Travel Rogue

May 03, 2005

Laddie the Kite Artist

Spent a few hours last night at Huttenbar in Lincoln Square. Never realized there was a Monday night scene anywhere off-season. But it was nice, just a comfortable bunch of locals enjoying German brew. Met another of John's friends (he seems to have an extensive collection of unique characters), Laddie the kite-artist-slash-graphic-designer-slash-public-radio-personality. He wore his long hair caught up in a disheveled pony tail underneath a well-worn red baseball cap and accessorized with a soft pack of Salems. There was a gin and tonic in one hand and a copy of Wired in the other. You would think it's tough to strike a balance between edgy artist and Scottish imp, but Laddie nailed it.

So when you hear a guy is a kite artist, there is just a natural flurry of questions that come to mind. Laddie related how when he was young, his grandfather showed him how to take a couple sticks and a newspaper and make a kite. "It was an incredible realization! Actually making something instead of buying it," Laddie said. Plus, it was a combination of science and beauty. Nowadays, his kites hang on the walls of the wealthy, and he doesn't like to add the rigging to it, but he will add it if the buyer decides they want a functional piece of art. "When someone buys one of my kites, it's no longer my kite. They can do with it what they want," he said. In a sense that's true, but then no one has asked him to add the rigging. I think it would be like adding a dab of ochre oil paint to a Monet. It would seem to devalue the intended expression of the artist and the spirit of the piece. At the same time, Laddie assures us that all his kites are capable of flying, he just chooses not to leash them.

Posted by carolyn at May 3, 2005 08:59 AM

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