I've been living in Calgary for college for like a couple of years now. During my stay in the C, I do see art and design here are just as frozen as the weather. The only thing I don't like about the city is nothing is moving here. And I find it sarcastic to take art and design here because the city is not as entertaining as places like LA, NYC or Tokyo. I always tell people art and design in Calgary is cold like winter, people here don't like to change. Me, as a designer/artist, my mission is to bring motions to the city. I'm like a glitch to this city while everyone is enjoying a static lifestyle. I love to create glitch, a distortion that shakes everything.
One thing that bugs me the most at school is not so many design students here are brave enough to handle criticism. No one breaks the silence. no one is love to be controversial... while I always love to be controversial, because that means I'm trying to push something further. For every new thing, a new idea, before it comes out, people always question on it, which is like you are exploring deeper in the universe, and people will not believe in it until you actually succeed in doing it. I'm always and will be a controversial person, for that is what I do. Art reflects culture at a specific time, design reflects the development of human sense. I would rather believe art is dead than make it static. Art can't be static, nothing should be static.
This Alexander McQueen video is one of the most inspiring videos to me. When I show this to people around, they always relate the video to the craft or talent or skills McQueen has in his design works. But what I love about the video is he became active when he was drawing. He always got his brush spinning, sparking the ideas out through his mind and drop 'em on the paper. To me, art is a feeling that connects, not a plan that conceives. That is freedom, that is the true meaning of art/design. Every time i see this video, I do enjoy a lot watching McQueen spinning his brush on the paper to draw. I love the motion, I love the energy, I love every drop of color became every bullet that penetrates the blank space. So now, let's get back to Calgary, the only thing this city lacks of is the motion.
What I love the most about McQueen is the aggression beneath his skin. Aggressive is romantic. It is the behaviour that every artist must have.