Comments on: Limits

Limits

carbide — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:06:43 -0800

The value of limits, expressed through the process of a four-year-old making a painting.

UNIFORM Studio journal is written by Martha, who makes clothes as well as architecture, and records the process behind her clothing designs along with reflections on the things, textures, light and ideas around her. Also, the painting's pretty sweet.

By: carbide

carbide — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:08:10 -0800

Martha also runs a flickr group for still lifes, which follows the poetic, reflective thread too.

By: Chan

Chan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:15:46 -0800

When I read the post on the front page I totally thought it would be about limits in calculus. This is good too though.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:23:52 -0800

That first article is fail for not having a picture of the finished painting.

By: CheshireCat

CheshireCat — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:25:27 -0800

Here is the finished painting.

By: nat

nat — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:28:36 -0800

You and me both, Chan. Now I'm trying to think up meaningful ways to take the "limit" of a series of pictures; I sort of wonder what would come out. Of course the actual limits the post is talking about are also interesting. Avoidance of the paradox of choice an such. Although really I wonder here if the author isn't simply trying to impose her own idea of "art" on her son; real "art" involves blank space, so the picture could have used more. Seperately though I've personally found a restricted palette to be a joy in its own way; once upon a time I was trying to use up some extra browns, reds, and yellows, so I decided to paint something with only those. One of the more interesting things I ever made, even if the limit was entirely practical in nature.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:31:50 -0800

I don't see any delta-epsilon proofs. What the bloodclot?

By: Nanukthedog

Nanukthedog — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:35:37 -0800

I hear you about the calculus, but I was totally thinking it had more to do with Statistics. Of course I was also thinking that you could mean this from more of a current events perspective. Then again maybe you mean something about scarcity... Ultimately though I'm out of time to write more for this post, so I'll leave you with this.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:39:22 -0800

Interesting. It's self-imposed-limits day here on the blue — the oblique strategies, a few posts down, are about more or less the same thing. It turns out creative freedom is a pain in the ass, and it's useful to have some arbitrary constraints.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:52:39 -0800

Total freedom leads to noise. Total rigidity leads to stagnation. Art is the sweet spot in between. Art is playfulness within boundaries. The true artists completely understand the boundaries and does not try to push past them; the true artists completely understands the elasticity between the boundaries and stretches it to its fullest.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:02:02 -0800

This is wonderful. I love kids, and art, and hope to work with both. (I currently work with just kids, though I try to throw some art at them every so often. I gave them cameras for Christmas!) Very inspiring post. Thanks!

By: doctoryes

doctoryes — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:09:13 -0800

I currently work with just kids, though I try to throw some art at them every so often I tried that the other way around once, but neither his parents nor the museum staff were very amused.

By: pointilist

pointilist — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:56:02 -0800

I've done some of my best cooking when there wasn't much of anything in the fridge.

By: gwint

gwint — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:13:53 -0800

That's a beautiful painting. This reminds me of a great quote from the play Six Degrees of Separation:

When the kids were little, we went to a parents' meeting at their school and I asked the teacher why all her students were geniuses in the second grade? Look at the first grade. Blotches of green and black. Look at third grade. Camouflage. But the second grade-- your grade. Matisses everyone. You've made my child a Matisse. Let me study with you. Let me into the second grade! What is your secret? And this is what she said: "Secret? I don't have any secret. I just know when to take their drawings away from them."

By: jaymzjulian

jaymzjulian — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:56:19 -0800

This is what I love about the 8bit graphics scenes - Limits begat creativity. 16 fixed colours or bust.