Writing

Helvetica: (Max Miedinger/Edward Hoffman 1957). With the possible exception of Times Roman, Helvetica is the most ubiquitous typeface in use. It has been used for all sorts of applications in just about any printing conditions imaginable. While some typographers see its dead hand as a sign of the desensitization of the discipline, that explanation does not account for its relationship with the broader cultural context.

Because ultramatter is ever decaying, existence is beset by the pervasive intrusions of vulnerability. Thusly bereft, nihilism may seem to offer relief since its abyss can partially mask the quiet desperation of this carnal bondage. However, the diversion of nil leads inevitably to the withdrawal unto negativity. To affirm the positive, existence must embrace the congruence of ultramateriality and vulnerability, since it is their fusion, which gives tangibility to time within the matrix of eternity. Because ultramatter is the surplus, which flows from matter, it is suspended between the material and the spiritual. Caught between the timelessness of inert matter and the eternity of the divine, it is mandated by its destiny to reach, compelled by its inner calling to bridge the metaphysical gap, which separates the material and the spiritual. Striving is, therefore, not only a natural unfolding of its being, it is also the quintessential ethos that each of us must take to heart in order to confirm our own humanity.

Unfortunately this dream is not destined for success. Denied sufficient lift to transcend our falleness, its flight must fail. It must, for falling promises not the soaring epiphany of flight. Falling promises only the hope for flight, a hope sustained through relentless sacrifice. So intangible is virtue’s substance, that its essence cannot be grasped by ethics alone. Moral presence is sustainable only if the ethical is articulated by the accompaniment of aesthetics. Ushering morality into the world is not the responsibility of the heavenly angels. That duty rests upon their fallen brothers. Surprising as this may seem, it is not only so, but must be so, for virtue is not the descent of goodness from above. Virtue is an incarnation from within. It is ultramateriality, which calls forth virtue’s flight. It is mortality, which reaches for its substance.

Albeit distinguished by our capacity for physical/metaphysical equivocation, nonetheless, insensible would that distinction be if the resulting illumination reflected not upon the immanent domain of existence. Inasmuch as subjectivity is articulated by the cadence of its reflexivity, affective must its ideations be to realize the transitivity of its objectives. Consequently, insofar as the subjectification of experiences is consummated by the subjunctification of otherness, the objectifications thereof are substantiated essentially by its reflexive bias towards self-referentiality. Subject by this predisposition for contextual circumincision, understanding must recognize that its insights are conditioned as much upon the contemplative as by making sensible responses in the world, for only via its bi-directionality can conception realize that the subject of our being is all so contingent unto its reflections upon its objectives in existence.

There is no reason for life except life’s desire to be. Life calls upon itself to be other than not in order to sustain itself. To do so, life must embed desire into matter in order to transform itself into the ultramaterial. At the very center of life is nothingness, which life must fill with being. Art is the reflection of this passion. Beyond utility, art reflects the urgency for being. Art is the surplus that overflows materiality giving us the image of ultramateriality. From the depths beyond intellect art, as life, awakens the desires that makes existence possible.