I just stepped back and took a picture of my floor about five minutes ago. Much to the annoyance of my family and past roommates, I am simply a messy person. I know that not everyone on the planet is that way, but you have to admit that trash seems to be everywhere. That's actually a very important note for an artist to keep in mind. Trash has a way of making a scene believable. I think that's because it's so familiar to us as a symbol that people occupy that space. Wherever people go, we leave our trash behind us--we've been doing it since ancient culture, as any archeologist will tell you! I think that the only time an artist should make a voluntary effort to make a scene look clean is if the environment is supposed to be some sort of sterile environment or something. Otherwise, even justa little litter: rust on metal, paper next to a trash can, gum on a sidewalk--heck, people put their gum on the underside of just about everything. In my case, a person's room might not be covered in trash, but things that just aren't put away. Instead of putting things on shelves and drawers, books, DVDs, clothes, etc. can be spotted onto a room's floor. This applies to all environments, I think: offices, elevators, cars, subways, parks; I'm sure alien cultures share our bad habits; we haven't shaken our litter problem in 5000 years of civilization, what makes you think we'll stop littering in the future?
I hear you on this. When I am making art, it is like a tornado is going on around me for days. It reminds me of painter/artist Francis Bacon's studio.
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