About a hundred years before you were born a poet named Robert Browning wrote a piece called “The Faultless Painter,” which included the line “Less is More.” Then, a couple years before you were born, some big-shot architect used it as a sort of motto. Now, of course, on the surface “less is more” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, does it? I mean, let’s face it, Less is…Less! But interestingly, you seem to understand it anyway, don’t you? You’re not even ten years-old yet and you understand it!

Less—at least in some circumstances—can actually be More!

One of the best things about visiting you from the distant future is being there with you when you hit upon those ideas that will change your life. Oh, I know, you haven’t even heard the term “less is more,” and won’t for a good many years. Nevertheless I was with you the day you discovered the idea behind it.

It happened yesterday during your trip downtown with Mom. She was shopping for bed linens or something at Schuster’s and, as always, you were thrilled to be going along. It would mean another glorious ride on the Trackless Trolley, and another glorious day in that impossibly big city of Milwaukee. Traditionally, lunch on these trips took place at Woolworth’s and I remember that you were looking forward to it. Yesterday was the day you were going to be adventurous and order a club sandwich instead of the grilled cheese. You’re getting pretty bold, little man, and I’m proud of you. But instead, Mom opted for a little hamburger joint called White Tower which was just a block away on 2nd Street.

This was a new experience, which made it an adventure. And soon you forgot about Woolworth’s and allowed yourself to be swept away. The hamburgers were good, and so teeny tiny that you were able to eat three of them! And you even got to split a chocolate malt with your brother! But mostly you were dazzled by the look of the place! It was small, but gleaming inside-and-out in spotless white, with chrome and blue accents. A design so spare and clean it seemed barely there at all, and yet you couldn’t possibly miss it.

Mom struck up a conversation with the man behind the counter and in listening to them you learned that there were several White Towers in Milwaukee including an identical structure on 15th and Wisconsin Avenue that was actually the first White Tower in America, which really only meant it was the first restaurant to cash-in on the fame of another restaurant chain called White Castle. You’ve seen White Castles before on trips to Chicago but you really didn’t care for them at all. In fact you remember thinking they looked a little foolish what with all those phony parapets and buttresses. They looked like they belonged at Disneyland or something.

Apparently the White Tower people attempted this ridiculous look themselves for a while until the White Castle people rather insisted that they try something else. And that something else turned out to be the very embodiment of the concept Less is More.

Less is More means getting rid of the clutter. Trimming the fat. Focusing only on the essentials. You prefer White Tower to White Castle in the same way you (and ALL kids) prefer cartoons to live action films. Less distracting detail. Bright, clear colors. Hard precise edges. You’ve been impressing people with your crayon drawings for a while now, and everyone sort of takes it as a given that you’ll one day make your living as an artist. But art is about more than hand-eye coordination. It also involves taste, and a thorough understanding of art theory. And that’s what began for you yesterday. It will be a long time before you’re able to put it into words, but yesterday you began to formulate the design ethic of your future. Your theory.

In truth, that White Tower was just a little hamburger joint tucked against a dingy forgettable backdrop of dingy forgettable buildings. But you will always picture it as a sparkling geode set dramatically against the towering splendor of the Milwaukee skyline. And someday, many years from now, you’ll decide to share that picture with the world.

“White Tower”   1993    John T. McCarthy, Jr.   8-color silkscreen

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