Building for big

Just back from a morning at Kentuck in Northport Alabama. The bravest stuff is from the seasoned artists like Butch Anthony; one seeing his work was the first time I have uttered" I wish I had a space large enough" to acquire one of these giant entities and I really want to check out his annual Doo-Nanny next March.

Building Infinity

The Ai Weiwei project at the Tate looks breathtaking. One Million porcelain sunflower seeds covering the great hall floor. The material has multiple meanings in the cultural narrative of Weiwei's work. I find myself alittle disappointed that they are not real sunflower seeds-I can work through the functional concern, three months of stepped on sunflower seeds-yuck. I can also follow the porcelain industry as key to China's economy and the gesture toward 100 million as a potent number in China. I can even work through the real/fake thing. But wouldn't have smelled great in there????

furniture ideas

So I look at art because I do generally feel that art is at times doing a better job of interior design. The art world, whether its money or chutzpah, just seem to get at ideas in furniture rather than just fill in the space. I have yet to work out the work of Tom Sachs.....his subject manner is too judgemental for me but his struggles regarding craft in the New York art world are struggles to learn from. I found images of his studio on the Selby and the most interesting things were the ad hoc/remade chairs about the studio. There is another discussion on Design verses Craft verses DIY?????

Learning about building

I have spent the morning-learning about, researching the work of dutch artist Mark Manders. Things to consider; the wonderful use of language in his titles , ie. "silent factory" and "writing room fiction machine", the difference in scale in the objects that are assembled for the idea, the difference in materials (something I am not good at) in the assemblege, the razor shape way the installantion is photographed.......

Ode to Thonet

As part of "Ode to Thonet" week I get to show this Tim Hawkinson piece. Entitled "Shrink", I love the reproduction of the reproduction idea...being that Thonet chairs can be considered one of the first mass produced furniture or furniture of the industrial revolution in decorative arts history.

The power of the card board box....

I saved this image at the beginning of the summer meaning to research it and came around to it this morning. In the mean time, Don Lucho's "casa de cardboard" has become an internet hit......but interestingly enough almost no depth of information about the project. So again the power of the image rules. I am interested in Lucho's debt to the work of Do Ho Suh and the early obsessiveness of Tim Hawkinson. Also a note to students-please don't complain about cardboard models that are due next week.......

building process

I stumbled upon Coke Wisdom O'Neal's work recently and am fascinated by the process of his project "Big Box".
he builds this giant box in a location-say Texas or Queens and then asks people to come and have their portrait done-portrait as performance. He speaks about the amazing interactions that he would have while setting the photos alone.....on the Mixed Green web site.

Building trees

I don't mean to crib from the very well done web magazine sightunseen but I can not get this work out of my mind. I am always looking for new ways to develop form and artist Juliette Warmenhoven is making great strides. Form developed from the growing plant life it seems, a sensibility from a chic garden shed...

Sound building

Finally have had some time to research the work of Janet Cardiff and Georges Burn Miller. Known for putting together spatial experiences through sound; walks, installations-this piece "Opera for a Small Room" it almost a sound diorama.....

"design performance"

This morning I am all fired up about the work of Studio Glithero. A London duo; they make work that brings "process' forward it the artifact oriented design world. This piece an interesting conceit-Bamboo legs(hyper strong structural material) dipped in bronze to hold a paper cabinet...........a long discussion about stability ensues-

Building sustainable chic

Spotted at the Brooklyn Museum last month was the
Andy Warhol's Fragile Dress. This object does not have much to do with space but has everything to do with a sustainable way to make things. Although Warhol has an uptown glamour about his work I imagine in The Factory there was alot of "Look we can just make this with what we have around"-a "within Arms Reach" approach to making things-is there a resourceful yet glamorous approach to come?

Space building-the image

I have discovered a nice way to document buildings while traveling and to attempt to understand them spatially. The Iphone PANO app. is my new buddy. This is not a new way of looking at space see the work of Gordon Matta Clarke and the wild work of David Hockney and his 80's Polaroid studies. All exhibit a frustration with the architectural composition as gospel.

Building compositions

It was my first visit to the National Portrait Gallery in DC and its a delight. Not only can you visit the elegant portrait of Ben Franklin in his gray linen but you can see these highlights of modernism upstairs. First up is this Harry Bertoia Atomic Sculpture wall. This beautiful composition of brass and light reminds me of the Helfand studio walls and Thomas Jefferson's didatic front entry-who needs paintings on the wall when light, form and shadow can jump at you......

building connections

We are back in Maine after a week in NYC. I am going to try to post about things that stuck with me in NYc and not just talk about things that everyone sees. First in my mind is the Starn Brothers Big Bambu on the roof of the Met. On Roof of the Met has become the summer sensation but this is a different vibe than most. I initially missed the Rocky Paine elegance of last summer but these knotted and wipped together connections are staying with me. The Makers of the structure are climbers and there seems to be a language all there own for how the nylon ropes go together. Next time I am there I want to go during working hours and hear how they are thiking about these knots.

white building

The Brooklyn Museum's exhibition Kiki Smith Sojorn is a great way to drop out of the hot city for a couple of hours. All the work is in or on an ethereal Japanese paper with even light bulbs and chairs-yes chairs! enveloped in white.

Boat building............

I am pleased that I was exposed to the artist Yayoi Kusama via seeing one of her works rather than on the web. Kusama's body of work is epic and a purple row boat enveloped in soft sculpture tendrils is a powerful object in the very well done Matter of Abstraction show at MOMA.

Building gold

Last week we got a trip into Rockland, Maine and to the Farnsworth Museum. I rarely take pictures in Museums-lighting bad, can always find a better reproduction- but when I saw for the first time these chairs by Rockland native Louise Nevelson I got so excited I took a snap. I have not seen these before in any of the books. A great example of the gold period...

Some red building

The best thing at MassMoca was the sumptuous spaces made by Orly Genger. What a color red and what a way to make space. Interior Designers watch out this is how you make a room.

Building your space

I came upon these images from Julian Schnabel's latest endeavor. Series of Polaroids of his life-I have been fascinated and tried to grapple with Schnabel's relationship to space before. Auteur of the Gramercy Hotel and a certain pink abode in the West Village; Schnabel and architecture are synonymous...for better or worst. The thing that interests me is all space for him is a backdrop for himself? Not the first man to do that.....

Life building

The assemblages work of British duo Hannah Plumb and James Russell is great to explore. The retail world owes quite a bit to their very pure outlook. The concrete seat looks like velvet, is concrete...there are alot of ideas in that one.