Late Night Monologues

A MOMENT OF SELF REFLECTION

2011-10-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of my new pieces from "Lapse In Presence" series for Exquisite Collective exhibition in Argentina.

RETAIN YOUR SINCERITY
Chase your dreams, but never forget where you started. Let your authenticity guide you : : : for contentment will be right alongside it.

Writing & Image : : by : : Boris Pelcer

COMPLEX DESIRE FOR TRUTH & PEACE

2011-09-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

You two-timed me one time too often | Image & quote by : : John Stezaker

ANALYSIS OF NEITZSCHE'S ESSAY ON TRUTH & LIE IN AN EXTRA-MORAL SENSE
This might be quite a long & a bit unusual read for some. However, I guarantee it will get your wheels turning & you will certainly learn something new about the way humans use language, how that directly correlates & affects the way we perceive truth & lie. In addition I will discuss human desire for truth & peacefully coexistence and how that is reflected in different ideologies of rational and intuitive men. I am not attempting to convince you of any particular way of thinking or perceiving life but rather this is meant to provide a different perspective on the human interactions that remains quite a mystery in my scope of things. I am certain that this will make you more aware of how humans behave, communicate & define themselves by their choice of words. Without further ado lets begin.

Nietzsche analyzes our human desire for truth and honesty and how such desire for truth, which for him is quite harmful and destructive, begins to contradict with our mare desire to coexist peacefully. Nietzsche also defines man as a deceptive and proud creature, which makes it harder to understand as to how such creature could come to desire truth and want peaceful coexistence. To view humans solely as deceptive creatures it is to say that everything we experience with other humans is a collection of lies and manipulations. If you let that idea absorb you would find that it would be very difficult to go on living if such was the case. With that said in order to better understand such view and bold statement I want to look at why Nietzsche sees humans as deceptive and proud creatures. I want to look at what he defines as truth and the reasons as to why we want it, or as to why in other instances we choose to manipulate it for the purpose of deception. Last but not least, I want to look at why according to Nietzsche we want to coexist peacefully. The drive for investigating Nietzsche’s ideas is to create clear connections between these different ideas in order to make our own human interaction and thought process ever so slightly clearer.

To start of lets look at the direct source for Nietzsche’s bold statement on human deception and even his own uncertainty on human drive for truth:

“Deception, flattering, lying, deluding, talking behind the back, putting up a false front, living in borrowed splendor, wearing a mask, hiding behind convention, playing a role for others and for oneself – in short, a continuous fluttering around the solitary flame of vanity – is so much the rule and the law among men that there is almost nothing which is less comprehensible than how an honest and pure drive for truth could have arisen among them.”

Initially it is hard to pin point exactly how he comes to this bold conclusion that all men are deceptive creatures. After reading the passage I quoted above, I begin to feel great sense of pessimism coming from Nietzsche. Is it possible that we are all this cynical? Perhaps it is the generalizing of everyone with these characteristics that I want to know the source of his drive for the statement. Fortunately, this idea that he is generalizing everyone is made clear at the end of his writing when he acknowledges that in general there is a rational man and the intuitive man. Rational man is guided by his principal needs by means of foresight, prudence, and regularity, while the intuitive man disregards these needs and counting real life only that which has been disguised as illusion and beauty (60). You might be wondering how these two kinds of men connect to the idea of deception. The idea of deception does connect to the ideologies of these two kinds of man. However, if you read the quoted passage on deception again, Nietzsche states that “deception is so much the rule and law among men (54)”, which includes all men. By generalizing Nietzsche states that both kinds of man are capable, and able of applying deception (Nietzsche 54). In his passage at the end of his writing where he describes the patterns of action for both kids of man, we can clearly see that rational man is the only one that applies deception in order to protect him from future acts of deception. In the process the rational man appears to seek nothing but truth and sincerity and somehow in the process of protecting himself from deception, we can only conclude that the rational man acquires a great deal of knowledge on the act of deception that in the end he is the one to employ masterpiece of deception (61). To better understand the points I am making lets look at the passage I am referencing at the end of Nietzsche’s writing:

“The man who is guided by concepts and abstractions only succeeds by such means in warding off misfortune, without ever gaining any happiness for himself from these abstractions. And while he aims for the greatest possible freedom from pain, the intuitive man, standing in the midst of a culture, already reaps from his intuition a harvest of continually inflowing illumination, cheer, and redemption– in addition to obtaining a defense against misfortune. To be sure, he suffers more intensely, when he suffers; he even suffers more frequently, since he does not understand how to learn from experience and keeps falling over and over again into the same ditch. He is then just as irrational in sorrow as he is in happiness: he cries aloud and will not be consoled. How differently the stoical man who learns from experience and governs himself by concepts is affected by the same misfortunes! This man, who at other times seeks nothing but sincerity, truth, freedom from deception, and protection against ensnaring surprise attacks, now executes a masterpiece of deception: he executes his masterpiece of deception in misfortune, as the other type of man executes his in times of happiness. He wears no quivering and changeable human face, but, as it were, a mask with dignified, symmetrical features. He does not cry; he does not even alter his voice. When a real storm cloud thunders above him, he wraps himself in his cloak, and with slow steps he walks from beneath it.”

In attempt to live a happy life, free of structure and regularity the intuitive man experiences a great deal of misfortunes from inability to prepare and learn from his past abstract experiences. Essentially intuitive man wants to free himself from deception but in return ends up experiencing deception even more so, and more frequently since he does not understand how to learn from experiences. In addition, if we read between the lines we can conclude in general terms that in order for the intuitive man to experience deception someone else has to commit it. Even though this is generalized conclusion, we can see that there is the one committing deception and the other experiencing the consequences of deception.

