VULTURE ON MY FAVORITE SHAPES

JULIO TORRES’S NEW SPECIAL, MY FAVORITE SHAPES, IS NOT THE TYPICAL STAND-UP SHOW. THAT’S PUTTING IT MILDLY. FOR ONE THING, HE BARELY STANDS. INSTEAD, TORRES SITS BEHIND A GIANT CONVEYOR BELT THAT BRINGS HIS CHERISHED OBJECTS TO HIM, ONE AT A TIME. THE CONVEYOR BELT HAD TO BE CUSTOM-MADE, ACCORDING TO THE SPECIAL’S PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL KRANTZ. “THEY GENERALLY MANUFACTURE FOR SUSHI RESTAURANTS,” HE TOLD VULTURE. “SO THEY’RE FOOD-GRADE.”MY FAVORITE SHAPES BEGAN LIFE SIMPLY AS TORRES’S MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS. “I’VE ALWAYS LIKED OBJECTS. THEY’VE BEEN FUNNY AND STIMULATING TO ME,” HE TOLD VULTURE. “I DIDN’T REALLY KNOW HOW TO TRANSLATE THAT INTO A LIVE PERFORMANCE. UNTIL I REALIZED I COULD HOOK A CABLE UP TO MY IPHONE AND HOOK THAT UP TO A PROJECTOR.” THAT IPHONE AND PROJECTOR RIG BECAME A SHOW IN 2017. TORRES PERFORMED SHAPES OFF AND ON ALL SUMMER BEFORE TAKING THE SHOW TO THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL THAT AUGUST. NOW, IT’S AN HBO COMEDY SPECIAL. BUT ADAPTING THE LIVE STAGE SHOW FOR TELEVISION REQUIRED TEST AFTER TEST AFTER TEST. “WE PLAYED AROUND A LOT WITH THE GEOMETRY,” KRANTZ SAID. “I BUILT COUNTLESS 3-D MODELS, TRYING DIFFERENT LENSING AND DIFFERENT CAMERA POSITIONS SO THAT WE COULD EXPLORE WHAT WAS GOING TO WORK.”UPON SEEING THE DESIGNS FOR THE SET — A COLLABORATION BETWEEN TORRES’S MOTHER, TITA, AND SISTER MARTA — KRANTZ SAID IT LOOKED LIKE “A SET DESIGNED BY ETTORE SOTTSASS OF AN EVIL LABORATORY FOR AN EPISODE OF MIAMI VICE.” THE ORIGINAL PLAN WAS TOO ELABORATE TO REALIZE IN THE AMOUNT OF TIME THEY HAD. “THERE WAS AN AREA BEHIND HIM THAT HAD, LIKE, A LITTLE ROOM. THERE WAS A REFLECTING POOL. THERE WERE OTHER SHAPES AND BITS OF GEOMETRY THAT WERE HANGING,” HE SAID. “THERE WERE AMOEBIC-SHAPED PLATFORMS.” KRANTZ HAD TO BOIL IT DOWN TO THE MOST ESSENTIAL PARTS: STAIRS, SCREEN, CONVEYOR BELT. DESPITE ALL THE MOVING PARTS, HE WAS STRUCK BY THE SINGULAR NATURE OF TORRES’S VISION. “IT’S SUCH A WONDERFUL, UNIQUE, AND AMAZING SHOW,” KRANTZ SAID. “I’D NEVER WORKED ON ANYTHING LIKE IT.

”THE REVOLUTIONARY THING MY FAVORITE SHAPES DOES IS, RATHER THAN MAKE JOKES PRETTY, IT MAKES PRETTINESS A JOKE. THE MORE EXQUISITE THE SHAPE, THE MORE REVEALING IT IS OF TORRES AS A COMEDY CHARACTER. “THE SET IS PRETTY,” SAID TORRES. “BUT BEYOND IT BEING PRETTY, IT INDICATES A WORKSHOP OR MY LITTLE LAB. VISUALLY, I THINK THERE ARE CONTEXT CLUES FOR THE AUDIENCE TO INTERPRET THE SHOW FOR WHAT IT IS.”THE TITULAR SHAPES COME FROM ALL SORTS OF PLACES. “SOME OF THEM WERE GIFTED TO ME. THE LITTLE GLASS BIRDS THAT LIVE IN THE LOFT, FOR EXAMPLE, THOSE WERE A SECRET SANTA GIFT FROM A FRIEND AT SNL. THE CRYSTAL THAT SITS ON THE CHAIR WAS A GIFT FROM AIDY BRYANT. JESSICA, THE PR GIRL WHO’S A PINK JEWEL, I FOUND IN A DOLLAR STORE IN L.A.,” HE EXPLAINED. “SOME OF THEM, I HAVE THE IDEA FOR, AND A FRIEND MADE THEM FOR ME.” THE SWAN BURDENED BY BEAUTY WAS MANUFACTURED FOR TORRES, AS WAS ITS “SHADOW” AND “SOUL.” KRANTZ WAS PARTICULARLY TAKEN WITH THE SOUL OF THE SWAN.

