Saturday, September 18, 2010

Titles

So, I'm submitting the UFT III and the Industrial Teapot in a show tomorrow.
I didn't get a chance to work on the UFT II, so I still may add that later tomorrow morning.
Still thinking about it.
Anyways, it's time to fill out the paper work:



Besides the price, the most important thing for me is the title.
Now we've all seen works of art hanging in a gallery with a title that seems to make no sense.
Pet peeve of mine those titles.
Those kinds of titles just make me feel sort of stupid. Like I'm supposed to understand what the artist is trying to say, but I'm not smart enough to get it.
Even if the art itself is really great, a bad title just turns me off.
I mean to like it, I should understand it, right?
Most of my early work simply went untitled. I mean they were just pots, not trying to make a statement or anything.
Once in a while, a form would inspire me and I'd give it a name that I felt embodied the work. Other than that, besides Untitled, I used stuff like Bottle No.2, or Form Study No. 3 or stuff like that.
Once a friend liked one of my pieces so I just called it Marc Said He Liked It.
So anyways, I've been thinking about just what the hell I should call these two pieces. UFT III and Industrial Teapot were sort of working titles, so now it's time to think of some good names.
Actually, I don't really like this part, it always makes me feel a bit pretentious.
My first ceramics professor used to call low fire clay crap so the first thing that came to mind was Some Low Fire Crap I Made.
That's sort of insulting to those who work in low fire clay so that one's out.
Then I sort of thought I'd just call them Teapot No. 3 and Teapot No. 4. That's not really good though for it implies a series and the Industrial Teapot is sort of stand alone.
Then I thought, hey! the UFT is actually a series, I did make four of them. Four just happens to be the number of Galilean moons, so maybe something along that line.
The UFT III is actually the fourth one I made so Flying Object No. 4 (Callisto Tea) seems appropriate.
Now for the Industrial Teapot, I think I'm going with 40w Tea for it sort of has that oil can look.
I think those titles are good to go.
Not real obvious, not too obscure or ambiguous either.
The thing is, titles really don't mean anything unless your work gets chosen.
We'll see how that goes.

2 comments:

John Romeo Alpha said...

Many tea connoisseurs like a delicate, complex tea served in a dainty cup. Me, I like a dense, oily, strong, dark brew served hot in a stainless steel mug. 40w sounds good.

limom said...

Thanks!
When I thought of that title, I thought of your suggestion when I was doing the lid, a funnel. I thought how much better this would have been if I had made the cups like small funnels, sort of short martini glasses with handles.
That would have been perfect!
Oh well, I can always make more.