Ursus Wehrli Tidies Up

For the first time, both of my blogs, "The Thoughtful Consumer" and "Art by Cynthia," are showcasing the same thing -- or more precisely, the same person: Ursus Wehrli. Never before has art overlapped so perfectly with uncluttering and organizing!

From a post on PSFK:

"Swiss artist and comedian, Ursus Wehrli, known for his Tidying Up Art books (where he tidies up famous artwork, such as Van Gogh’s Room or Botticelli’s Beach by carefully rearranging them) returns with a new project. In his forthcoming book, The Art of Clean Up he brings his passion for sorting things to everyday life and objects."

See his TED Talk for more about tidying up art.

I find his work to be creative and hilarious. But, in real life, at what point does "tidying up" become obsessive? From the point of view of the readers of this blog, I suspect that's not much of an issue. And yet, in order to avoid tackling the large clutter issues in your life, do you ever obsess over a small area that you can control by making certain it's orderly? Does this somehow prove to you that you're really not living a cluttered life -- you just don't have enough time to be neat and tidy everywhere; just look here (wherever it might be) where you've clearly demonstrated that you can succeed at uncluttering! I know a woman who was overwhelmed by the clutter throughout her home but, whenever she tried to tackle it, she'd end up cleaning only the kitchen. The rest of the house was untouched, but that clean kitchen reassured her that she hadn't lost control completely.

I don't feel compelled to tidy up everything and I'm very fond of some messy art, but Ursus Wehrli provides amusing proof that order can be made out of all manner of "chaos." Just watch the video to see how he cleverly resolves the "mess" in a Jackson Pollack painting. As I said: hilarious!