This idea of the intuitive man is fascinating mainly because I begin to question the amount of intelligence that an intuitive man has due to his inability to learn from experience and avoid deception. According to Nietzsche, as the individual wants to maintain himself against other individuals, he will under natural circumstances employ the intellect mainly for dissimulation (54). In other words according to Nietzsche, every man’s natural reaction is to employ his intellect mainly for disguise in order to maintain themselves in certain light against other individuals. For Nietzsche, deception or dissimulation is a natural part of an intellect. That also means that if an individual has a higher intellect his dissimulation will also be higher. And to summarize it even more, the smarter an individual is the more manipulative they are. What does this say about the intuitive man, the one who is not able to employ his intellect for dissimulation and can not learn from their past experiences? Initial conclusion would be that his intellect is lower than that of a rational man. Perhaps, the conclusion that makes more sense or is a more of a positive outlook would be that the intellect is present just as much as it is in the rational man, with the exception that the intuitive man has made a conscious decision to want to live and think in another manner. Such could be part of a desire to break away from the world of deception and create a new system of human interaction where everything exists in a harmonious cycle. If such is the case where the intuitive man is so aware of the way the rational man thinks and behaves and is able to realize this and attempt to over come it, we could conclude that intuitive man has higher level of intelligence than the rational man. It makes the act of overcoming the rational ways seem like a brave decision. What we can see here is that intuitive man does not let fear of deception get in the way of missing an opportunity to experience joy and happiness. Perhaps the intuitive man wants to believe against odds to show that it is possible to experience more joy than a rational man. If that is the case, intuitive man does not let the fear of reoccurring deception stop him from trying to get a positive outcome. Intuitive man, even when he does experience deception keeps trying to beat the odds and not allow the harmful consequences of defeats to bring him down. Instead he instead maintains persistent. At this point we can conclude that the intuitive man suffers a lot, and frequently. The rational man protects himself from deception, while wearing a mask that depicts him as a man of truth and honesty. In fact because of his fear of future deception he becomes great at deception. Meanwhile, intuitive man fights against the odds to break free from deception and regularity in order to experience joy and happiness that is free of deception. His persistence also allows him, considering that the intellect is high enough, to still learn something about him after each defeat. It is the kind of knowledge we can only gain through defeat, and it is something that rational man would not be exposed to, as he would limit his exposure to deception. This relates to my own experience and the fact that you don’t learn as much when you take the safe and easy road. Also, to be able to completely isolate and deflect any deception we would never fail, and in doing so we would not learn how to be able to get up and keep going after each defeat. Success is not always succeeding, but being able to get up and keep going after we fall down. With all of that said it is clear that both have their advantages. It is up to us how we employ it personally. The question remains weather or not the intuitive man contains enough intelligence to be able to fully take advantage of what his way of life brings to him. Lets not forget that deception is so much the rule and law among men (54). That means that everyone uses it, even the intuitive man. At least that would be the assumption. Considering that the intuitive man contains this ability to deceive just as much as the rational man, perhaps it is the rational man that experiences deception presented as rational man’s victory over the intuitive man. Perhaps, intuitive man plays the role of the loser and in doing so lets the rational man believe he has won and plays along with expected outcome of defeat. In such case both attain their happiness. Knowing that we all want to attain happiness such interplay of deceptions between the rational and intuitive man begins to sound the most logical, as they both get what they want. The certainty of these interactions and how they correlate to deception is something that can continuously argued back and forth as more research is done. What we can conclude from this is that in either case both seek to experience happiness. That brings me to the next point of our desire to experience happiness and coexist peacefully with the herd (54).

Why do we want to coexist in peace and with the herd? I’m not certain, but I find myself relating more and more to the rational man. I want to believe that people are great, giving, carrying, thoughtful and considerate but like most of men, I have experienced a great deal of deception and my view that people are great is frequently questioned. Even as such, I secretly want to believe that people are great. I want to be like the intuitive man who does not let the past experience prevent him from giving a similar future experience another chance in hopes of experiencing something positive and new. Why is it that we believe in the great or good in people? Why is it that we desire this need to coexist peacefully? What we do know is that we certainly do act peacefully as it is in accordance to the social expectations for the means of getting what we need. Past that this is a direction that needs more research on my part, but I believe that the same part of our brain is responsible for creating the idea of a higher force. To be precise, most of our days on this earth are spent in trial and tribulations that most of us begin to feel, there has to be more to this life than what we are experiencing. If we experience only hardships why do we exist at all? What is the purpose of living if we are doomed to spend it in suffering? I feel that is when our desire to validate our existence kicks in and we begin to look for reasons and pleasures to make our existence pleasant and better. It is in this stage where we begin to look into other human beings for validation and similar kinds of understandings. Such is there so that we can share the suffering and fight against it together. I strongly believe that this desire to coexist peacefully and find others that understand our suffering in order to help each other through this very abstract life is the reason why we seek friends and ultimately why we seek for someone to spend our life with. We, at least I do, feel that most people will disappoint us, so we look for the one person that can give us the most amount of comfort and support that we can find, as we have learned first hand that most people won’t provide such. It’s rather strange how Nietzsche describes this desire for peaceful existence:

“… from boredom and necessity, man wishes to exist socially and with the herd; therefore, he needs to make peace and strives accordingly to banish from his world at least the most flagrant “bellum omni contra omnes” (Nietzsche 54), which means the war of all against all.”

