aleckhuang
Dec 29, 2011
Undergraduate / 'Curvaceous. Linear. Human tool.' - NYU - What intrigues you? [3]
What intrigues you? Tell us about one work of art, scientific achievement, piece of literature, method of communication, or place in the world (a film, book, performance, website, event, location, etc.), and explain its significance to you.
Curvaceous. Linear. Human tool. "Instrumentality". A constructed fabrication between us, mankind, and the world. Surely by this definition, a screwdriver is no less beautiful than the tacky art we find in museums. A beautiful figure with purpose and utility. What I see here is rotund, it is simulating the motion in which I see the tool being used. The usage consumes me. Eats me entirely. The wood chips, the asymmetrical curves are credit to the perfection of this tool. Perfection not in its condition, but for its purpose in life. The worn down head, uneven surface is testimony to its age and experiences. The bent metal tells a convincing story. Perhaps this tool may not have even been used for its intentional purposes with screws, but torquing and plying apart harder pieces of metal. The poor tool, it has been misused and mistreated. But that does not hurt us. The two materials, wood and metal. Is it symbolism? A dichotomy of material, a transition from the master to his subject; from wood to metal. Perhaps a guard from the harsh and metallic resilience of the world and our warm and wooden nature of our hands. What I have before me is a screw driver unique, unreproducible. Not because its craft is particularly difficult to imitate, but because it has a history. A history known only to its users and left in fragments. The beauty of the tool we call a screw driver is not its utility but its history. From this screwdriver, I learned that in fact there is beauty in everything.
Harsh and honest critiques are much appreciated
I'm applying for an art history major
Alexander Huang
What intrigues you? Tell us about one work of art, scientific achievement, piece of literature, method of communication, or place in the world (a film, book, performance, website, event, location, etc.), and explain its significance to you.
Curvaceous. Linear. Human tool. "Instrumentality". A constructed fabrication between us, mankind, and the world. Surely by this definition, a screwdriver is no less beautiful than the tacky art we find in museums. A beautiful figure with purpose and utility. What I see here is rotund, it is simulating the motion in which I see the tool being used. The usage consumes me. Eats me entirely. The wood chips, the asymmetrical curves are credit to the perfection of this tool. Perfection not in its condition, but for its purpose in life. The worn down head, uneven surface is testimony to its age and experiences. The bent metal tells a convincing story. Perhaps this tool may not have even been used for its intentional purposes with screws, but torquing and plying apart harder pieces of metal. The poor tool, it has been misused and mistreated. But that does not hurt us. The two materials, wood and metal. Is it symbolism? A dichotomy of material, a transition from the master to his subject; from wood to metal. Perhaps a guard from the harsh and metallic resilience of the world and our warm and wooden nature of our hands. What I have before me is a screw driver unique, unreproducible. Not because its craft is particularly difficult to imitate, but because it has a history. A history known only to its users and left in fragments. The beauty of the tool we call a screw driver is not its utility but its history. From this screwdriver, I learned that in fact there is beauty in everything.
Harsh and honest critiques are much appreciated
I'm applying for an art history major
Alexander Huang