Tips (the ends of things)
A visual essay concerning objects that come to an end. A work-in-progress.
Introduction (Draft 2)
(Rewritten Feb 20, Mar 3, 2004)
I want you to think about tips. I want to you look at tips, notice their abundance and their variety and their ubiquity. The crocket at the top of a building, a dragon's tail and tongue, the pointed _________ of a seed pod, the taper of a decorative scroll and the sharp point of a canine tooth are all tips. If I were to ask you to point to the tip of each item in this diverse collection you could easily point to the tip, but more difficult is to define the word "tip". What comes to mind most readily is that a tip is the end of an object. This is clear enough, until scrutinised. Where exactly does an object end? If you begin to think about it, an object ends everywhere its surface meets the space around it. Why, then, does a tip feel like the end of an object? Not an easy question to answer, nor perhaps one this is frutifully pursued. For the time being let us simply agree that some areas of an object feel more like the end than other areas.
But many other areas of an object could also be considered its end. For instance the edge where two planes meet has been fertile ground for discovery for abstract sculptors of the 20th century and could be where an object ends. The skin, as well, could be said to be the location where an object (a being) ends and everything else begins. Though we are predisposed to call some areas of an object the end more than others. Some might say that our bodies begin at our feet and end at out heads, while others might say that our bodies end at our feet, but few will say that it ends at our elbows, or cheek. As you can see, once you start to talk about "beginning" and "end", abstractly, in reference to an object, what was once obvious becomes topsy turvy. While a philospher might linger here to discuss the meanings of "beginning" and "end", let us yield to connotation and usage to accept our first impression of a tip and where it is, at the end of an object.