Behold a few of Helga Stentzel’s many images of Household Surrealism.
You can see many more on her website or her Instagram feed.
What I love about this is how simple, original, and brilliant this is. Not only did she make incredible art, but she also invented an incredibly new kind of art.
It’s something anyone could’ve done. Even I could’ve done.
I’m not a visual artist. I can’t paint, sculpt, or draw. I don’t have an eye for photography. I lack the attention to detail required to be successful in the visual arts.
Elysha has said, “Put me in a lineup of ten brunettes, and Matt couldn’t pick me out.”
Not true, but there is truth in what she says. My mind processes and remembers all things audio while failing to even notice the visual.
But what Helga Stentzel has done here gives me hope. Her art certain possesses a strong visual component, but there is also a cleverness, a sense of humor, an original use of everyday materials, and a simple whimsey that I find intriguingly possible.
I wouldn’t simply steal her idea, but Helga Stentzel’s art reminds me that when we break free of convention, ignore tradition, and blaze a new path, we may not only create something utterly original, but we might find a way to working in a field we never thought possible. By eschewing the skill required to use paint, clay, pencil, and the like, art feels slightly more accessible.
Almost certainly not as brilliant as Helga Stentzel’s art, but a start.
In many ways, my novel, “Twenty-one Truths About Love,” a novel written entirely in lists, represents this kind idea. A new, perhaps more accessible approach to a traditional form of art.
The musical that I am co-writing is similar.
So maybe try to make something new. Not just something new, but make a new thing in a new way. In a way that makes sense to you, using materials or methods that are more accessible to you than traditional materials and methods.
