha ha. It’s a field that I can love and intensely dislike with a passion. I swoon when its beautiful and edifying, and loathe it when it’s not. Mostly modern architecture is bombastic (or just plain ugly) unfortunately. Great architecture is so rare—especially 20th century architecture. Most of the great 20th century architecture is theoretical rather than real.
Now I’m more intrigued by how you “borrowed” the design of another site. I’ve heard it’s possible to do this, but don’t know exactly how. Is there a certain software capable of sucking up another site’s code? I see nothing wrong with that, so long as one makes certain modifications. You’re most likely borrowing from something already borrowed anyway. The point is that you adopted and then adapted. That’s basically what art has always been. Nothing is “original”. That would go against the very notion of who we are as humans. ;-) everything is adaptation.
Glad we could make contact in this different way. I am completely fascinated by all these blog developments. We bloggers seem to be on the frontier of something truly great.
finnegan: damn! I was wrong then…I agree with you on most parts about modern architecture though…interesting buildings are few and far between…and most modern architects seem to have this intense liking for glass…personally I feel there is too much use of that these days…but I’ve been wanting to visit some places in Spain for sometime now…I dont know if you have heard of this but the city Santiago (hope I got it right), dubbed the city of arts and sciences apparently has some fabulous modern architecture…I hope to visit that place…and BBC used to have this program on urban spaces where they would focus on modern architecture…it was quite fascinating for me…
as for the site well in every browser there is an option to view the source of a page…I borrowed many elements from that site this way….if you want I can give you the link and you can decide for yourself how much I coped/adapted!!
I know, I feel the same way too, I firmly believe that blogs can be harbingers of change…and this has already happened in some cases…let us hope blogs bring something big and fresh to this world!
Witty word-play. I’m still reeling from the sort of philosophical punch of the first two lines… only to float at the tenderness of the third. *wistful sigh*
Comments
Nice haiku!
‘ Spent a few moments in utter happiness……The remembrance of those is my life….’
a lovely haiku!
beautiful :)
Oh how I love your minimalist sensibility anil!
I am the Superflywebpimp of minimalist aficianados, hehe.
I died a thousand births in your intimate words. is a love unknown to mere mortals. It is a feeling that only gods would knowingly wink at.
:A:, rusty, gulnaz, lorena: thank you…but I didn’t intend this to be a haiku…is it one? I don’t think it sticks to the rule-set of a haiku…
finnegan: *smiles* why thank you, I’m happy to have found another lover of minimalism (arent you?), an aesthetic that defines my taste to a t…
nah…what I experienced is what you and everyone else experience at some point of our lives…but I do like the gods winking part!
Yes, years ago (going back to the late 70′s/80′s, I was heavily involved in making art which took its cue from Los Angeles “Space and Light” artists. Their work went (and still goes!) well beyond any notions of minimalism as “design” like the sort we are talking about. What they did was push the boundaries of perception to the point where one could discuss a spiritual relationship with the viewer.
By the way, I still find their ideas and work (especially Robert Irwin and James Turrell) to be the most penetrating of anything I’ve ever experienced.
That said, I’m always amazed at how “telling” design can be. In the sort of minimalism we are referring to here, (where elements are reduced down to essentials), the focus is on form itself as “content”. When I look at your choice of font, its size, the overall proportion of your screen space and color (exactly what type of grey, etc., I am immediately attracted. I detect a certain savvy. And usually when I’m attracted at this level, it often (not always!) follows that the “package and the goods inside are of that same sensibility. This is certainly the case with your lovely space.
Now, I could have chosen a minimalist response to your question. I neglected to mention how highly I esteem irony.
Here are a few links to the artists. Perhaps you might be interested.
http://www.henryart.org/skyspace.htm
http://www.conversations.org/99-1-turrell.htm
http://www.mattress.org/catalogue/02/turrell/
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/
http://www.usu.edu/laep/asla/laepweek/irwinbio.html
http://www.diacenter.org/exhibs_b/irwin/essay.html
finnegan: now I’m intrigued…what is that you exactly do? if I had to guess I’d say that you are an architect, no? on the contrary I find your short synthesis of what minimalism essentially means to you extremely illuminating…I’ve to admit that I’m not very conversant on Art Theory so excuse me if I make a fool of myself or sound pretentious…
But before I start I’ve a confession to make…except for the three main pages I did not really design both my blogs or my photo log…(even there my design is derived from a German photographer’s site with which I fell in love), however, I made some modifications wherever necessary to suit my taste…unfortunately, I’m still not very good with html and css to produce a new design right out of what is in my head…hopefully, I’ll do that one day…
Therefore, I naturally tend to gravitate towards designs by others which evoke the feeling of uncluttered space…where the beauty lies on the truth that less can mean more and fonts and forms are used to enhance this feeling of sparseness…where everything comes together in perfect harmony as visual poetry…this is the aesthetic that appeals to me…I do not like clutter or crowded spaces…
and thanks a lot for the links….what you have said has already sparked my interest and I’ll be off to learn more about my favorite field!
No architect me! Ha ha. It’s a field that I can love and intensely dislike with a passion. I swoon when its beautiful and edifying, and loathe it when it’s not. Mostly modern architecture is bombastic (or just plain ugly) unfortunately. Great architecture is so rare—especially 20th century architecture. Most of the great 20th century architecture is theoretical rather than real.
Now I’m more intrigued by how you “borrowed” the design of another site. I’ve heard it’s possible to do this, but don’t know exactly how. Is there a certain software capable of sucking up another site’s code? I see nothing wrong with that, so long as one makes certain modifications. You’re most likely borrowing from something already borrowed anyway. The point is that you adopted and then adapted. That’s basically what art has always been. Nothing is “original”. That would go against the very notion of who we are as humans. ;-) everything is adaptation.
Glad we could make contact in this different way. I am completely fascinated by all these blog developments. We bloggers seem to be on the frontier of something truly great.
The rules are that there are no rules.
;-)
finnegan: damn! I was wrong then…I agree with you on most parts about modern architecture though…interesting buildings are few and far between…and most modern architects seem to have this intense liking for glass…personally I feel there is too much use of that these days…but I’ve been wanting to visit some places in Spain for sometime now…I dont know if you have heard of this but the city Santiago (hope I got it right), dubbed the city of arts and sciences apparently has some fabulous modern architecture…I hope to visit that place…and BBC used to have this program on urban spaces where they would focus on modern architecture…it was quite fascinating for me…
as for the site well in every browser there is an option to view the source of a page…I borrowed many elements from that site this way….if you want I can give you the link and you can decide for yourself how much I coped/adapted!!
I know, I feel the same way too, I firmly believe that blogs can be harbingers of change…and this has already happened in some cases…let us hope blogs bring something big and fresh to this world!
:A: *grins*…now we are talking!
Makes me think abt the deaths we go through waiting for just one intimate word…
Witty word-play. I’m still reeling from the sort of philosophical punch of the first two lines… only to float at the tenderness of the third. *wistful sigh*
Geetanjali: yeah, I know, an excruciating wait full of sweet pain and yearning…
Soulless: *grins*…what can I say to such lovely words…except thank you…