Thought for the week...

On our way to St. Louis this weekend, we stopped at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to see their special on Train Paintings. Now before you stop reading, that is not what this note is about. After seeing the train paintings we came across this exhibit. A man named Michael Cross (I know...how ironic) had put together this collection:

Michael Cross, an acclaimed British designer, will have his first American exhibition when Resting Places Living Things: Designs by Michael Cross opens in the Bloch Building. Cross will utilize the Project Space in ways that will challenge its parameters: the wooden floor will feature hills and valleys, a chair will respond to a visitor’s approach, tree branches will support books, and walls will become resting places.
Cross is known for designs that strip away viewer’s preconceptions and deliberately confound expectations. He seeks new ways of seeing things by getting rid of what you know and starting again. In this approach, there is an element of willful innocence.
Trained as a product designer, all of Cross’ experimental designs can be industrially manufactured and then used in everyday situations. He uses the gallery as a design laboratory, an environment where experimental forms of objects can be nurtured into life and then studied for characteristics that can be transplanted into the wider world.

The picture I posted really struck me. I have been thinking about it all week. This man has gone into the forbidden. It breaks all the rules. But somehow you like it. Why is that?
I just wanted to share this with you all. You don't have to like it, or even understand it. You just have to read this, and think about it...