You are a millionaire. You want to stand out. You want to make something amazing. You want to be one of a kind. You set out for an extraordinary venture. You know the biz, you know the “money ways”. You want to bring it down, make it happen.
Scenario 1. You think you know how it is done. You think you know what is beautiful and harmonious. You think you know what goes with what. You think you have plenty of grandious ideas. You think you have good taste. You think you know what looks good, what tastes good, what smells good, what’s trendy or chic. And you might be right. If you indeed have all these skills as you think, you might pull it off … all right.
Scenerio 2. You know you don’t know it all and you decide you need the advice of experts. However, you have already decided what is exactly that you want and how you want the end result to look. So you employ the expert just to aprove your idea and find ways to make it happen. If he fails, you simply fire him and find another one. And yet another one. And another one. Hm! Are we missing something here?
Scenerio 3. You’ve turn absolutely mad. You are fed up with realizing that your ideas turn out looking just “ok”. So far from extraordinary. You decide you employ artists of all sorts to work for you full time. You set them free so they may bring about their absolute best.
1. The architect. I know, I know, you’ve traveled a lot, you’ve seen some amazing pieces of architecture. You really love those italian churches or the french castles. And a talented architect can find ways to bring that home. But don’t interfere. Let him work. Give him a space, time and money. And give him your darlings.
2. The chef. Nowadays food is not something you ingest to keep you going. Now food is an industry, an art, a religion, a way of life. Food is cultural, political, economical, environmental, global, institutional. Food is communication. Food is sensual. It takes decades of passionate gourmet dedication to understand and employ the subtleties of classy cusine. So set your chef free. Let him explore new domains, let him discover new flavors, let him choose what he feels are essential ingredients and let him innovate. Can you almost taste the amazingness of his creation?
3. The designer. Have you ever been to Italy? Have you ever walked into a respectable clothing or shoe store? If not, please, be warned: you don’t have a say as what to buy to suit you for your chosen occasion. You enter, you give them your information and you let them provide you with the proper outfit and shoes. The role of the designer is crucial, from fashion to home interior. No one ever tries to skip or replace the designer. And that’s why things turn out outstanding.
4. The poet. Well, here I must pause for a second. I must take a few deep breaths and close my eyes. I must try to focus really hard to convey a plethora of feelings into a few hopefully eloquent words. You think you know what to say, but you don’t. Yet better said, you think that you should say what you think. But you shouldn’t. You should say what you feel. But what you feel is so blurry and “out there”. You can’t even begin to imagine it could be described into logical sentences. Who could? Poetry is not rhymes. Poetry is the clear wine of your emotion after much juice squeezing, stirring, fermenting and ages long sedimentation. Can you do it all yourself? Then why not employ the “services” of a poet. For your dating, your love life, your various relationships, your career, your marriage, your life.
I shall pause now, let you reflect, let you imagine. I know, for a practical down-to-earth personality as yours an artist is someone who is either too lazy to do “real work” or someone just plain cuckoo. Perhaps you are right too in a way. There are way too many false artists out there who are trying to sell you their … stuff while trying to convince you it is art. But you cannot say you don’t know and love at least one true world renowed artist. A movie star you love? A classic writer? A painter? A genius inventor? All true artists have one common trait by which you may recognize them: they are always at work, always creating, only creating. Day and night, sober or drunk, while walking, talking, eating or doing dishes, they clean and chisel away until the pure idea remains. And the second trait: they never ever think of themselves as artists, although they might use this denomination in their biography for the simple fact others say that’s what they are: artists.
So remember: hire a real artist when you want something outstanding.
Text: Andreea Garden, 2015
Theo and Mira 