PAUL RUDOLPH
“Paul worked because he needed to. He needed to create.”









"According to the owners, there are more than 1,000 light bulbs in the apartment.
Rudolph used those bulbs to create borders —
almost like dotted lines of light — around the living areas."

















Paul has been treated so badly,” says a woman whose Manhattan apartment was designed by Paul Rudolph, the Kentucky-born architect. She is referring to the indifference, and worse, that has greeted much of Rudolph’s architecture in the last three decades. Even before he died, of mesothelioma, in 1997, Rudolph was forced to travel to Asia to find clients. Since his death, several of his works in the United States have been demolished, and others are being threatened with the same fate. But inside this apartment, Rudolph is receiving the kind of treatment most architects can only dream of. The owners have kept the main rooms — completed almost four decades ago — exactly as they have been.



















For Rudolph, who was known for molding concrete into shapes so intricate that they sometimes resembled M. C. Escher drawings, this apartment on a single floor of a prewar building must have felt confining. Rudolph’s free-standing buildings can have as many steps as doors or windows; his Art and Architecture Building at Yale University, though only seven stories high, is said to have 37 levels. But in the apartment, Rudolph found ways to work in three dimensions, installing built-in furniture that sweeps around the rooms, creating peninsulas and islands that seem truly topographic. In the husband’s office, a wavy, multilevel platform turns a rectangular space into a kind of cove while functioning as a wraparound library ladder.








Unlike many of his contemporaries — Modernist architects who preferred their walls white and unadorned — Rudolph threw himself into creating novel surface treatments, many involving tricks of scale and the subversion of expectations. In the living room, Rudolph had mirrors cut into half-inch-wide vertical strips, then applied them like tiles to the curving walls. And instead of hiding the owners’ collection of silver miniatures in a cupboard, he arranged the pieces in front of the mirrors and lit them with hundreds of concealed incandescent bulbs. (And he did so without access to the L.E.D. strips that make such jobs a cinch today.) The result is a tableau in which the tiny collectibles dazzle like diamonds in a Tiffany & Company window.





read full article
from NY TIMES
here...
"shining moment"



Paul Rudolph.




------------------
LAMA's
50th Auction!











Los Angeles Modern Auctions.


I just received the catalog today in the mail for LAMA's 50th Auction. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of art, design, and craft they have managed to collect for their upcoming 50th auction. Take a look at the online catalog here...

Peter Loughrey is the founder and director of LAMA, and has steadily been producing ambitious auctions since 1992. LAMA recently co-sponsored one of my favorite local exhibitions:
Gaetano Pesce’s first solo West Coast exhibition, “Pieces from a Larger Puzzle” at the Italian Cultural Center. (Go here to read more about that event.)

The preview is right around the corner, so mark your calendars..










"The October 17, 2010 Modern Art & Design Auction will be LAMA’s 50th auction since opening 1992. This landmark auction will feature fresh, first-time offerings of important 20th century Fine Art, Design and Furniture.

Highlights will include a strong selection of Fine Art, such as original works by Pablo Picasso, Ed Ruscha, Bernard Buffet, Niki de Saint Phalle, and John McLaughlin, as well as rare fine prints and multiples by David Hockney, Claude Lalanne, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Also, a collection of five Gertrud and Otto Natzler ceramics will trade hands for the first time since original purchase in the 1950s, one of which is a very large exhibition piece with the desirable volcanic glaze. The auction also includes a rare table by Diego Giacometti and a large selection of Architectural Pottery."







two lots from the upcoming auction:
1. Pablo Picasso
, Tete de Satyr (Head of a Satyr) 1960
Colored crayon on paper Signed lower right and dated lower left "10.4.60"
Sold with copies of sales receipts and original photocertificate and letter from Claude Ruiz-Picasso. This work has recently been examined by John Richardson who reconfirmed the authenticity.

2. Gertrud & Otto Natzler Glazed Bowl Studio circa 1958 Ceramic bowl with green and brown crater glaze with drop Signed "Natzler"




















----------------------
I wanted to design something
to suit the room.