Could it be that we want to exist peacefully out of boredom? Somehow I am not certain of this. So according to Nietzsche if there was something that we could cure boredom with we would never desire to coexist. If I could create art without the need to communicate with people would I never care to desire peaceful coexistence with others? Do I not create art in order to communicate with other human beings? For me, my art is a particular connection that I make or want to make with others. Besides art we do so much with others in mind, for the purpose of getting what we want or need. Some of these necessities could be a validation of our existence and what we do with our time on this earth, and other necessities are simply getting around to get the basics for survival like food, shelter and so on. With that said, I disagree with the idea we want to coexist peacefully because of the boredom, but rather necessity. I still have to interact and if nothing pretend to desire peace in order to get along only so I can get anything else that I might need to satisfy the basic needs for survival. I want to connect this back with the idea of deception. Since we want to coexist in order to get what we want or more specifically what we need, we begin to employ deception. In this desire for peace the rational and intuitive man both play the same game but in a different role. The rational man displays the desire for truth and honesty. At the same time he is being very careful about any possible threats of deception. This is the instance where the intuitive man is the one who is simply letting him become embraced with the whole experience. However, it is in our interactions with each other the deception and truth occurs when we begin to use language in order to reveal or conceal something. We use language to come to mutually terms on what something is and can be. The act of defining or describing something is what can be defined as the search for truth. With that said what is truth? Why do we desire it? How did it come about it in the first place? According to Nietzsche truth is:

“A movable host of metaphors, metonymies, and anthropomorphisms:in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which, after long usage, seem to a people to be fixed, canonical, and binding. Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions; they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force, coins which have lost their embossing and are now considered as metal and no longer as coins (56).”

We can argue what color red is and what a tree looks like. We find generalized characteristics of these descriptions and we agree that we cannot necessarily identically define the same thing but that we are referencing the same thing. This allows us to agree on the subject of our conversation in order to be able to move on and get to the main point of the conversation, which could be why we are discussing color red or that tree. With that said it is clear that language is the first expression of our desire for truth (54). In our desire to coexist peacefully we also use language and seek truth through language in order to discover more about the other individual for the purpose of understanding how we have to act in order to maintain ourselves against them. For instance, if they moral beliefs are that of ours we will approach them in a less deceptive way as we can them being someone with whom we can share a great deal of ourselves with. If they seem the opposite we use our intellect to make sure they don’t hurt us and we can maintain minimal peaceful interactions. Essentially we keep distance from those we do not trust. Also by maintaining peace with those same individuals we ensure that in the future if we ever needed each other for the basic necessities we would be able to help each other. To further explain, the main duty that the society imposes on us thus far in order to be truthful is for us to employ these usual metaphors In order to express truth morally also means that we have the duty to lie according to a fixed notion and with the herd in a manner that is binding upon everyone. Now what has happened is that we have all forgotten that the metaphors are metaphors and not truths, but by the process of forgetfulness and with the habits centuries old we have made metaphors and illusions into truths. Since we have forgotten that the truths are lies made truth by the process of forgetfulness, we unconsciously and in accordance with habits, which are centuries old we lie in the manner, indicated (56).

Essentially truth can mean anything that has been used in the language over the centuries to the point that it’s meaning is not questioned, but merely accepted. That includes any simple terms referencing color, shape and all the way up to more complex ideas of morality. It is the desire for us all to maintain ourselves against other individuals that we seek for truth. Truth in the way we all perceive it is something that tells a great deal about the subject. We hope that such reveals the essence of something. But why do we seek it? We seek it because we want to protect ourselves. We want to know where we stand up against other individuals. We want to know if what we define as moral is also what the other individual defines as moral, in order to determine if we can trust them or not, which is once again done for the purpose of self preservation. However, that is just one side of the coin. The other side is the individual giving the truth. The other individual wants to just as much maintain himself against the other individual so he might say or do something that be in accordance of what is expected of him. Why would one conceal something if there were no interest in the other people? One of the clear reasons is to ensure that if needed for necessity we can still communicate with the other individual sometimes in the future. In essence not burning bridges allows us to come back to those people with due to necessity we might need them. This does sound a tad deceptive, but it is the connection I am making with the information given. Perhaps it is because people talk and the word of your rebellious ways will spread. It might be hard to conceal the truth once it is out in the open. If we fully engage in this act of concealing it only makes sense that through the act of forgetfulness that we would find ourselves believing what we have expressed time and time again to be the real truth. So if truth is anything repeated over the time that we forget what it really was, are we not than making matters harder for ourselves by concealing? I still strongly believe that the search for morality is our way of discovering something that can help us relate to and understand others. The desire to relate or understand others can be there simply due to wanting to know how to coexist peacefully so that we all can get what we need. It teaches us how to compromise socially so that we all do get what we need. The social standard of rules provide the basis for anyone needing guidelines to know how to act socially if they want to attain what they might need.
Now the strange twist to this is our own inclination to actually allow ourselves to be deceived. This is what Nietzsche describes:

"But man has an invincible inclination to allow himself to be deceived and is, as it were, enchanted with happiness when the rhapsodist tells him epic fables as if they were true, or when the actor in the theater acts more royally than any real king (60)."

