New York Daily Photo Analytics

Friday, May 14, 2010

Creative Expert



Years ago, I used to spend many summer afternoons in Washington Square Park watching Dave, a Christian evangelist, make a presentation arguing for the existence of God. Anyone was invited to join the discussion, which, at times, became a quite lively debate. On one occasion, in frustration with someone who was making a number of unfounded statements, Dave retorted "Saying it doesn't make it so." This was the first time I had heard this adage, and I liked it. It applied to so many scenarios, particularly regarding assertions made when asking about someone's livelihood and answering by giving one's aspirations.

Pardon my cynicism, but in New York City, I am forever meeting individuals who are self-proclaimed artists, writers, composers, producers and recently, fashion designers. I say self-proclaimed because saying it doesn't make it so and in the art world, credentials can be as simple as a proclamation or business card.

I once met a fellow tenant in my office building who worked for a company specializing in branding. He offered his services and card - below his name was printed "Creative Expert." Rather incredulous that anyone would not only make such a bold assertion but then commit it to print, I showed my graphic artist the card.

Unfettered, my friend assured me that many people will believe what you say, particularly if it is printed on your card. She told me of an instance where she was called for a job - the client had been told that she was a Photoshop expert, which she was not. But it had been said. To this day, we use the phrase Creative Expert as a source of amusement in our office.

So when I met Geary Marcello and he told me he was a fashion designer in the ensuing conversation, I just filed it for future investigation. His business card read "Creative Director. Couture Women's Wear Special Occasion and Costume Design." Now my antenna went up. Creative director. Fashion designer. These are real jobs, not the more incredulous and nebulous Creative Expert. And certainly a man with a septum curl, tongue chain, goatee and tattoos is not an ordinary man. But none of this saying makes it so.

Some online searching and a visit to his website certainly showed that Geary was in fact who he said he is. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. After all, this is New York, center of the American fashion industry and a city whose streets are populated with many exceptional people. This website is filled with examples of celebrated individuals I have met in ordinary places. I am reminded of my encounter with Afghan popstar Walid Soroor, whom I met in an Indian restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Of course, the eternal cynic sees the Internet as just another incarnation of the devil's playground - a new place where saying it doesn't make it so and a forum for the Creative Expert :)

Note: Geary was extremely congenial and happy to pose for passersby like myself. He hails from Los Angeles, California. His long list of clients includes: Lucy Liu, Bill Cosby, Lena Horne, Lindsay Lohan, Jim Carrey et. al. You can find his website here.

9 comments:

Judit said...

Oooh! I'm sure that pearcing hurts a lot!

Stefan Jansson said...

Great post. And a fine portrait of the Fashion Designer. I just ordered my new MOO cards ( I give them to anyone I photograph for my blog). I now wish I had read about the Creative Expert a few days earlier because that is a very cool title!

Naomid said...

When you are a tried and true creative expert/creative or art director you don't have to write it on your card or say it out loud because your title proceeds you. To me this gents tattoos and peircings do just that. If you are that talented you can get serious face gear and still make 6 digits in the creative world.

Thats why I'm still thinking about getting a neck tat after 5 years making it as a freelancer.

René said...

Hmmm... I went to his Web site, and I'm left wondering whether "curriculum-viate" and "quaulifications" are an expression of the great man's vaunted creativity, or simply a reminder that he's no better at spelling than the average bloke (who at least may be savvy enough to use a spellchecker to avoiding displaying such shoddiness).

Brian Dubé said...

René - Unfortunately I did notice that the resume was quite poor as far as spelling. The two misspellings you note are on his main page and made me cringe, unless this is a new style thing I am unaware of. If you go through the rest of the site there are an enormous number of typos. Maybe you should volunteer your services to clean his site up :)

René said...

Brian - Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. I wrote "to avoiding". Aaargh!
(at least I'm no fashion sensation)

Brian Dubé said...

René,
Yes, but this was in a comment entry - no spell checker here. Plus, this was not your bio, website or curriculum vitae. I highly doubt you would make any mistakes at all :)

B SQUARED said...

He certainly looks the part.

animkundu said...

I liked this photo.