Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Designer vs Artists…creations vs master pieces…



Creations and creator are two words that I don’t really understand nowadays. For me, creation comes out of the blue (must be that reminiscence that I have for being raised up in a country that STILL has a catholic confession).

I have notice that a designer is called a creator, or at least, his works are called creations, while what the artist does is a piece (of art). I am not really sure about this but it is something that I’ve being thinking about lately.

It all started with a newspaper release in EL PAIS (probably the best-seller newspaper in Spain) about a young designer called creator by the author.
I already knew about his work, a few days ago I visited his website ( www.seethisway.com), and I found his work fresh and fun. Finally!

If you enter in his website, you’ll see that some of his “creations” are not only useful and decorative, they also have a why, and an answer inside.
This young Spaniard designer is called Jorge Mañes, and as I said he was on the newspaper for his exhibition in ARCO. I’ve said before that there was also a space for design, and casapasarela gave the opportunity to a group of young designers to show their works.
Mañes decided to use his space for a hanger called Dear Hunter. I suppose that you are thinking about the film, and I hope that after reading this, you’ ll think about this work.

I could try to explain what is the meaning and the origin of it, but this time, the creator had the courtesy of explaining it in a text beside the hanger:

"Footprints are small clues that guide us through the depths of our memory, and as such, are able to transport us almost instantly into the remote depths of our consciousness. I love things that have the power to evoke something in us, to make us think or remember, that are able to tell a story and leave a mark on us."

"Dear Hunter emerges from a personal necessity for self expression, as a result of a creative process in which the deconstruction of a deer hunting trophy changes the rules of the game, and invites the viewer to reflect about the disregard of humanity for something as basic as the right of any living being to a dignified death."


After reading this, and visiting carefully his website, noticing that his work in Italy (Jorge Mañes now lives and develops his work in the nation of design) is more and more important, and every time changing and full of energy and knowledge, I started to think why is not this a piece of art? Why is Dear Hunter not his master piece for the moment? Or is it?.

To tell the truth, I don’t know. And I don’t know why an artist is not a creator. Are they different levels or just different ways to say the same thing?

We study at University the importance of what is useful for the Bauhaus artists. Would they be artists today? Or creators?

1 comment:

JuanMa Garcia-Ruiz said...

I thought all artists are creators. It was clear to me until you wrote this. A good subject to think!