So even with all of our efforts to avoid deception and to demand truth in order to live a life free of deception somehow at the end we still allow ourselves to be deceived. I believe such statement reveals something about men collectively, including the rational and intuitive man. It becomes clear that we all want to experience happiness of epic fables and life that seems so perfect and past our own real experience. With so much effort to protect ourselves from deception I am certain we all want to believe that life free of deception is possible. Protecting ourselves from deception is a reaction we have acquired over the years. Weather or not such is possible; it is nice to think about the life that is free of deception. The life that is greener on the other side. I strongly believe that the main reason for us allowing the act of deception depicting happiness is to mainly inject a sparkle of positive hope in our lives. Life is not always as easy as one wished it would be. Therefore allowing us to be deceived by what is nothing short of an epic fable is our way of finding energy to keep going when days in our life are not so easy and the bright light in the future begins to fade. It is the belief in something great; something is almost unreal that keeps us moving ahead. Once we get there we will realize that it is not going to be about getting there but using those bright lights in the distance to get us out of troubles or misfortunes we might be in at the current state.

At this point I have discussed from various perspectives the act of deception, intuitive man, rational man and how all of it relates to our desire for peaceful coexistence and truth. There are so many different instances for the use of deception or avoiding it. It becomes clear at least to my understanding that there is no certain way of defining one individual in one light only. There is also no certainty that intuitive man is less intelligible than the rational man. However there are indications that due to intuitive mans inability to learn from mistakes in order to manipulate for the purpose of self-preservation is a good sign of lesser intelligence. The only way we could get a better result of it all would be to do in field test and research. In my own personal experience I have played the part of the intuitive man more often than not. I had people hurt me before through deception, but I did not wanted to give up on the idea that things can be better than the previous similar experience. After few instances such harmful consequence became too much to deal with, as it affected other aspects of my life. It is than that I realized I simply need to let my past experience with my instinct based on past experiences guide my decisions in life. In some instances we employ our intellect to protect ourselves, in other instances we let ourselves be deceived in the search of fable experience to step aside form the mundane realities of everyday life. As defined intuitive man is the one that wants to free him from deception and he is the one that takes risks and faces deception. The rational man lives by rules, regularity and wants to at all costs protect himself against snaring deception attacks. Rational man is protected by means of deception but learns less by avoiding failure. Intuitive man has a lot to learn from his failure but since he is not capable of learning from mistakes he does not employ what he learned. That is of course what Nietzsche believes. My argument is that the intuitive man can and does learn from his mistakes, but continues to play the role of the intuitive man in order to keep gaining happiness he desires and making it seem as though deception was not predicted. If you think about it, in those terms intuitive man is a great actor. At this point it is strange to even say it out loud, but I can relate to both kids of man at some point in life. That is to say we all go through a lot of different experiences in our lives and as we go through them our perspectives change and so do our actions. Sometimes we decide that we need to be deceived into believing that something is better than what it reality is in order for us to keep going and keep trying. I pose that as I have done that when I was not happy with my environment or the stage in life I was in. When I first arrived in United Sates I did not understand why I was here or what the purpose of life was. My reaction was to believe that one day I might do something great with my life. So instead of trying to play much with other kids I learned how to draw and spent a lot of time alone, contemplating a lot of things but also accomplishing a lot. I bring this strange stage in life mainly because throughout our lives changes of all sorts will challenge us and push us into this highly contemplative and analytical stage of life. It is good to know what that means for you and how to make the best of it. As far as our desire for truth is concerned, we desire it because it is our way of understanding how everything works in relations to others and ourselves. We desire to know about other individuals in order to know how we can act in order to maintain ourselves against them. The use of language is our tool to construct the metaphors that we define as truths in order to better understand others. Based on what we desire for our outcome we employ language according to the social expectations in order to get what we need. Throughout it all we still desire to coexist peacefully. The socially acceptable rules is what creates outlines for our peaceful coexistence. We desire it to be able and find others we relate to and who see life and morality in the same way we do, so that we can collectively share the struggles and hardships of life. In addition, we want to coexist peacefully for the purpose of doing what is safe and expected in order to avoid conflicts and be able to get what we need out of interactions. There is an enormous amount of space for exploration of these ideas and I have not even scratch the surface yet. Now that I have given these ideas a great deal of attention and time I, just as you should too, must step away from them and see how I begin to employ these ideas in real life. In all honestly, the main reason for focusing on these topics is to be able and better understand what it takes to be a good communicator, how I can communicate with others to get the most of out life and to see if achieving happiness is really possible. Of course the idea of deception will be a great focus on my mind as I begin to meet people from this point on. I am certain in couple of years I will be able to look at this writing and add a great deal of quality ideas and prospective. Meanwhile I am excited to see if these ideas will have a great impact on how I as well as you develop from this point on.

Written : : by : : Boris Pelcer | Friedrich Nietzsche quote taken from : : On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense,” Continental Aesthetics Reader, pp. 53-61. | Image Reglogged from : : theapproach.co.uk | Image : : by : : John Stezaker

LETTERING & TYPOGRAPHY MANIFESTO

2011-09-05T12:50:00.003-07:00

Close up of lettering designed for Socialfabrik Manchaster tees | socialfabrik.co.uk

LETTERING & TYPOGRAPHY IS WHAT LANGUAGE LOOKS LIKE
Language itself attempts to combine & contextualize the use of words in a structural manner that best defines the ideas for which the words stand for. Words themselves attempt to define a very complex idea in a general sense. That also means that words can never fully posses the entire essence of the idea which is describing. As such, words are nothing more than metaphors for complex ideas. For example if I say "tree" it is not describing a specific tree, but an idea for a generalized tree, if such exists. It is only with the use of other words that the word "tree" begins to break apart from the generalized idea of a tree. In addition, each word on its own has a great amount of subjective connotations for everyone. As such the same word can carry a great amount of meaning for one person, while the same word perhaps means nothing for someone else. However, instead of having to add more words around the word "tree' to define it as a specific tree, I can add color, texture, shape, & a certain flow of letters in order to consciously further or contradict the ideas for which the word/s stands for.