Michael Anastassiades

Kinetic Lights










"On view at the London Design Festival 2010 at the V&A is Michael Anastassiades's Kinetic Light, swinging in the Norfolk House Music Room at the V&A, like a silent metronome. "I wanted to design something to suit the room," said the desiger.











Michael Anastassiades trained as a Civil Engineer and is an Industrial Design graduate from zhe Royal College of Art. After working as a freelancer for various design consultancies, he set up his own studio in 1994. Since then he has been developing his work as a combination of product, furniture and enviroment design - creating works which established a psychological dimension between objects and users.

For years Michael has produced his work in very limited quantities as editions of quality crafted pieces and small runs. In 2007 he set up a company to increase the availability of his objects. He travelled around the world and located small family run workshops to fabricate his pieces. The workshops were selected for their unique manufacturing skills and tradition in the use of materials."




I wanted to design something
to suit the room.

Michael Anastassiades

Kinetic Lights



-----------------------------

the
new
green.






"Green is also known to have signified witchcraft, devilry and evil for its association with faeries and spirits of early English folklore. It also had an association with decay and toxicity"


The Wizard of Oz:
"In this story is the Emerald City, where everyone wears tinted glasses which make everything look green. According to the populist interpretation of the story, the city’s color is used by the author, L. Frank Baum, to illustrate the financial system of America in his day, as he lived in a time when America was debating the use of paper money versus gold."





image above:
John McCracken
Green Block
1969








--------------------
the
french
empire.
(green this time)






Empire style is originally the elaborate Neoclassical style of the Napoleon's French First Empire (1804-1815). Roman-inspired symbols, furniture, and even hairdos were part of an ambitious scheme to relate Napoleon to Emperor Augustus as the French government was transformed from a republic into an empire.

There is no distinct Empire style of architecture.

The style was largely inspired by Napoleon's architects Percier and Fontaine.






Napoleon's green room




In 1798, Napoleon returned triumphant from his Egyptian campaign. The victory launched a program of intense scientific research, prompted by the large numbers of archaeological discoveries collected in Egypt by the throng of scholars accompanying the expedition. The worlds of fashion and the applied arts also took up the Egyptian theme, with motifs such as sphinxes, winged lions, lotus blossoms, caryatids and scarabs appearing everywhere. All over Europe, Egyptian motifs, as well as those drawn from Ancient Greece and Rome, were to become prominent features of the sumptuous Empire style of decoration.




-----------------------------
the sofa...




in today's n.y. times:

"Where would the living room be without the sofa?

Over the centuries, the amount and the kinds of furniture people use have changed radically. Prior to the 17th century, for example, European homes were not heavily furnished, and most of the types of furniture found in homes today did not yet exist.

Then, in the half-century from roughly 1670 to 1730, virtually every kind of furniture now common in Western homes was invented. Some of these designs, like the armchair, had existed in antiquity or in Eastern cultures, but the anonymous 17th-century European craftsmen who re-imagined them undoubtedly had no knowledge of any precedent to their creations.









Even the most minimalist living room today includes two pieces that these craftsmen invented: the sofa and the occasional table. Until then, seating had been limited. Only trunks, benches and beds provided room for more than one person to sit. And even wealthy families used one large table for everything from eating to writing. By the early 18
th century, however, many small tables had become available, each designed for a particular activity. And sofas in dozens of styles had been invented."



read the full article here..
by joan dejean

sofa above by kaare klint, 1950's
and edward wormley, 1949










-----------------------------------
Born: Sept 23, 1899
Louise Nevelson
































“But when I fell in love with black, it contained all color.
It wasn’t a negation of color. It was an acceptance.

Because black encompasses all colors. Black is the most aristocratic color of all. ….You can be quiet and it contains the whole thing. There is no color that will give you the feeling of totality. Of peace. Of greatness. Of quietness. Of excitement. I have seen things that were transformed into black, that took on just greatness. I don’t know a lesser word.”













Early Nevelson show in Los Angeles,
at Margo Leavin Gallery...


melissa
manfull,

pattern
constraints




MELISSA MANFULL:
Pattern Constraints

September 18 – October 23, 2010




"Seeking inspiration from metaphysics and mysticism, Melissa Manfull creates hyper-detailed structures that straddle the worlds of reality and imagination. Working in a palette that ranges from the subdued and earthy to the mystical and otherworldly, Manfull inserts her stiff geometric shapes within pools of bleeding ink. Thus bringing to mind the idea of a building’s lost limb, detached and floating in space.