WITH THIS SPECIAL, TORRES HAS ACCIDENTALLY REDISCOVERED PROP COMEDY, CURATING AESTHETIC MOMENTS WHERE THE COMEDY COMES FROM THE FORM OF THE OBJECT. IN COMEDY, THERE’S AN ONGOING DEBATE ABOUT HOW PRETTY THINGS CAN GET: VISUALLY PLEASING COMEDY RISKS BEING SHADILY CALLED “SLICK,” OR EVEN WORSE “OVERPRODUCED.” WOMEN IN COMEDY ARE CONSTANTLY TOLD THAT BEING TOO PRETTY WILL GET IN THE WAY OF THEIR BEING FUNNY. “I HAVE HEARD THAT BEFORE: ‘IF IT’S PRETTY, IT’S NOT FUNNY,’” SAID TORRES. “BUT WHAT IF IT’S SO PRETTY IT’S FUNNY? LIKE A FERRERO ROCHER CHOCOLATE? WHAT IF AN ATTEMPT TO BECOME PRETTY IS FUNNY, LIKE THAT SHOE THAT HOLDS OTHER SHOES? I DON’T THINK THE SPECIAL WOULD WORK ANY OTHER WAY.” THE PRETTINESS ISN’T A LIABILITY; IT’S THE POINT.SPEAKING OF THE SHOE THAT HOLDS OTHER SHOES, IT HAS A MONOLOGUE. VOICED BY EMMA STONE. LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND RYAN GOSLING VOICE OBJECTS AS WELL, PLAYING A CACTUS AND A BLUE RACING PENGUIN, RESPECTIVELY. TORRES HAD WORKED WITH ALL OF THEM PREVIOUSLY ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, IN VOICE-OVER-HEAVY SHORTS. MANUEL PLAYED DIEGO IN “DIEGO CALLS HIS MOM,” GOSLING WAS TORMENTED BY AVATAR’S USE OF THE PAPYRUS FONT, AND STONE PLAYED AN ACTRESS IN A GAY PORN TRYING TO FIND HER CHARACTER. “THESE THREE HAVE REALLY GREAT VOICES, REALLY SPECIFIC VOICES. AND THEY’RE ALL REALLY GOOD AT BEING SELF-SERIOUS AND FUNNY AT THE SAME TIME,” SAID TORRES. “THESE THREE OBJECTS TAKE THEMSELVES DEATHLY SERIOUSLY. THAT’S ONE OF THE FUNNIER THINGS ABOUT BEAUTY, RIGHT? SOMETHING THAT IS SO HUMORLESS THAT IT BECOMES FUNNY.”TALKING TO TORRES, ONE GETS THE SENSE THAT IMBUING OBJECTS WITH OVERLY DRAMATIC NARRATIVES IS THE ONLY WAY HE KNOWS HOW TO NAVIGATE SPACE. IT STARTED EARLY, WHEN HE READ A PSYCHOSEXUAL DRAMA ONTO HIS DINNERWARE: “I HAD CREATED THE NARRATIVE IN MY HEAD THAT THE FORK WAS JEALOUS OF THE ROMANCE THAT THE SPOON AND THE KNIFE HAD. BECAUSE THE SPOON FELT SO MATERNAL AND SWEET, AND THE FORK FELT SO ODD AND SPIKED. SO I HAD THIS WHOLE NARRATIVE IN MY HEAD THAT THE FORK WAS SO JEALOUS OF THE LOVE BETWEEN THE KNIFE AND THE SPOON. SO NOW, WHEN I SEE A FORK, I’M LIKE OH, I’M SORRY I INSERTED THIS JEALOUS NARRATIVE ONTO YOU. FOR ALL I KNOW, YOU DIDN’T CARE WHAT THE OTHER TWO WERE UP TO.” MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE EVERY SHAPE BRINGS ITS OWN STORY THAT TORRES’S FAVORITE COLOR, FAMOUSLY, IS CLEAR. TORRES TOLD VULTURE THAT HE’S MOST COMFORTABLE IN A MUTED PALETTE BECAUSE IT GIVES IDEAS AND FORMS MORE OF A CHANCE TO PRESENT THEIR NARRATIVE, “SORT OF THE WAY YOU MAKE A GALLERY OR MUSEUM WHITE.” BUT, SHOCKINGLY, THIS SPECIAL MAY BE THE SEND-OFF FOR THE CLEAR AESTHETIC. THE SET HIS SISTER DESIGNED WAS TOO COLORFUL FOR TORRES, BUT UPON SEEING THE MUTED VERSION KRANTZ WORKED UP IN A 3-D IMAGING PROGRAM, TORRES HAD A CHANGE OF HEART. THE SET GOT A PASTEL DREAMSCAPE PALETTE. AND — BREAKING NEWS — TORRES HAS ACCEPTED COLOR INTO HIS LIFE. “I THINK I’M KIND OF PHASING OUT OF THAT [CLEAR] MOMENT. I’M REALLY ATTRACTED TO COLORS, THE SUMMER ONES. SUDDENLY I’M VERY INTO ORANGE.”

