so i’ve got this thing about waste… and it only gets worse as time goes by. although i could’ve inherited it from my parents who both grew up in financially handicapped circumstances, i believe it is much more a result of my aversion of the disposable culture in which i grew up. having spent my decorative years between auction houses, flea markets and second hand stores (back in the day when vintage only applied to alcoholic beverages), i learned an appreciation for all that which has been before, even for those poor little man handled pieces which still had a shard of their true beauty left.
the waste not want not principle obviously struck a chord and stuck by me subsequently, even as far as my more human relationships were concerned.
andrew baseman‘s blog ‘past imperfect’ certainly captures that same appreciation and concern. the current obsessions with personal perfection aside, his is a story of renewal. not only does his collection focus on the beauty of the repair, it also highlights the affinity held for that which was broken. most often it would be those fragile things that get hurt the most, stemware, ceramics but even some pewter pieces get damaged in the course of use. i totally get that, although through trial and error i had to learn that some things can never be fixed…
true, some pieces never reclaim their functionality, some seem to almost reject the prosthesis but some accept their new aesthetic assistance with grace and continue to live happily ever after. the charge of an inventive repair, or rather interventive repair, is never one to take lightly and it is exactly that which reveals it’s true meaning to the devastated owner; somewhere, sometime, someone cared so much that the pain of letting go was worse than living with the change; the kind of commitment which remains a strange and beautiful rarity even if the remedy might be a bit intense for some.
the process or journey to recovery is often a difficult and sometimes jarring one, but at the same time the result can be unexpectedly refreshing; begging one to look at it through new eyes as if it were but the fact still remains; whichever materials or techniques may be involved, it always seem to include a lot of love.
andrew will be speaking and exhibiting along with ferrin contemporary at the upcoming new york ceramics and glass fair 2016
