On modernism

Until recently, I feel like I’ve really struggled to understand the work of people like Jackson Pollock, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Grant Achatz. In the last couple of months, I have run across two bits of wisdom that have changed the way I view cultural modernism.

The first is a quote from Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead that I read embedded within Jon Kolko’s Thoughts on Interaction Design. Kolko was writing about the integrity of materials in design when he said…

One can’t help but think of the idealistic Ayn Rand’s Howard Roark, as he denounces the Parthenon as poorly architected: ‘The famous flutings on the famous columns – what are they made for? To hide the joints in wood – when columns were made of wood, only these aren’t, they’re marble… Your Greeks took marble and they made copies of their wooden structures out of it, because others had done it that way. Then your masters of the Renaissance came along and made copies in plaster of copies in marble of copies in wood. Now here we are, making copies in steel and concrete of copies in plaster of copies in marble of copies in wood…’

Reading this was a definite aha moment for me. Modern architecture, and modernism in general, has been an attempt to break the chain, to create solutions from scratch based on available technology and needs of the day. Modern art, from this perspective, can be seen as a deconstruction and calling out of those chains of unquestioned cultural productions.

Pheasant with shallot, cider gelée, and burning oak leaves

The second bit of wisdom came from Grant Achatz, who was being interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air this morning. I was surprised at first to hear Achatz say that he and the others at his restaurant sometimes intentionally create culinary experiences that intimidate. This, Achatz says, is a way to break the monotony of something that we do every day, often without reflection: eating. It is easy to overlook the details in a dish with fork in hand, ready to shovel up the plate’s contents before the waiter can remove his hand from the table. However, if the dish comes out suspended in a wire armature with smoldering oak leaves, you are taken aback, intrigued, intimidated, maybe even turned on.

The power of modernism is in the lack of fear for novelty, the embrace of possibility. Achatz says that they are able to create new and interesting culinary experiences because they never say no to an idea. This is not to say that they put everything they make in front of guests, but that they at least respect the potentiality of ideas and are willing to experiment, to dabble in the unknown.

I also love that Achatz aspires to incorporate all of the senses into his food. He is especially cognizant of aroma, hence the smoldering oak leaves.

Vik Muniz - Sugar Children

Vik Muniz, in the documentary Wasteland, is another artist that is consciously aware of the materials he uses in his art. He is able to create representations out of materials that his subjects have a direct connection with, making the art all the more powerful.