WHY HBO (AND NOT NETFLIX) GAVE DESIGN FANS THE TV SPECIAL THEY ACTUALLY DESERVE

SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 TEXT BY RAB MESSINA

NEW YORK CITY – ABSTRACT WAS TOUTED BY NETFLIX AS THE DESIGN-WORLD’S ANSWER TO CHEF’S TABLE: A DOCUMENTARY SERIES ABOUT THE OFTEN INTANGIBLE BUT DEEPLY PERSONAL PROCESSES THAT LEAD TO INNOVATION IN CREATIVE OUTPUT. INSTEAD, AND PERHAPS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CHRISTOPH NIEMANN’S SAVED-BY-ITS-SUBJECT EPISODE, IT WAS A DULL AND POLISHED LOOK INTO DESIGN PLATITUDING – BJARKE INGELS’ HAGIOGRAPHY BEING ITS MOST OBVIOUS EXAMPLE. BUT THE SHOW, CREATED BY SCOTT DADICH, SADLY FAILED TO FOLLOW THE GOLDEN RULE OF NARRATION: SHOW, DON’T TELL.

AND YET AS IT OFTEN HAPPENING LATELY, HBO IS GIVING STORYTELLING FANS THE SHOWS THAT DEEP-POCKETED NETFLIX KEEPS FAILING TO DELIVER – ANY TEENAGER, FOR EXAMPLE, CAN GIVE YOU 13 REASONS WHY EUPHORIA IS A LARGER CULTURAL PHENOMENON. THIS TIME, THE TELEVISION NETWORK GAVE US DESIGN FANS THE TV SPECIAL WE ACTUALLY DESERVE… BUT NOT THE ONE WE ACTUALLY EXPECTED. THAT’S WHERE COMEDIAN JULIO TORRES AND HIS ONE-HOUR STAND-UP PIECE COME IN.

TORRES, A SELF-DESCRIBED SPACE PRINCE BY WAY OF EL SALVADOR, IS BEST KNOWN FOR WRITING TWO OF THE SHARPEST BITS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE HAS PRODUCED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS. THE FIRST IS PAPYRUS, A FARCICAL TOUR OF RAGE THAT HAS RYAN GOSLING LOSING SLEEP OVER THE FACT THAT THE SECOND-HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIE OF ALL TIME USED A FREE, MISGUIDEDLY TRIBAL-LOOKING TYPEFACE IN ITS POSTER – AVATAR’S GRAPHIC DESIGNERS HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO. THE SECOND IS WELLS FOR BOYS, A FAKE PRODUCT AD THAT SUBTLY POINTS TO THE TROUBLED, MISUNDERSTOOD CHILDHOODS THAT MANY AN ODD SOUL HAD TO OVERCOME, BY USING A PLASTIC TOY AS AN EMOTIONAL CONDUIT. WITH THESE PIECES, TORRES BECAME AN UNLIKELY VOICE FOR THOSE PEOPLE TO WHOM DESIGN, THE DESIGNED OBJECT AND THE DESIGNED SPACE MATTERED FAR TOO MUCH.

CUT TO 2019, AND AFTER THE CULT SUCCESS OF LOS ESPOOKYS – A DARK HORROR COMEDY MEETS MAGIC-REALIST BRAZILIAN TELENOVELA CO-CREATED BY TORRES FOR HBO – HE RECENTLY RELEASED MY FAVORITE SHAPES, A ONE-HOUR STAND-UP SPECIAL. THE ELEVATOR PITCH? ‘I NEED TO SHOW THESE SHAPES,’ HE TELLS HIS MOTHER ON THE SHOW’S OPENING PHONE CALL. ‘BECAUSE IF I DON’T SHOW THEM, I DON’T KNOW WHETHER ANYONE ELSE WILL.’