The artist’s interest in utopian societies and the ways in which architecture can reflect belief systems inspired these organic yet repetitive drawings. And in some ways, the resulting structures, created by fractal patterning, reflect the artist’s personal understanding of the intricate workings of the universe and the mind. Due to the obsessive nature of her process, Manfull has often viewed the meditative act of drawing as a way to approach her fear of vast, open ended space (the unknown). By creating her minute sculptural drawings, she gives this abyss a meaning and in essence, gains control. With her amorphous ink stains, she tries to mimic this emptiness rather than flight it."








melissa manfull,
pattern constraints

at taylor de cordoba,
culver city, los angeles



-------------------------------------





oh sister,
oh brother.

things mean a lot at the time
don't mean nothing later
aka
the vertical & horizontal reminder.























2 structure, on 2 coasts.
One horizontal, one vertical.
new york's open legs vs. "my own private mountaintop"



"in the same part of the world
scares me how you get older
how you forget about each other
things mean a lot at the time
don't mean nothing later "

- red house painters....




images:
1. olson kundig architects, go here.. i'm calling it over, if i ever end up in a place like this. pure beauty........ their portfolio of buildings is stunning.
2. foster and partners, go here., new sperone westwater in N.Y. this structure shoots from street to sky, only to be interrupted with a pink square. bravo!

















----------------------------------------
Peter Fink
vs
Damien Hirst
vs
Dusty Springfield.











Got a bad case of the blues
Its what I get from lovin you
Such a bad case of the blues
Its what I get from lovin you, yeah
A bad case of the blues
What I get from lovin you, baby















Peter Fink
vs
Damien Hirst
vs
Dusty Springfield.



images:
1. Peter Fink
2. Damien Hirst's 1993 We've Got Style (The Vessel Collection-Blue)
3. lyrics by dusty springfield, "bad case of the blues"




"Since Lehman Brothers went belly up, art vultures have been circling its orphaned art collection, waiting for the bankrupt bank’s culture comeuppance. On September 25, the good stuff—Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Liu Ye—goes on the block at Sotheby’s to raise an estimated $10 million for Lehman’s creditors. In a moment when auction houses continue to suffer from lowered prices and depressed sales, modern art is a timely investment."





text via
vanity fair.....









----------------------------------------
We do
what we do
so we can do
more of what
we want to do.

von tundra






portland - joshua tree- los angeles




Slowly getting excited about my upcoming Joshua Tree trip!
SPECIFIC @ Von Tundra at A-Z West for the weekend.
Lots of eating, drinking, desert roaming, & pickling.











SPECIFIC PRESENTS VON TUNDRA AT A-Z WEST AND HDTS


Saturday October 9th and Sunday October 10th

"We do what we do so we can do more of what we want to do. We’re interested in the marriage of art and design, where our approach includes conceptualizing a project to prototyping it to producing it.

We believe good design should have a positive impact on the space it exists in and the people who experience that space. (Von Tundra excerpt from an interview with the Dill Pickle Club) On the weekend of October 9th and 10th SPECIFIC will present Von Tundra, the Portland, based design-team and artist-collective (including Dan Anderson, Chris Held and Brian Pietrowski), who will be loading up their custom-made “Sip-Mobile”, a vintage RV converted into an Organic Food & Juice Truck, with their Rockwell Table and over a dozen Prairie Chairs and heading south to the high desert. "





go here....






We do
what we do
so we can do
more of what
we want to do.


von tundra



-----------------------------
Bruce Conner
"inkblots"













“If they give you lined paper, write the other way.”
-Bruce Conner









"He spent much of his artistic life eschewing museums, galleries, and collectors because he found them impossible to work with. Indeed, as is oft-noted, in 1967 he exiled himself from the “art business” for several years, supporting himself by working variously as a ticket clerk at a movie theater, a salesman at a “knickknack” shop, and as a janitor."




via sf moma
blog...
here..
















