ONE WAY OF CREATING THE PERFECT MAN: ARTIST KNITS HER OWN BOYFRIEND
One woman has found the answer to today’s desolate wasteland of a dating scene: she’s created her own boyfriend. I don’t mean that she’s actually thought up the perfect man – she actually knit him, with fabric and yarn. And if you think this takes the idea of ‘creating the perfect guy’ to a whole ‘nother level, well, you’d be right.
Dutch artist Noortje de Keijzer has created a piece of art called ”My Knitted Boyfriend”, which serves as a ”cushion to kiss.” The ”always happy” and ”very flexible” boyfriend even comes with his own user’s guide (which is a necessity for dealing with real boys, Pinocchio) and tells the fantastic tale of de Keijzer and her fabric lover, an illustrated book that shows the two doing couple-y activities like lying in bed and watching movies together.
The Utretcht-based artist gave her reasons for creating her perfect man, and, unbelievably, it wasn’t his inability to give her any lip that inspired her in any way, shape or form. Shocking.
“It’s the ordinary moments in which you can feel really lonely sometimes,” she said. “This is why I came up with ‘My Knitted Boyfriend’. He’s around at home in the ordinary moments of your day-to-day life.”
He’s also a way of fighting off the abject loneliness we feel after spending a little too much time yearning for ‘The One.’ She said, “I hope my project brings a bit of recognition, and awareness that everybody feels lonely from time to time. That it is totally fine to talk about it or even laugh about it! I tried to make a very humorous project about this serious subject. I believe that laughing about a negative feeling is already the beginning of a more positive and happy feeling. And when you feel positive and happy with yourself, the right person will come along!”
She’s right, you know. Whether it’s a pet….or a knitted boyfriend, it’s smart to have something you can transfer your affections to. Loneliness, and fear of being alone, sometimes makes us cling to the idea of a man instead of actually seeing him for who he is. I’ve seen far too many relationships fail, and seen far too many brokenhearted women who couldn’t quite up give up the idea of the man they wanted a particular guy to be to not get on board with the knitted boyfriend. Hell, I’ve been one of them.
So do whatever you have to do to be OK with you, because de Keijzer is right: once you’re happy and secure with yourself, everything just kind of falls into place. She’s also pleased that her project has seen so much global support – but she isn’t surprised. As she says, her idea of the knitted boyfriend “proves once more that in matters of love everybody on the planet speaks the same language.”
