One of the hallmark principles of post-modernism has to do with words and their meanings. What is the relationship between the word (or text) and its meanings? According to theorists, this relationship is neither essential nor inevitable. It is a social construct. And as social constructs go, its meanings grow over time. Anyone can invent a word and make it mean anything they want. We can collectively take an old word and conspire to make it mean something else over time. Words are born, grow and then change as history or the movement of time requires. Words can die and with it the universe of meanings, stories or narratives it carries. Words are wonderful that way. (If you want to know more, Google “semiotics,” “Saussure,” “Derrida,” “Umberto Eco,” etc.)
But what does this have to do with writers, artists and designers? For our small community at the University of the Philippines, Cebu, there is more involvement now with names. Having a product design program brought us to a greater consciousness of the phenomenon of “branding.” What do people buy when they buy art or the design object? Aside from buying the apparent usefulness of art and design, people also buy the brand. The brand consists of a word and its narratives, its meanings. The brand and its meanings are information. Art, including literature and design, may be thought of as “information objects.” Names are important. If we are allowed a bit of hyperbole, it is all a writer, an artist or a designer has over the long run. It is the thing he or she carries throughout life. What’s in a name? Everything.
A few days ago, Budoy and the Maker had a short conversation over lunch wherein Budoy informed the Maker he had googled the Maker’s name and found numerous hits but mostly in Central America where Raymund L. Fernandez was apparently a common name. This prompted the Maker to bring his laptop to class for the students to google their own names. This led in turn to a lengthy discussion of what names were ideal in the environment of the net. The Maker wondered if perhaps given names had become obsolete. Acquired names might be by far more effective. Names like Budoy, Roylu, Bords, xo? or even perhaps SirMundz. They get fewer hits in the computer and so therefore have fewer competition.
The artist’s name is of course his brand. But the name or brand is simply a word and a word is simply a container of meanings. After we have picked the word, what meanings do we put there? If post-modernist theory is correct, we can put there anything we want. We can say SirMundz means “performance art” or “arpiller” or “saints” or “Kinutil” or “cute little crosses.” There must be a complex science behind these things but it is enough to know it is there and wonder: How far we can bring the name and its meaning to a greater expanse of people? How do we make them aware? How do we spread the word?
The Maker is a woodcarver. Ordinarily, it will take him close to a year to finish a single piece. He should still do carving if he wants, but if he wants also to move his name faster, he must invent for himself other things. This might be why he takes pains to write Kinutil twice a week. It comes out every Wednesday and Sunday in Cebu Daily News. The celebrated writer Resil Mojares once said, “Words are lighter than (sculpture).” And he was right. The artist and designer is really in search of things extremely light; things extremely light but nevertheless wonderful or if stated in the words of the Sugbuanon, makahibolong ug makatingala. What art would this be? What would it look like?
The writer, artist or designer designs this finally for himself or herself. This is where everything converges is the world of literature, art and design. It must be something like that mythical beast sigbin that follows and takes him or her wherever he or she might want to go. And it must be something easy to make, something one can do at those inevitable slow times at the office or call center. Something one can make hundreds or thousands of. And if it is cheap enough, it will be something that will spread easily. If one is a good designer, it should not be too difficult to figure out.
At this point in the narrative, imagine the Maker doing performance art and making as if he is working in a call center answering a call about about what to do with a cell phone that got soaked in the tub. It is a conversation that eventually ends with the Maker advising the caller to put the phone in a bowl of uncooked rice just like Abbie does in the television series “NCIS.” But in the time the call takes, the Maker ties two Mongol pencils together with a length of copper wire, taking care the wires wind in an artful manner, one pencil longer than the other to form a cross. He hangs from his cross an alpiler figure shaped like the Savior. He produces a crucifix for hanging in a home or small room.
He wonders how much he can sell it for. It cannot be as expensive as wood carving but even so, he knows he can make as many of it as he desires. He can make it come out everywhere. He can put a name on it. And hopefully, it will do what crosses do, bless and move people to prayer.