Interview #4
Interview Subject: Dorothy Darker
Object in Question: The Box Purse or Steampunk Bento Box (?)
I may not capture Mz. Darker completely in this interview…she is our first interview subject to come popping up from a rabbit hole completely unknown to either Zac or myself. But she has proven, in our brief aquaintance, to be consistently delightful.
This evening at a dinner with simply scads of people, I met Mz. Darker properly for the first time. She gave me a lily. The way she paints her lips reminds me of tiny rust-colored pansies with gold centers.
If this interview feels more poetic than most, you’ll understand when you read her answers to my questions.
Dorothy (may I call her Dorothy?) describes herself as a “painter, burlesque performer, muse and collector of pretty underthings.” Her artwork is full of graphic yet delicate representations of legs; legs in striped socks, in heels, in bare feet with toes curled in the air.
What I’ve found most delightful about speaking with Dorothy Darker is her rampant, unabashed use of the line break. I present to you our email interview, complete and preserved just as it appeared in my inbox; I have concluded that I can do her no better justice.
Tell me something about yourself. What would I notice first if I met you? What gets your motor going?
I’m excitable. I’m enthusiastic. chances are I’m wearing some interesting
accessory (that involves warm tones and or black)
I like making people feel good about themselves.
creating drives me.
and also the quest for beauty.
seeing it, showing it to others, capturing it.
1/2 consciously pulling lots of things together and waking up to what I’ve
created.
On Twitter you said your creative pursuits include oil paint, lust and letters. Say more? What’s your chosen aesthetic? What makes a piece of art good for you?
I love writing…email. I like seduction. I like setting the scene.
my chosen aesthetic. warm colors, never bright white.
I tea dye down everything. golds, and bronzes
intimate. cropped in. close. shhh.
handmade. but refined.
my aim is to prove that 2010 is as decadent and will be as memorable as
1920.
my want is to live a life that inspires others to live more grandly. more
deeply. more passionately. more beautiful.
A piece of art is good for me if it is just a bit garish to make me breath
heavy and then just beautiful enough to stroke the back of my neck
alternate. repeat. Frances Bacon, Dekooning , lucien Freud. Jenny saville
may I list my daily stuffs.
iphone, thoothbrush, bag
keys. too many of them.
ipad computer chair
lunch holder, some bag…or whatever it fits in
(hmm lunchbox, first idea…
….maybe somehow work on that idea.
to encourage me to eat better…
find joy in preparing better food for myself
the ritual of filling the thing up
but also, to encourage me to enjoy it.
savor it
I do love my food. simple exquisite bits.
with a little salt box, silverware. tiny butter dish. handkerchief as
napkin.
like a bento box but not of asian aesthetic.
hmmmmm)
Do you believe in ritualistic physical acts?
yes yes.
perfumes
lipstick
nails
meditation
breathing
making the bed.
What about physical objects?
I love my little collections
I like having the perfect one thing
not lots of options.
but then I fear wearing them out
if I could, I’d have a uniform
with lots of different accessories.
(in fact, at work, I have a uniform, sorta.
apron with two pockets over a slip
with short pants on underneath)
How do you like to treat your things?
10 percent of my objects I treat like priceless items, treasures, with
feelings and emotions.
personification.
90 percent of my objects I treat horribly.
then I feel sorry for them and treat them lovingly
but then I forget and drop them to the side of the bed in exhaustion.
It’s a bit embarrassing.
What do you think we could make for you? Or alternately, what’s a problem that you think a clever tool could solve?
I’m going to think more of this
I lose things a lot.
keys and phone especially.
Lately, I’ve been carrying this box purse around
and it’s been sorta awesome.
maybe I’d love to have a box purse that was seasonless.
that had places where things went and stayed till I needed them.
that was fetishy to use…addictive to use.
that becomes a tool I can’t do without.
and somehow inside where the phone holder is, the phone actually has a
little metal cage or harness with a chain on it
so I could wear it like a sash.
oh… now we are getting somewhere .
Is alliteration always acceptable?
Absolutely.
Do you see what I mean, folks? How could I edit this? May all of our guests be so lyrically engaged and interesting. (Or not – no pressure!)
My sense in meeting Mz. Dorothy Darker is that she understands why we want to do this project: why tools are so fascinating, how objects, when crafted well and used consistently in a loving manner, can take on small lives of their own. And perhaps also, how important it is to have tools that fit just right, like words or strokes of paint or the socks of Ms. Alice in Wonderland.
Looking forward to crafting for Mz. Darker her own small and clever space, for carrying both precious and cluttered daily things.