Hence, my lettering & typographic experiments focus on maximizing the strength of words for my own intent by playing with colors, shapes, values, contrast, overall dynamics & flow in accordance or contradiction to the word's context in order to make my own specific statements. Some pieces are there to simply make you smile, while others offer food for thought.

If you desire to understand in depth the idea of perceiving words as metaphors instead of facts & how such use of words directly affects our perception & language use when seeking truth & lie, you should read Friedrich Nietzsche's essay | On Truth & Lie In an Extra-Moral Sense.

In addition one of my personal favorite books that I base my Typography course on is | Thinking With Type : : by : : Ellen Lupton. Ellen takes you through the history of type & will ensure that anyone who reads it will understand its content. Its clear, concise & quite effective. Enjoy

Writing & Image : : by : : Boris Pelcer

THE POWER OF GAZE

2011-08-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

A detail of the Gaze from one of my upcoming pieces :: Soleil.

PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE GAZE

In some of my work I have definitely chosen to focus on the power of the gaze. However, prior to that what really brought awareness of the gaze into my consciousness was my own fascination with the affect that it has on the way I physiologically react at the gaze of others.

This term "gaze" was brought into popular usage by Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst & psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy. For a great number of very driven individuals like myself who spend a lot of time in solitude in order to self-reflect & focus greatly on our work, this occurrence of the gaze can be noticed easier the moment we step out into social environments. As we focus on our work we become so focused on the ideas, thoughts & processes of it all that we stop thinking about our physical self as on object that exists amongst other objects. Our internal focus is shifted on our external focus the moment we come across a mirror where we can see ourselves, or we become aware that others can view us. In 'The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis,' Jacques Lacan best describes this phenomenon of gaze as:

"In the depths of my eye the picture is painted. The picture, certainly, is in my eye. But I am not in the picture. Yet, to consider any picture I have to be involved in it somehow because the picture does not even exist, as far as I am concerned, without me ... The view which enables me to see things around me leaves a defenseless opening to my own self in which I am consequently judged by my surroundings."

Lacan also describes the negative aspect of the gaze as "the stain", when each of us feels as though we seem to stick out & draw the attention of the gaze. Lacan writes:

"As "the stain," the subject unconsciously imagines s/he is somehow a blemish on the landscape that sticks out like a sore thumb for any viewer to see."

Processing knowledge of how our consciousness & our imagination drives our own perception of inner & outer illusion of ourselves, should over time help us become more aware in the way we react to the gaze.

Writing & Image : : by : : Boris Pelcer | Lacan quote taken from : : 'The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis,' Jacques Lacan (1901 - 1981)

GOOD TYPOGRAPHY TRANSCENDS

2011-08-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

A fantastic poster by designer and art director Craig Ward.

POWER OF TRANSCENDING TYPOGRAPHY

Successful or good typography is transcending. It is transcending in the manner best described by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his "Critique of the Power of Judgment":

"Something is transcendental if it plays a role in the way in which the mind "constitutes" objects and makes it possible for us to experience them as objects in the first place."

In essence, if an object is able to help us perceive other objects without the need to consciously process our awareness of that object, the object itself becomes transcending. Perfect example can the the role a light bulb plays in our ability to see & interact with other objects, without the need for us to be consciously aware of the light bulb itself and the role it plays. Successful & good typography will have the same transcending affect. Hence its actual presence becomes invisible due to the fact that it allows us to focus on the content that goes beyond the physical structure of the typography itself. At the same time, if typography is bad it becomes hard to look past the structural & organizational flaws. As such transcendence is never achieved. With all said & done, take some time, be patient, pay attention to the structure, flow & the use of negative space with your typography & produce quality work.

Written : : by : : Boris Pelcer | Image Reglogged from : : typetoken.net | Image : : by : : Craig Ward

A RETURN TO LOVE

2011-07-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

LET YOURSELF SHINE
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Quotes taken from : : A Return to Love : : by : : Marianne Williamson

WHAT KEEPS YOU UP LATE AT NIGHT?

2011-06-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

FACE YOURSELF

Late at night with no one around, when the continuous flow of external distractions and excitement clusters stop, it is in the silence of the outside world that you can hear your inner self speak. It is in this solitude that people fear not loneliness, but rather what’s inside of them selves. Do not resist confrontation with your inner self, for it is the only place where you can find what really matters; your inner peace.

Written : : by : : Boris Pelcer | Image Reglogged from : : ffffound.com

REVEALING TRUE ESSENCE

2011-06-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

WABI SABI

It is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. There is something beautiful about not resisting the occurrence of imperfection, decay or a glitch of any sort. The idea of perfection is quite subjecting. What is perfection for one individual might be a thought or a concept entirely absent for another individual. Perfection can be seen as a set of ideals, thoughts and more than anything a set of expectations. Expectations create an idealized outcome and everything else that is not part of your idealized expectation is just an obstacle that needs to be ironed out. It is all of those tiny little imperfections that may feel like they need to be ironed out that in fact add personality, and can often reveal more about the true essence of its particular experience or process if you stop expecting an ideal outcome and let the imperfections guide the outcome.

For the last couple weeks I found my self fascinated with electronic glitches. I spent quite some time looking at the amazing array of unexpected shapes, colors, patterns created by chance. However, it is considered a glitch, an unexpected disruption in the expected electronic performance. It made my imagination run wild thinking of all of the unexpected but insightful possibilities that imperfections could offer us, if we only embraced these imperfections for any given instance that we might come across in our lives including the creative process.

