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Seal Rocks Variations
A Wordplay Study
Recently I experienced a flash of inspiration in the form of a sequence of thirty-eight free-associated phrases. Rooted in wordplay, rhyme, and alliteration, they came very fast with no immediately discernible meaning. But I liked them and immediately knew I wanted to figure them out through a substantial art piece…. Project Page
After spending much time with these phrases I have come to value how a surface level playfulness also serves as an extended tour through many artifacts embedded in our communication system. From a certain perspective, the phrases could also be said to broadly represent every idea I have ever had. The Pacific Ocean is the biggest and most mysterious thing in the world. Alongside this impossibly massive scale of nature, the cycle of human concerns assumes recalibrated proportions. From the proper vantage point, the entire sphere of human ideas can simultaneously appear startlingly brilliant or thoroughly foolish, heartbreakingly compassionate or helplessly self-involved.
For me the meaning of the phrases turns out to be that they can mean anything. They can tell many different stories, offer many different explanations. In that way they are an important personal reminder that almost nothing has inherent significance. As with the arbitrary sounds and symbols we assign as words, it is the act of selection which determines meaning. This is entirely within our control.
The Best Memories of Theodore Clayborne by the Genius Artist Hiroki
Born in rural Oregon, the sales clerk Theodore W. Clayborune displayed an astonishingly early ability to read and write, a secret kept by his family for decades. Claybourne began his first journal at a time even before his vocal cord development allowed phonetic speech, as an infant filling pages with words from his environment soon followed by phrases and simple sentences. Through his early years his writings became an obsession devoted to maintaining an increasingly detailed account of everything that ever happened to him. Claybourne battled what would become a lifelong battle with depression and what he referred to as a short lifetime of “mistakes duly repeated.”
Unregarded and completely unknown until the time of his death at age 143, Clayborune’s longevity suddenly became the subject of worldwide conspiracy theories, religious contemplation and scientific speculation. Several months following his death, histological analysis of an illegally procured sample of his brain tissue revealed a heightened level of acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme known to break down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the nervous system. Claybourne was known to remark that his constant state of remembering kept his body in a peculiar stasis.
About the artist:
Arguably the most acclaimed memory artist in the world, the Japanese artist Hiroki was the sole individual granted access to Theodore W. Claybourne’s secret archives by his estate upon his highly publicized death. After decades of translating and reviewing Claybourne’s vast collection of almost 16,000 journals, Hiroki decided to provide to the world only these sixteen most essential memories, famously declaring the rest superfluous. And the end of a career spanning almost fifty years with exhibitions on every developed continent, Hiroki often declared this to be her finest work.
Gift Ideas for Someone Who Has Everything
“Do you have a friend, cousin, or spouse who is next to impossible to buy for? Maybe they are the person who has everything. Or they are the return-everything-ers. You just can’t win no matter how hard you try. Don’t let their gift keep you from knocking out that shopping list. Here are sixteen creative and original gift ideas to buy the person who has everything.”
New Advertising Mock-Ups
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