"i've always felt that conner's work questions the idea of pure beauty, as much as it embraces it; and it contains not only the fluffiness of the spirit, but accepts and willingly inserts, the darker aspects of the spirit in heaping tablespoon doses. the ink blot drawings are the culmination of this for me. it takes a while to wander through them, and to discover both their beauty, and their darkness. they also seem to slyly question the idea that meaning in work is completely embedded and controlled by the artist, in that each one is populated by hundreds of tiny rorschach blots... the thing that more than anything else, is the most recognizable cultural symbol of a viewer creating meaning through his own inner desires... artwork as a trigger of self knowledge. by the time you arrive at the end of your their journey into one of these complex visual worlds, you will have seen, or found, more about yourself, and the artist, than you probably bargained for."




steve roden on bruce conner.
taken from here...






-------------------------------------------
construction
and "the box"
and the
beach house.




















1. lygia clark,@ alison jacques gallery, london, sept 8 - oct 9
2. paul rudolph building



"One of the most original artists of the twentieth century, Lygia Clark (1920 – 1988) transformed the practice of geometric abstraction with a profound belief in art as interaction. This, the first solo exhibition devoted to Clark's work in the UK since the 1960s, offers a unique insight into her creative processes by focussing on studies, maquettes and unique sculptures, presenting a range of some of Clark's most iconic early pieces.

Through a range of works on paper, models and sculptures rendered in a diverse range of materials, the exhibition plots how Clark worked her way along a fascinating trajectory, from the rationalistic art of geometric painting to a practice focused on the abstract interactive object, pointing finally towards a conception of art as immersive, subjective experience that animated the latter half of her career.
"









---------------------------------
Paul Rudolph
1918-1997

The Architectural Office
"The Sarasota School"








"Rudolph became a leader of the "Sarasota School," a style of architecture founded by Ralph Twitchell and associated with Sarasota architects, including, Ralph Zimmerman, William Zimmerman, Philip Hiss, Jack West, Gene Leedy, Mark Hampton, Phil Hall, Roland Sellew, Tim Seibert, Victor Lundy, Bill Rupp, John and Ken Warriner, Tolyn Twitchell, Bert Brosmith, Frank Folsom Smith, Boyd Blackner, Louis Schneider, James Holiday, Joseph Farrell, and Carl Abbott. With a focus on making architecture be in harmony with its surroundings, Sarasota-influenced architecture features a clean, open contemporary floor plan, filled with light and terrazzo floors, wide overhangs, and flat roofs."


"Sarasota School of Architecture is characterized by its attention to climate and terrain. Large sunshades, innovative ventilation systems, oversized sliding glass doors, floating staircases, and walls of jalousie windows dominate many of these buildings, mostly built between 1941 and 1966.













"According to his 1997 obituary in The New York Times, “With the exception of Louis I. Kahn, no American architect of his generation enjoyed higher esteem in the 1960’s. But after 1970, his reputation plummeted. Many of his buildings are being torn down, or are in danger of being torn down. “Mr. Rudolph leaves behind a perplexing legacy that will take many years to untangle,” his obituary said. At the time of his death he was working on plans for a new town of 250,000 people in Indonesia, and a private residence, chapel and office complex in Singapore.
"






all text taken from here.
images via flicker accounts.

------------------------------





Paul Rudolph
1918-1997

The Architectural Office
"The Sarasota School"




-------------------------------------
"It seemed to me the notes were almost perfect,"
he wrote of the van Royen flat.
"I walked around the walls, watching
its planes, shadows and proportions
in a state of near elation."

-John Pawson












John Pawson
Expression


Interior, van Royen Apartment, London, 1990






Pawson arrived from outside the usual channels of architectural apprenticeship. He never completed his studies, and never worked for another architectural practice, but only for the designer Shiro Kuramata, whom Pawson discovered in his 20s when drifting through Japan. His first work, a flat for his then girlfriend Hester van Royen, already showed what would be his distinctive style, and immediately got him published. His inspirations included the art of Donald Judd, and his early fans included the writer Bruce Chatwin. "It seemed to me the notes were almost perfect," he wrote of the van Royen flat. "I walked around the walls, watching its planes, shadows and proportions in a state of near elation."