I used my own iconic image to play around. Besides the initial sketch, this image was entirely created digitally. The intention was to make this image look hand crafted and aged. Its essence is never the less still digital. Inserting digitized glitches to come through this image offers a glimpse of its true digital essence. Above all, this kind of thought process truly makes one wonder on the amount of true essence that is in reality revealed to us. To further challenge that statement in Nietzsche's manner, we should ask what is "truth", what is "reality", and in whose subjective terms are they described in?

Writing & Image : : by : : Boris Pelcer

MOLESKINE | CATCHING NEBULA

2011-05-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

CLIENT

Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/moleskinecatchingnebula.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/MOLESKINE-CATCHING-NEBULA/1310757

DESCRIPTION
When all else fails & the Nebula state of being is at hand, I simply draw. More often than not my doodles turn into great conceptual directions & my portable Moleskine is there to help me capture it all. Enjoy.

BEAUX ARTS BALL | 2011

2011-04-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
University of Idaho | College of Art & Architecture
www.borispelcer.com/beauxartsball2011.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/BEAUX-ARTS-BALL-2011/1259367

DESCRIPTION
Poster for University of Idaho | College of Art & Architecture BEAUX ARTS BALL 2011.

MAZE

2011-03-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/maze.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/MAZE/917151

DESCRIPTION
This piece was inspired by a little Native American maze symbol that I randomly came across. The maze represents life in which if you make good choices you will find your way to the center of the maze, where you are in balance with all things. My whole life I have moved around & through that experience my love for traveling was born. Unfortunately, with each move leaving dear friends & family behind was not easy. However, such circumstances made me re-evaluate my life, the choices I have made & what kind of choices I will make in the future, all for the purpose of better finding my balance in life.

SELF PROMOTIONAL BOOKLET 2009

2011-03-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/promobooklet2009.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/SELF-PROMOTIONAL-BOOKLET-2009/1165879

DESCRIPTION
Gallery Exhibition of my work in the form of a 7.5 x 7.5in booklet.

FEATURED BY THOMAS DENEUVILLE

2011-03-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

FEATURE
I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Thomas Deneuville on my inspirations, creative process, & the influence technology has on that creative process. I Care If You Listen is a blog about contemporary classical music, design, architecture, technology & the idea of Craftsmanship. It is maintained by Thomas Deneuville, a French-born composer living in New York City.

To check out the blog and read the rest of the interview visit | I care if you listen : : feat : : Boris Pelcer

TOGETHER AS ONE | HELP JAPAN

2011-03-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Red Cross America | Japan Relief
www.borispelcer.com/japanrelief.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/TOGETHER-AS-ONE-HELP-JAPAN/1145985

DESCRIPTION
This is a series of 28 edition prints as 20" x 26" posters, with a 1 color silk screened imprint. All proceeds from these posters go to The American Red Cross Japan Disaster Effort Relief. Printing made possible by Brew City Brand Apparel © | www.brewcityonline.com

FEATURED ON FFFFOUND

2011-03-15T15:53:00.001-07:00

TYPEFACE SHOW 2011 | FLORIDA

2011-02-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Freedom Art | www.freedomart.net
www.borispelcer.com/typefaceshowflorida.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/FOR-ARTS-SAKE-TYPEFACE-SHOW-Fort-LaunderdaleMiami/993245

DESCRIPTION
For Art's Sake Typeface show offered a great opportunity to do new typographic & lettering pieces. Content of the work was left up to me. Hence, having the freedom of choosing my own content I made a decision to pick few songs I enjoy & interpret the lyrics visually, in order to experiment as to how visually rendered lyrics in the context of the song can manipulate the way viewers will later perceive & enjoy the same songs. The songs I picked out are:
All you need is Love by Beatles, Fantasy by Earth, Wind & Fire & 2gether by Roger Sanchez.

FOR ART'S SAKE TYPEFACE SHOW : FORT LAUDERDALE & MIAMI : : FL | forartssakeshow.com

SELECTED TYPOGRAPHY FEATURED

2011-02-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

FEATURED ON THE WEB
I am rather content that my lettering & typographic work got featured on several sites as top examples of inspirational work. Most sites are quite brief, except for BOSS NOT BOSS.com who really took the time to discuss my work with elegance. Below are the links of the recent websites featuring my work. You can also see the complete list of websites at the bottom of the blog under the FEATURED section. Enjoy.

Typography Served
We Love Typography | 1
We Love Typography | 2
We Love Typography | 3
We Love Typography | 4
Pinterest
Boss Not Boss
Design Inspiration

KEEP IT SIMPLE

2011-01-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/keepitsimple.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/TYPOGRAPHY-FOR-YOU/915411

DESCRIPTION
Lettering food for thought.
Life Motto: KEEP IT SIMPLE.

THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL

2010-12-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/thankyoubeautiful.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/THANK-YOU-BEAUTIFUL/916846

DESCRIPTION
Hummingbird reveals that with tireless energy, focus, & patience we are able to discover & enjoy our own nectar of life. For Native Americans throughout North, Central, & South America it is also a symbol of luck, love, peace & happiness.
In one Native American story it was said that many years ago there was a fragrant flower that rose every spring to display her beautiful petals & bright colours for all the world’s creatures to enjoy. The people & animals waited anxiously each spring for this special flower to appear. On that day they knew the warm, kind rays of summer had arrived. Raven saw how much joy this flower brought to the world, so the next spring when it appeared, he transformed it into a tiny bird. The bird had the colours of the green spring grass & the flashing red of a setting sun. Raven gave the bird a special gift to fly like sunlight flickering through tall trees. He also gave it a message to take to all the flowers. That’s why today we see hummingbirds buzzing from flower to flower, whispering the same message I want to share with all of you that add substance to our life on earth | Thank you for making this world more beautiful.

