Richard Tuttle on design and art

Sign installed outside Donald Judd's La Mansana de Chinati ("The Block") requesting "Please turn motors off" (Marfa, Texas: June 22, 2010 at 7:00pm CST)

Sign installed outside Donald Judd's La Mansana de Chinati ("The Block") requesting "Please turn motors off" (Marfa, Texas: June 22, 2010 at 7:00pm CST).
Photograph by: Gregory Foster

A great designer has to know everything (language, history, ethnography, anthropology, psychology, biology, anatomy, etc.) while an artist doesn’t have to know anything. This polarity…is the starting point. But ironically, to really appreciate design, it is not about knowledge, but about the experience of living with the work; you don’t have to know anything, and you get its ‘information’ almost through osmosis. Whereas to appreciate a good artwork, you have to bring and apply absolutely everything you know. Why is that?
Richard Tuttle in Design ≠ Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread, edited by Barbara J. Bloemink, (New York: Merrell, 2004), p. 61. This text documents the exhibition of the same name (Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York: September 10, 2004 – February 27, 2005). Cited by Scott Henson in his blog post “Why good governance is like good furniture design” on his blog “Grits for Breakfast”, (Austin, Texas: May 31, 2006). Thanks to Kathy Mitchell for the lead.

Related Media

Richard Tuttle Posted on behalf of on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 under Quotations.

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