“A black-and-white, irregular checkerboard pattern signals the disbanding of the grid system, its break-up.” - Hundertwasser
Sometimes I feel like our surroundings are a little too sterile. It could be because I live in a well-groomed part of town, the houses beautiful, and the condos modern and clean. It’s lovely…and very controlled; the refined aesthetic borders on the boring and impersonal.
As human beings living in the world, we are surrounded by three layers: 1.) the skin, 2.) clothing and 3.) walls / buildings / vehicles. The late Austrian artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser proposed that people ought to be able to personalize their “third skin.”
He said, “a person…must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm’s reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm’s reach, so that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from…the standardized man who lives next door.”
This idea of decorating the “third skin” made me realize that I have no idea who lived in my little duplex before me. When I moved in, it was spic and span, with no trace of the previous occupants. Wouldn’t it be cool if every house or apartment had at least one wall or area in which residents could leave record of their existence in that space—a history told through words, pictures or art? I know I would appreciate knowing something about those who shared these same walls at these specific coordinates in space.
Decorated Pakistani trucks
We will commit mild markings like press our hand or footprint into curing cement, or put a few bumper stickers on our car, but the bold, outrageous or loud expression is left up to the few, the artists, the weirdos. Look at the fascinating Pakistani truck art, highly customized and covered with paintings, ornamental décor, calligraphy, mirror work, wooden carvings and poetry; the trucks make an undeniable statement of existence, self-expression, and creativity.
Sadly, I don’t think I have the balls to glue pink monkeys to my car and stencil it with quotes, or paint birds all around the windows of my duplex. There’s too much concern for resale value…However, maybe I can start with a small etching on the fence and a sketchbook-guestbook to leave behind.
In what ways do you decorate your “third skin?” What fantastic expression have you witnessed in your community?
Other links of interest:
On Wings of Diesel: Trucks, Identity and Culture in Pakistan, by Jamal Elias
Photos by Faraz Memon
Image credits:
Pakistani truck photo by Faraz Menon http://www.flickr.com/photos/extro/4780478712/
Hundertwasser architecture http://morguefile.com/archive/display/118999