This is the breakdown of the process if you are interested in doing something similar yourself.

I went through the same process for my "DREAMER" & "FOR THE LOVE OF HOUSE MUSIC" pieces. I am repeating this quick TUTORIAL to help you understand how you can go about doing something like this yourself. It is also rather basic in order to allow your style to take over in order to end up with results that are quite your own.

First I scan the sketch from my moleskin and convert the sketch into vector lines. I do that in Illustrator by tracing over the sketch with the brush tool with the pressure setting selected. Such allows subtle changes in line weight. You can create different brushes with different weights assigned to them. This is of course only possible with the use of WACOM tablet, so make sure you get one, its rather fun.

Second, I look at what components are in front, in the middle or in the back in order to group all of the lines and color shapes and layer them according to their relationship to each other.

In this instance I had the hummingbird lines + shape at the top, than under it is the flower lines + shape in the bottom left corner, than few sections of the hair lines + shapes that overlap the flowers in the hair and so on.

Once I am done with all of that I start copying and placing each of the grouped components separately in Photoshop. As you start to copy and paste into Photoshop you will want to make sure all of elements line up in the same way they do in Illustrator. To do that make sure you create a shape in your Illustrator file that is the exact same size as your Artboard and line it up with your artboard exactly. The shape should not have a stroke or a fill, but should be just an empty path. Make sure your Photoshop file is the exact same size as your Illustrator file. As you select the elements in Illustrator that you want to copy & paste, also select the rectangle path each time you are copying and pasting a different component. As you paste each element in Photoshop they should all line up as the rectangle shape will automatically line up to the file size.

Once that is all done the rest is playing with colors and lighting until its done. To better understand the descriptions here is the development from the sketch to the final. Enjoy.

FOR THE LOVE OF HOUSE MUSIC

2010-12-13T02:10:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/forloveofhousemusic.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/FOR-THE-LOVE-OF-THE-HOUSE-MUSIC/916719

DESCRIPTION
As a House Music enthusiast my emotional state of choice is Ecstasy. My nourishment of choice is Love. My addiction of choice is technology. My religion of choice is music. My currency of choice is knowledge. My politics of choice is none. My society of choice is utopian though I know it won't happen.

It’s a spiritual thing, a body thing, a soul thing. It captures the pinnacle of vast emotions & lets it all free! Amongst hundreds of others embracing this feeling, I surrender myself to the melody, loops, beats, soulful vocals, & let the music take me to a place where I feel like peace, love & harmony really can exist. A place where all my worries disappear & I feel like the world is mine! I don’t care if it’s Jazz, Soul, Tech, Minimal, Funky, Vocal or Hip-house, name it I will love it.

Through all of the highs & lows, house music has always kept me excited about life. As a way of showing my gratitude to it this is my labor of love in honor of House Music.

This is the breakdown of the process if you are interested in doing something similar yourself.

I was not patient enough to sketch this out in a sketchbook so I just started sketching in Photoshop. You can also see I was contemplating of having gothic style of type. However I felt the imagery was going to be complex enough I didn't want to type to distract from it all.

Once I got a good gesture and a good framework for the piece I went into Illustrator to fine tune all of the line work.

First I convert the sketch into vector lines. I do that in Illustrator by tracing over the sketch with the brush tool with the pressure setting selected. Such allows subtle changes in line weight. You can create different brushes with different weights assigned to them. This is of course only possible with the use of WACOM tablet, so make sure you get one, its rather fun.

Second, I look at what components are in front, in the middle or in the back in order to group all of the lines and color shapes and layer them according to their relationship to each other.

In this instance I had the headphone lines + shape on top, than flower lines + shape, than sunglasses and so on.

Once I am done with all of that I start copying and placing each of the grouped components separately in Photoshop. As you start to copy and paste into Photoshop you will want to make sure all of elements line up in the same way they do in Illustrator. To do that make sure you create a shape in your Illustrator file that is the exact same size as your Artboard and line it up with your artboard exactly. The shape should not have a stroke or a fill, but should be just an empty path. Make sure your Photoshop file is the exact same size as your Illustrator file. As you select the elements in Illustrator that you want to copy & paste, also select the rectangle path each time you are copying and pasting a different component. As you paste each element in Photoshop they should all line up as the rectangle shape will automatically line up to the file size.

1. Once I did this in illustrator I realized in consulting with my great friend and great teacher Jeremy Pettis, that in the piece the frame has too many bold elements distracting from the figure and the facial expression was just so strange. Since I was doing this all out of my head it took a lot of massaging to get the expression right.

2. Few days later I really pushed the frame reference to the house music and clubbing, fixed the facial expression, and decided I needed to add a crowd to add to the whole atmosphere.

3. Once the crowd was done in illustrator I was ready to start laying out colors in Photoshop.

4. I laid out basic colors and started playing around with lighting. Initially I had the main female figure wearing the typical Virgin Mary colors. I was not too happy with the blue even tho historically using blue for her cape made more sense as blue was a very expensive pigment and represented wealth. The culture of house music is there to invite all people regardless of sexual preference or wealth so I decided to change that color and throw the blue out.

5. After days of playing around this is finally what I ended with. To better understand the descriptions here is the development from the digital sketch to the final. Enjoy.

DREAMER

2010-11-20T02:07:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/dreamer.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/DREAMER/916792

DESCRIPTION
"As I drift away deep into the night, we meet again."

