the artists of RED STRING THEORY
a glimpse into the artists who inspired me during the writing of my second rom-com
If you’ve read Red String Theory, you’ll know art plays a big role in the book. Rooney is a red string installation artist, and her mom is a famous artist, too. More than half of the book takes place at NASA’s Artist-in-Residence. The book opens with an installation, and there are a couple more sprinkled throughout, as well as non-string art shows and museum visits.
When I first set out creating Rooney’s character, I knew she would be an artist of some sort who believed in the Red Thread of Fate. I remember the moment I was sitting at my desk, tapping my pen against my notebook, when it hit me: she should be a string artist to physicalize her belief in the Red Thread of Fate. And the string should be red! I was—and still am—so excited about this for Rooney. She makes giant installations made of red string in public places to really involve people (and get them thinking) as they visit.
I dreamed up installation concepts filled with meaning and symbolism, and worked backwards to make sure it was technically possible to physically create them in the spaces I wanted: Washington Square Park, a museum, a subway station. I even sketched out what these installations might look like, channeling Rooney. A couple of these sketches made it into the final book, including the one above.
It felt a little meta, creating art within art. It was very fulfilling to live through Rooney as an artist and dreaming up experiences that would be very hard to pull of in real life, given the nature of permits and the public spaces themselves. This is why fiction, where you can stretch the bounds of reality, is so satisfying to write.
In my acknowledgements, I wrote: “I am grateful to the artists and scientists who push the boundaries of our imaginations and realities every day.” I feel this every time there’s a new scientific breakthrough or just a cool piece of information I learn, every time I see or read something that someone has created that moves me. Art and science go hand-in-hand and can have long-lasting impressions on us. I know I’ve been permanently changed by art (more on that below).
Just as I did research and read books on string theory, the universe, and Mars, I also did a lot of research on art. I wanted to know what was physically possible, and where I could push Rooney’s work a little more. Along the way, I discovered new-to-me artists whose work impressed on me different perspectives, new ways of thinking about how we interact with our environments, and the sheer shock at how talented and skilled people can be. Their expansive thinking and creativity helped me to push myself and my imagination a little further, too. These are those artists…