Ben Parise's Proposition

I want to explore the idea that we are surrounded by things that are designed by people and how it changes us. Nearly our entire life has been designed in some way by people and I believe it changes the way we live and think. Humans have evolved to survive in the wild but this evolution has allowed us to create our own worlds. These worlds in turn affect the way we live, act and think. I want to explore this change through art.

Every object we come in contact with has been designed, changed, and created by people. Even the natural world has been changed by people. I want to examine all sizes of objects from small things, like pens and paper, to huge environments such as buildings and cities.It is hard to find a part of the wild that has been untouched by people in one way or another. We have also bred and changed plants and animals for our own purposes. We have created our own worlds and have also changed the existing world to the point where we are constantly surrounded by our own creations.

It shapes the way we live but at the same time things are designed to fit into our lives. We design things in order to be comfortable and easy to use. At the same using these objects change us a little bit. I want to explore this relationship between the designers and the things they design. For example cars were designed to be comfortable and easy to drive for people. However we have now gotten used to driving a car in a certain way so all cars now are designed to be similar to drive despite the fact that people have not evolved to drive cars.

I want to examine the simple things we take for granted and the idea that we don't realize that someone spent time designing and try to figure out how it affects us emotionally and mentally. I also want to examine the process in which these things are created and the globalization and industrialization of how these things are made. Another area I want to explore is how we have changed the natural world itself to suit ourselves and our needs for better or for worse. I will research and use as reference, examples of industrial design as well as existing products. I will also use the effects we have had on nature including pollution and urbanization as well as things such as genetic modification. I want to also research how different things are developed and changed over time.

I want to explore these ideas at least by painting and drawing but also maybe sculpture or photography. In painting and drawing I want to show it by placing things we normally take for granted in situations that would make you think about how it affects us in our daily life. In sculpture I would want use common objects in a way that makes the viewer realize that they have been designed and created for our use.