John
Pawson

----------------------------
alberto
giacometti

vs.
alvar
alto




I






alberto
giacometti

vs.
alvar
alto







------------------------------
"La beauté en voyage"

Part 1. When 3 men tell my story.
Part 2. The music stops when we listen.




















"La beauté en voyage"

Part 1. When 3 men tell my story.
Part 2. The music stops when we listen.



--------------


images:


1. Jay Jeffer's Home, Interior Designer.

2. Ida Ekblad.

"Ida Ekblad is concerned with the workings of contemporary image culture: the way in which images, through circulation, juxtaposition, and contextualization, lose, gain, and shift meaning"















----------------------------------
restaurant design :
bestor architecture,
pitfire pizza







A friend sent me some images of Barbara Bestor's latest project, Pitfire Pizza, on the westside of Los Angeles. Bestor's work is widely known here in Los Angeles, especially on the East Side (other projects include, Intelligentsia S.L. and Lou Wine Bar). Her recent move into restaurant interiors has me excited for so many reasons. It's nice to see the bold splashes of color mixed with natural plywoods.

As much as I adore the "dark nostagia" trend, speakeasy style, it's nice to see these hot yellows and reds be put into action!! I adore her casual vibe mixed with good hard design. Plus, the exterior kinda reminds me of a gigantic lego, and that's just awesome! I have a feeling Sottsass would be very proud.















plywood bar with marble countertops and
yellow powder coated stools, oh my!



















I wonder the source of those yellow lamps hanging?
Excited to go grab some pizza soon here....








restaurant design :
bestor architecture,
pitfire pizza




--------------------------------

sleeping
foxes, dogs
and rats,
and
failing systems.















image, Mark Manders, 1992

foxes and rats








One thing that I’ve had to learn as an artist—considering how everything that I had learned about what art should be and what art was, and what an artist should be like (disciplined, following the love of the craft)—was that this didn’t work for me. Suddenly I had to take all of these notions apart, because they weren’t mine, they weren’t enough for me; they bored me and threw me into despair.


It was a system that
really didn’t work for me.


Realizing this gave me a very different vision; I think it has repercussions in the way in which my pieces started to turn out, because I understood at last that my urgent struggle was to find something that was not art. In that sense, I’m not sure if people who consider themselves “educated” understand what art is; I think not.














photo by Gabriel Orozco




I saw that “educated” people as well as “ignorant” ones immediately viewed my work with disapproval: the yogurt lids, the balls of Play-Doh. With ignorant people, it’s obvious that you have to try to destroy their prejudices, but with educated people it’s the same thing, you also have to destroy their prejudices—and their judgment. In their case, it’s a prejudice regarding what they ask of and from art.

But as Borges said, we don’t know what art should be, and we don’t need to find out, either; what we seek is to understand the reason why art exists.



interview with
gabriel orozco here..




----------------------------------

new work:

pacha
design

rust shikiri!











Pacha Design continues to make me lust after every piece of furniture they produce. This new shelving unit, with rust fronts & sustainably sourced UK oak feels pretty much perfect. In today's world, where designers are always attempting the thrill of the "new," Glenn and Samantha always take the opposite approach. Who else is using rust, oak, slate and other earthly materials in such a sublime manner?




------






"
Much of our work evolves from a simplistic approach to design and the materials that we use, combining pared down aesthetics with the japanese view of wabi sabi, beauty in imperfection. we are very much inspired by the natural state of decay & rawness of
oak, slate & metal, yet use these materials to produce pieces with
clean lines & a modern feel."











image above:

rust shikiri , open shelving
with cupboards

sustainably sourced uk oak ,
finished with eco hard wax oil




-----------------------------------------
"there are
numerous ways
to collapse" times 2.































"there
are
many ways
to fall / collapse"



images:
1. florian morlat, wood and fabric, 2007

2. robert morris, felt














--------------------------
In the Penetrable the beholder is really part of the work.
The Penetrable is a work which has attained its object.
It can be reconstructed without my help.
I think that is the real meaning of conceptual art.











