On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:51:22 -0800, Al Balmer wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:01:11 -0800, lemelman
wrote:

Abrasha wrote:

"Simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve"

Gae Aulenti, architect


Mathematicians call it "elegance".

And, in mathematical terms, Elegance = Beauty/Complexity.
______________________________________________

I agree with you and Gary
-- about mathematics.

Many schools of visual art,
however, revel in complexity and the
ratio you gave does not apply.
The many traditions that
employ horror vacui are an example. Other
important schools and traditions abhor
the good-art-must-be-difficult philosophy.

The Aulenti quote reminds me of Artforum
magazine theory circa 1960's -- _if_ she actually
intended more than she said. We
didn't get a context with the quote, or a place
we can go to get it. Strong aphorisms that are
meant to apply outside a narrow school are
now in question, and things that are simple
or difficult to make are not necessarily of
good quality.

I like some jewelers whose work has
very simple lines and might be called
minimalist; Dinsmore and Enterline
come to mind, and their work _is_ elegant.
What I definitely don't like is most of
the minimalist crap they sell in the malls.

BTW, we're on the second year of the S.
Airwaves in the U.S. are again
saturated with advertisements
for little 'S's of diamonds by several
manufacturers. I imagine either you or
Gary could come up with a lot better things
to do with diamonds.
--
mbstevens
http://www.mbstevens.com