EXQUISITE CHAOS
AN ALL-OVER-THE-PLACE,MORE-VISUAL-THAN-USUAL STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS on the creative value of MESS
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE WOMEN LEADING THE EXQUISITE CHAOS MOVEMENT
A TAXONOMY OF “MESS”, including a low ranking of MAXIMALISM
JULIA FOX
A CHAOTIC READING LIST, including two HARD-TO-GETS and one “AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE”
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AND ALSO:
Dearest Snoops,
Does this appeal?:
Well, for the sake of our collective future, we hope it did. Because the world needs brainpower to solve all its damn problems, and AS SCIENCE TELLS US ‘IN MESS, CREATIVITY THRIVES’.
As Spring and ergo “SPRING CLEANING” is nearly upon us, we would like to suggest you NOT overdo it. Or, not do it at all.
SCIENCE ON MESS, from a 2013 study by the University of Minnesota:
"Participants in the messy room generated the same number of ideas for new uses as their clean-room counterparts. But their ideas were rated as more interesting and creative when evaluated by impartial judges."
Today, we commend the messy, because we’ve honestly just been seeing too many Orderly Spaces (which STIFFLE YOU, apparently! Don’t shoot the messenger).
ASIDE
EXQUISITE CHAOS is not just lots of stuff. There are many versions of lots of stuff that we do not feel qualify as Exquisite.
Again, we must condemn what we have labelled in the past as KARDASHIAN MINIMALIST MAXIMALISM, i.e. a form of Maximalism that by definitely relies on lots of stuff (in the the case of Kris Kardashian, a checklist of designer furnishings) but has them all in one color so as to trick you into thinking it’s minimalistic. This is not Dull-The-Mind Minimalism, nor is it EXQUISTE CHAOS in an embrace of disorder. It’s just… non-committal and bad.
HOT TAKE: another culprit is SOLANGE KNOWLES. Where the Kardashians put everything in white, Solange does it all in brown.
FURTHER DOWN, you’ll find a taxonomy of “MESS”, defining EXQUISITE CHAOS (apex) against “disorder”, “maximalism”, and “hoarder”. And, critical texts to understand EXQUISITE CHAOS (i.e. a reading list).
Staying on the selleb theme, however, we must present the exquisitely CHAOTIC home of JULIA FOX, a.k.a. “THE ONLY CELEBRITY WHO GETS IT”, via her radical self-produced TikTok home tour, offered to her audience in the name of RADICAL TRANSPARENCY:
A reminder of the woman that occupies this home:
TAKEAWAYS: in this economy, displays of wealth are “Icky” (Julia’s word), even when they are to yourself in your own private domestic space. (Pls note Julia handmakes many looks from common household items such as: Beach Towel, Resin-soaked Leaves, Saran Wrap.)
In this, Julia unmasks all the paraphernalia of life, and allows these things to be visible and immediately accessible, physically and — we assume — emotionally. Thus, our creative process doesn’t rely on the impossible goal of tabula rasa (as aspired to in Minimalism and Orderly Spaces) but emerges from TOTAL MAYHEM, which more accurately reflects our world.
Julia’s bed area is also, almost literally, art:
FURTHER VISUALS
1. OTHER PROMINENT WOMEN OF EXQUISITE CHAOS:
2. EXPLAINING EXQUISITE CHAOS, A TAXONOMY:
EXQUISITE CHOAS SOURCING:
We highly suggest the DOWN MARKET THRIFT STORES to encourage the Chaos through immersion.
Arranged and priced without obvious logic, these spaces are good for:
Mocking capitalism, through a overwhelming presence of the Useless (the absurdity of excess)
Satisfying your inner Explorateur, through the need to hunt through shelves and racks
KEY DOWNMARKET, CHAOTIC ANGELES DESTINATIONS: Saint Vincent De Paul, 90031; SON OF A VET, 90032.
AND FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT FANCY, ONE UPRMARKET SOLUTION:
NFS, absolutely (past shoppers include: Diane Keaton).
CRITICAL TEXTS ON EXQUISITE CHAOS, i.e. FURTHER READING:
1. The aforementioned APARTAMENTO:
Summer 2008 brought us ISSUE ONE of Apartamento, which has consistently offered up some of the messiest homes known to humankind.
ALSO FROM ISSUE ONE:
2. 1993’s TOKYO STYLE by Kyoichi Tsuzuki
A 380 pages of clutter that defied the hegemonic Japanese interior which was basically RYOKAN or FUTURISTIC MINIMALISM.
3. NEST magazine
First appearing in 1997, NEST not only showed us some EXQUISITE CHAOS, but it also attempted to sew chaos into the interiors industry. Of the magazine, the NY Times wrote that its founder (the odd Joseph Holtzman) “believed that an igloo, a prison cell or a child's attic room (adorned with Farrah Fawcett posters) [BELOW] could be as compelling as a room by a famous designer.”
I mean, HELLO!
THE MAIN TAKEAWAY: if you are going to be messy, celebrate this as part of your creative process and know you are delivering BETTER IDEAS than your orderly friends.
Until next week (where we talk about EGGS AND CIG*R*TT*S).
LOVE AND GOOD LUCK,