Berlin, Germany
This morning, I walked through the yard of the Monterey Museum of Art and came across a pair of sculptures by artist, Steffoni Esta, bold, rusted metal bolted to concrete bases. My favorite is four wavy lines reaching into the sky in a piece titled, “Momentum.” It reminds me of a whale breaching, but it’s much more than that. It’s an iron thrust of energy that seems to defy gravity. I stood there for some time, staring, and I started to think about the beauty of simple shapes and the messages they send.
My next thought was, well, anyone reading my missive understands how simple-shapes can communicate, that’s the alphabet, ;-), and the emoji. The peace symbol, a circle with cross lines, designed by Gerald Holtom, is an interesting shape. It’s a combination of an N and D made with handheld flags; it stands for nuclear disarmament. An orange X represents the need to stop the fossil fuel infrastructure and its climate impacts. A yellow sun represents the solutions we need: solar and wind power and our resilience to climate change––simple shapes with big ideas.