WHY ARE THE CREATORS, CURATORS AND CRITICS OF THE DESIGN INDUSTRY SO OBSESSED WITH SEEMINGLY SUPERFICIAL MINUTIAE? IF THEY DEVOTED THE SAME AMOUNT OF EFFORT TO THINGS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER TO SOCIETY AS THEY DO TO CHUBBY FURNITURE, WE WOULD HAVE FOUND A CURE FOR CANCER BY NOW, OUR DETRACTORS SAY. THE TRUTH IS, WE SHOW OUR SHAPES BECAUSE WE HAVE TO. BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE WILL. BECAUSE BY SHOWING THEM, WE SHOW OURSELVES – AND INCIDENTALLY, IT ACTUALLY HELPS EXPLAIN THE LOGICAL IRRATIONALITY OF THE ACT OF TRYING TO CONTAIN DESIGN.

IN MY FAVORITE SHAPES, THE BEST SHOWCASE OF THAT DUALITY IS THE SET ITSELF. IT’S A STAND-UP COMEDY SPECIAL, YES, BUT TORRES IS ACTUALLY SITTING IN A LABORATORY THAT LOOKS CO-DESIGNED BY LUIS BARRAGÁN AND POLLY POCKET – IN REALITY, IT WAS CO-DESIGNED BY TORRES’ ARCHITECT MOTHER, TITA, AND PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL KRANTZ. LET ME REPEAT THAT: IT IS A STAND-UP COMEDY SPECIAL WHERE NO CUSTOMARY EMPTY THEATRE STAGE WILL DO, BECAUSE IT NEEDS ITS SPATIAL ENVELOPMENT TO BE WORTHY OF ITS SUBJECT. THAT, RIGHT THERE, BREAKS THE MOULD OF THE GENRE: WHILE MOST COMEDIANS CRAFT THEIR JOKES IN A MANNER SO COMMENDABLY TIGHT THAT THEY CAN FULLY AND SOLELY EXIST IN THE AUDIENCE’S MIND, TORRES ASKS HIS AUDIENCE TO ENGAGE IN THE SHAPE-SHIFTING GYMNASTICS THAT WOULD ALLOW HIS JOKES TO EXIST IN A SPACE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR HOSTING THEM.

FOR KRANTZ, USED TO MORE DIRECT BRIEFS FOR MUSIC VIDEOS OR TELEVISION COMMERCIALS, THIS WAS A PROJECT LIKE NO OTHER. HE RECEIVED INITIAL SCREENGRABS OF A 3D MODEL MADE BY TITA AND TWEAKED BY MARTA, HER MILLENNIAL DAUGHTER, SHOWING A CLEAR INFLUENCE FROM THE LIKES OF GIORGIO DE CHIRICO’S ROMAN ARCADES AND THE MEMPHIS GROUP’S INTERLOCKING VOLUMES. BUT KRANTZ RECOGNIZED SOMETHING ELSE IN THE PROJECT: THE HORIZONTAL EFFECT OF INSTAGRAM – ‘THE SQUARE ASPECT RATIO [OF THE NETWORK] DEMOCRATISES IMAGES,’ HE EXPLAINED. BECAUSE OF MARTA’S INVOLVEMENT, THE THROWBACK 80S LOOK THAT HAS BEEN RE-SPRUNG TO LIFE BY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LIKE @NEWAGECOCAINE AND @LAVENDERLADYSUPREME WAS THERE IN FULL FORCE. SO THIS BRIEF-BY-SCREENGRAB TURNED OUT TO BE A PROPOSAL THAT SPOKE TO BOTH TITA’S GENERATION AND MARTA’S, THUS ILLUSTRATING THE COEXISTENCE OF THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONAL READINGS IN EVERY DESIGNED ELEMENT – IT’S WHAT VIRGIL ABLOH SAYS HE’S DOING WITH THOSE ORANGE THINGS.