Rafael Soto,
Penétrable BBL bleu, 1999,




In the future as in the past, my art will remain linked to the uncertain, taking care not to try to express the permanent, the unchangeable. For I have never sought to show reality caught at one precise moment, but, on the contrary, to reveal universal change, of which temporality and infinitude are the constituent values.

The universe, I believe, is uncertain and unsettled.
The same must be true of my work
.





Rafael Soto
more here.
ROLU
studio!

“field recordings”
made of wood.












New work by Rolu Studio!

"inspired by 70s DIY books, the ideas proposed in Enzo Mari's Autoprogettazione project, Judd, Reitveld, Burton and Schindler."




Upcoming interview with Matt, from Rolu Studio on YHBHS, very soon! These guys continue to amaze me with their blog, their landscape and art studio based in Minneapolis, and now a line of furniture. Not sure where they find the time, but sure happy they do! Congrats Matt and Mike on your new project....









---------------------
The Varese Window Room,
1973 : Robert Irwin
"to know the unknown"









To ignore the "space" is to ignore everything!

I've been spending time these days looking at interiors, architecture,
and large scale sculpture in terms of the space it resides. Could it be that the conversation that happens between the space and the sculpture/ furniture is more important than the actual object? Maybe, the dialogue is where the magic and / or arguments happen? I am slowly reading an interview with Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo about his massive collection of postwar art.

He states “To understand the new art was of primary importance to me,” he told Vogue in 2007. “It was like discovering a new theory in physics, or a new celestial body. It was born of this same desire, to know the unknown.”
















------------



Giuseppe Panza states:

"The problem is to find the right space. Not only is the space itself important, but also its relationship to the space around it.

With the window by Irwin at Varese, it's important that it faces a garden with many dark green trees in the background and large branches in the foreground. From the empty room, which is all white and neutral, you see nature full of life. The opposition of the empty space inside, to the outside seen through the opening, looks like a painting.

The window becomes like the frame of a painting, a very strange painting which is real and not an illusion. The shifting image is very interesting. It's beautiful to see this wall of green, living trees. If there weren't any trees, if there was a street behind this wall of the house, everything would be lost
."










Images and text taken from

"Art of The Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies"









---------------------------------
"the locked
groove."

aka


"nothingness
contained"

























Locked groove

Nearly all records have a lock-groove: it is the silent loop at the end of the side, which keeps the needle and tonearm from drifting into the label area. However, it is possible to record sound in this groove, and many artists have included looping audio in the locked groove. Probably the first track to utilize this technique was The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), featuring a multi-layered collage of randomized chatter in its run-off loop.

Another example of locked groove record is Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s debut album F#A#∞ (pronounced F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity). At the end of the song “Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful…” there is a string phrase recorded on the locked groove.





images:

1. Conrad Marca-Relli, painitng circa 1940's.

Throughout his career, Marca-Relli created monumental-scale collages. He combined oil painting and collage, employing intense colors, broken surfaces and expressionistic spattering. He also experimented with metal and vinyl materials. Over the years the collages developed an abstract simplicity, evidenced by black or somber colors and rectangular shapes isolated against a neutral backdrop.



2. Cover of Godspeed You Black Emperor,
F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity

The title of the album is pronounced "F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity". This is a reference to the keys in which each side of the record begins and to the endless loop at the end. The compact disc version does not contain the loop.
















----------------------------
the
half
circle.





























the
half
circle





1. Arata Isozaki, near Joshua Tree, Pioneer Town. I want/ must/ need to visit these forms and shapes in the California desert. (If anyone knows how I can visit, please write me directly!) This photo is scanned in from the recent World of Interiors Magazine, the September 2010 issue.

Isozaki, if I am correct, was the architect for the MOCA here in Los Angeles. A different form, but indeed, has the same sort of unfolding puzzle as this concrete form poured in the desert. There are three of these forms, that are built to match the seasons, and allow his children to experience the magic of the desert.

Does it get any better / more beautiful than this?





2. Michael Amato for Urban Electric Co.










--------------------------
blackness
go go
squares
and
circles.

























blackness
go go
squares
and
circles.


1. lamp by daryl carter
2. nathan hlyden, 2010








-----------------