Below is a blog post special to DK from artist Mark von Rosenstiel, whom DK met three years ago at Victrola’s Coffee Shop on 15th Avenue. Since then, Mark has been a speaker at Dream Kitchen, collaborated with us to create Case Architects’ website, and exhibited paintings for a party at Kornerhaus. This Friday, Mark will be at Graypants, the host for a party to share his mural with anyone who fancies stopping by.
Wall mural by Mark VonRosenstiel to be unveiled Friday.
I met Seth Grizzle and Jon Junker of Graypants about 2 years ago at an opening for Arcade Magazine at Vermillion. Since then we’ve gotten some beers here and there, drawn sketches over this and that and, I like to think, improved on each others creative lives, if not our lives in general. The mural came up simply: I got excited about the idea of painting something big, they offered up their stairwell. Over the course of 2 and a half months I put some serious time into laying down a lot of color. I don’t think it occurred to me when I first started the mural, that the amount of time just to brush and roll on that much paint takes TIME. Forget the fact that I wanted the mural to look like something in particular. Painting 4 colors of paint in any arrangement on two 20 foot spans of wall is a lot of wax-on/wax-off. I think that was a bit of a barrier at times mentally: being able to approach the mural as a painting and not a workshop in manual labor.
The general idea behind the painting is to depict the act of chasing creativity, which I think of as a chaotic and confusing epic. Chaotic, because creativity can sometimes be the most unruly of children and confusing because it can lead one in directions they have a hard time reconciling with the vision of who they believe they are. It was almost a bit meditative going to visit the stairwell to paint. Whenever I paint I really try and focus entirely on the idea that I’m thinking about for that particular painting, which is always a bit mentally calming. I think of the idea in the context of a framework, like theorems or definitions in a dictionary all together for a family diner. But to actually be physically surrounded by what I was doing made me at times feel almost brimming. I believe there was more than one time when people passing by looked up to find me dancing up and down the stairs in something that looked, and maybe was, a ritual dance. I think this sensation of feeling so tied to the piece made it extremely hard to work on it when I was in a bad mood or feeling distracted. It seemed to multiply what I was feeling.
I think in the end, though, I fed on it as much as it fed on me so it all seems very balanced. Hopefully the chaotic, confusing epic of creativity is felt along with this balance. If that is the case, then it turned out how I hoped.
—Mark VonRosenstiel,
www.markvonrosenstiel.com/wonder
Know of an artist or designer in Seattle who would make for an interesting interview? Send us a line to letsplay [at] design-kompany.com.
0 Responses to “FREE this Friday: Prescriptions for Awe and Wonder”