JULIO TORRES IS THE MILLENNIAL ROLAND BARTHES OF TELEVISION, AND MY FAVORITE SHAPES IS HIS MYTHOLOGIES

THE GREATEST CHALLENGE, THOUGH, WAS TO MAKE THAT INITIAL IDEA WORK FOR THE CAMERA. THE OBJECTS HAVE THEIR MOMENT AS THEY APPEAR IN A CONVEYOR BELT THAT TORRES ACTIVATES BY FOOT; THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE HAD TO BE BUILT AROUND IT, CALCULATING THE BACKROOM SPACE FOR PROP HANDLERS, AS WELL AS THE RIGGING, CABLING AND LED COMPONENTS. THE ORIGINAL SCREENGRABS HAD MORE CHROME TO THEM AND TORRES WANTED ‘A CERTAIN FRIVOLITY… BUT IT HAD TO FEEL SERIOUS, LIKE A LABORATORY,’ AS KRANTZ EXPLAINED. THEY AGREED TO DESATURATE EVERYTHING. THOSE SPATIAL CALCULATIONS ALLOWED THE COMEDIAN TO PRESENT A SQUARE, A CRYSTAL THAT MIGHT CONSIDER WORKING, TILDA SWINTON’S APARTMENT, USE A STAIRCASE TO HOP ON OVER TO A SEPARATE SPOT TO SPEAK OF THE MOST VINDICTIVE CURTAIN IN THE WORLD AND THEN SIT BACK TO PRESENT A DEPRESSING INTERPRETATION OF THE PLAYFUL PENGUIN RACE SET THAT IS ACTUALLY A SAD ALLEGORY FOR THE INFINITE LOOP OF STRUGGLE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. JULIO TORRES IS THE MILLENNIAL ROLAND BARTHES OF TELEVISION, AND MY FAVORITE SHAPES IS HIS MYTHOLOGIES.

‘IT’S A SHINTOIST APPROACH TO THE AWARENESS THAT WITHIN EACH OBJECT IS A SPIRIT… BUT HE JUST TURNS IT ON ITS HEAD,’ KRANTZ EXPLAINED, AGREEING. AFTER ALL, HE IS ONE OF OURS. AN ART-SCHOOL GRADUATE WHOSE OWN FAVOURITE SHAPES WERE FOUND DURING CONSTANT TRIPS TO THE LIBRARY, TODAY HIS STUDIO IS MADE UP OF LARGE TABLES FULL OF MATERIALS AND PENS AND BITS AND PIECES THAT HE CAN ‘VISIT’ WHEN HE WANTS TO. ‘[THAT’S WHY] I THINK MARIE KONDO IS BATSHIT CRAZY,’ HE DEADPANNED.

THE REASON OBJECTS SPEAK TO US IS NOT BECAUSE WE SEE BEAUTY IN THEM, BUT BECAUSE BY SEEING THEM, THEY REVEAL IN US THE SELF-EFFACING CAPACITY FOR FINDING BEAUTY IN PLACES FAR OUTSIDE OF OURSELVES. FASHION IS EASY; IT’S MEANT TO BECOME AND ENHANCE US. SPATIAL AND OBJECT DESIGN, THOUGH? THESE PRODUCTS RULE AND AFFECT US, BUT WILL NEVER BE PART OF US AS MUCH AS WE ARE SUBJECT TO THEM. THAT A COMEDY SPECIAL REVEALS THIS IN ONE HOUR, AND YET EIGHT EPISODES OF ABSTRACT FAIL TO CONVEY THE TWISTED YET INNOCENT VULNERABILITY THAT IT TAKES TO REALLY SUBMIT TO DESIGNED THINGS TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. ABSTRACT IS BACK FOR A SECOND SEASON LATER THIS MONTH, BUT GOING BY ITS FIRST, I DOUBT ANYTHING SHOWCASED IN THE SERIES WILL BE AS GUT-PUNCHING AS JULIO’S REVEAL OF DAISY DUCK’S LIVING ROOM.

INTERVIEW WITH THE FACE ABOUT MY TIME ON THE DOOM GENERATION.

Therese and I sit for a camera test. Photo by Jim Fealy, 1994.

IT’S DIFFICULT TO NOT SOUND LIKE A COMPLETE MORON ONCE THE WRITERS ARE DONE EDITING WHAT WE SAY OVER THE COURSE OF AN HOUR LONG PHONE INTERVIEW. I CAN’T PUT TOO FINE A POINT ON IT: THIS WHOLE MOVIE WAS THE VISION OF GREGG AND THERESE. I WAS JUST A YOUNG FOOL, HANDY WITH SOME TOOLS, WHO WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE A PART OF IT. #RIPTHERESE

I DIDN’T CREATE IT’S LOOK.  I JUST HAMMERED, PAINTED, CLEANED UP BLOOD, AND SMOKED A TON OF CIGARETTES.

NONETHELESS, THANK YOU TREY TAYLOR FOR THE PIECE ON A SUPER 90’S FILM OF WHICH I AM HAPPY TO HAVE BEEN A PART.

LINK TO ARTICLE HERE