I felt the need to capture the notion of everlasting but sometimes quite unusual free spirited vibe of 60's. I referenced Alphonse Mucha's method of glorifying the female figure. However, in order to capture the overly liberating culture of the 60's the female figure bares no clothes, which leaves her entirely vulnerable. Her gaze is directed back in the direction of the viewer but is unable to see us. The same way she is aware of the view which enables her to see the world around her is the same view which creates a defenseless opening to her own self in which she is consequently judged by her own surrounding, in this case us | Jacques Lacan. In this interplay of perception I wanted to create a piece like this to help us understand just how strange it would feel to be overly liberated in a manner that leaves us all defenseless.

To better understand the power of gaze as defined by Jacques Lacan, the French psychoanalyst, psychiatrist & philosopher, you can read my blog article on | The Psychoanalysis of the Gaze.

This is the breakdown of the process if you are interested in doing something similar yourself.

First I convert the sketch into vector lines. I do that in Illustrator by tracing over the sketch with the brush tool with the pressure setting selected. Such allows subtle changes in line weight. You can create different brushes with different weights assigned to them. This is of course only possible with the use of WACOM tablet, so make sure you get one, its rather fun.

Second, I look at what components are in front, in the middle or in the back in order to group all of the lines and color shapes and layer them according to their relationship to each other.

In this instance I had the flower lines on top, and the flower shape under. Than I had hair lines + shape under the flower and so on.

Once I am done with all of that I start copying and placing each of the grouped components separately in Photoshop. As you start to copy and paste into Photoshop you will want to make sure all of elements line up in the same way they do in Illustrator. To do that make sure you create a shape in your Illustrator file that is the exact same size as your Artboard and line it up with your artboard exactly. The shape should not have a stroke or a fill, but should be just an empty path. Make sure your Photoshop file is the exact same size as your Illustrator file. As you select the elements in Illustrator that you want to copy & paste, also select the rectangle path each time you are copying and pasting a different component. As you paste each element in Photoshop they should all line up as the rectangle shape will automatically line up to the file size.

Once that is all done the rest of playing with colors and lighting until its done. To better understand the descriptions here is the development from the sketch to the final. Enjoy.

SOMEONE BEAUTIFUL

2010-11-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/someonebeautiful.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/TYPOGRAPHY-FOR-YOU/915411

DESCRIPTION
Lettering for your SMILE!
THERE IS SOMEONE BEAUTIFUL : : READING THIS

I know I can't change the world, but I can at least put an effort to make it a little brighter & help you keep on doing whatever you are doing by reminding you just how beautiful & amazing you are. So I made stickers & plastered them everywhere in hopes it will put a smile on your face. Look for them in Seattle, Toronto, Milwaukee, Chicago, Boise & Moscow in Idaho, as well as Ketchikan Alaska.

BEAUTY IS THE BEAST

2010-10-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/beautyisthebeast.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/BEAUTY-IS-THE-BEAST/916897

DESCRIPTION
All throughout our lives beauty never seizes to stop influencing our judgement. It is quite fascinating how easily we can overlook the way we perceive a person simply by how beautiful they are. For the custom lettering I intentionally left the brush marks made in the process of refining the lettering to point out just how much absurd effort & time is invested in the process of getting ourselves closer to that memorizing state of beauty.

YOUR PIERCE MY SOUL

2010-10-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/youpiercemysoul.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/YOU-PIERCE-MY-SOUL/917120

DESCRIPTION
An experiment combining lettering & illustration for a greater visual impact.

U R AWESOME

2010-10-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/urawesome.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/TYPOGRAPHY-FOR-YOU/915411

DESCRIPTION
Lettering for your SMILE!
What more can I say, U R AWESOME!

LA DOLCE VITA

2010-09-06T02:58:00.001-07:00

CLIENT
Self Promotion
www.borispelcer.com/ladolcevita.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/LA-DOLCE-VITA/916627

DESCRIPTION
Maintaining ones identity & sanity means reminding ourselves more often than not to never lose our childhood innocence. For if we lose our sensibility to the simple joys of life, what is there left to savor. Hence, as a way of reminding myself & others I developed a logo & a poster to go along with it, which I appropriately named "La Dolce Vita", Italian for "The Sweet Life". Enjoy.

I'M BA'K FOLKS

2010-09-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Threadless.com
www.borispelcer.com/imbakfolks.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/IM-BAK-FOLKS/917188

DESCRIPTION
T-Shirt design submission for Threadless. The scope of Arnold's reign has no boundaries!

GRADJEVINIJADA 2010 | SERBIA

2010-03-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Belgrade | Serbia
www.borispelcer.com/gradjevinijada2010.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/GRADJEVINIJADA-2010/915571

DESCRIPTION
GRADJEVINJADA 2010 is hosted by GRF BEOGRAD (Gradjevinski Fakultet Beograd | Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Belgrade) in BUDVA, Montenegro with a purpose of a friendly academic & sport competitions amongst all of the students from the Balkan region majoring in Civil Engineering fields such as Architecture, Geodesy etc. Based on this look along with the poster, I developed their fliers, business cards, banners, & t shirt designs.

MC FLY DJ NESHO

2010-03-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

CLIENT
Nenad Simić | Mc Fly Dj Nesho
www.borispelcer.com/mcflydjnesho.php | Boris Pelcer ©
www.behance.net/gallery/MC-FLY-DJ-NESHO/916559

DESCRIPTION
Album art for Mc Fly Dj Nesho's debut album | Milwaukee Summer Nights, featuring fusion of Electro & Hip-House sounds.