Louis Kahn's Four Freedoms Park - NYC

This park, conceived decades ago by architect Louis Kahn, is set to open October 24th. It is located at the tip of Roosevelt Island and according to the New York Time's Michael Kimmelman "it gives New York nothing less than a new spiritual heart."


Louis Kahn is one of my favorite architects, and I can't wait to visit this new park when it opens.

Denver Art Museum

I didn't know what to expect from the Denver Art Museum (hey - I'm from New York), but I was surprised and impressed. It has a recently opened wing designed by Daniel Libeskind that doubles the size of an already huge building. The galleries are large and spacious and the visitors few (compared to New York City), so visiting the museum is a pleasant and serene experience.

Although Libeskind's building doesn't necessarily blend cohesively with it's surroundings, it is dynamic and engaging. And Gio Ponti's 7-story castle-like North wing hardly sets an example for merging with the neighborhood, which is a mish-mash of architectural styles including the post modern Denver Central Library by Michael Graves and the neoclassical Civic Center Park with its Greek amphitheater.

The sharp angles of Libeskind's building are supposedly reminiscent of the nearby Rocky Mountains, and the sloping walls and angled plans of the galleries are meant to provide an "entirely new and exciting environment" to view artwork. It may not go quite that far, but I felt the galleries provided an excellent backdrop for the work on display.

They have a wonderful collection of Oceanic art that mixes pieces from the 18th and 19th century with the work of contemporary Oceanic artists working today. There is an interesting temporary exhibit on the airport architecture of Fentress Architects featuring Denver's own International Airport. I flew into this airport and I did love the translucent tented roof structure (also reminiscent of the Colorado Rockies). It is quite impressive viewed in the landscape, but when you get close to the building it is almost obscured by the boxy parking garages. Design Lab: Three Studios, another temporary exhibit with installations by members of Colorado's design community: DoubleButter, MATTER, and tres birds, featured some of the designers themselves working inside the exhibit - pretty cool. And I also enjoyed Open For Design: A DAM Community Challenge featuring submissions from anyone with an idea to transform an object or material into something that makes their neighborhood a better place.

There is so much I didn't see (and I didn't mention Garry Winogrand's photographs or What Is Modern?) that I will definitely come back some time in the future. Denver is lucky to have such an enriching and enlightening institution.

Frohawk Two Feathers

The exhibit "We Buy Gold, We Buy Everything, We Sell Souls" is at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver through September 9th. These paintings by the artist who goes by Frohawk Two Feathers depict his re-imagining of the history of the colonial period. His exploration of themes such as racism, power, and greed is lightened by contemporary details taken from hip-hop vernacular. Altogether a very interesting, entertaining, and funny exhibit - go see it if you are in Denver!

MCA Denver

I visited David Adjaye's Museum of Contemporary art in Denver yesterday. The building is clad in tinted glass panels that let a diffused light into the galleries through a white translucent interior skin. The entrance was one of the best museum "front doors" I've ever experienced. An opening in the exterior leads to an enclosed ramp that narrows as you proceed along it. The door is not apparent, but as you approach the end of the corridor it slides open on your right side to reveal another ramp leading to the lobby.

Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO

I visited the Clyfford Still Museum today in Denver, Colorado. I didn't know much about this influential Abstract Expressionist, probably because he retained 94% of his paintings in his personal collection. He was critical of the commercial art world, and felt it was important to view an artist's work as a complete whole. At his death in 1980, his will stipulated that his paintings should be given to an American city that would promise to build a museum to house them. After many years Denver was chosen, and the Clyfford Still Museum opened in 2011.

The building, designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture sits next to Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Denver Art Museum. It is subdued and minimal from the outside, but inside the unfinished concrete and day lit galleries are a perfect backdrop for Still's work.

It turns out Stills was right - seeing his paintings together provides a unique insight into his development and progression as an artist. The paintings are arranged chronologically to depict his transition into complete abstractionism, but it's also interesting to note the forms, elements and techniques that consistently remain in his work throughout. I definitely recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in Denver.

"I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse together into a living spirit." -Clyfford Still

Joaquin Torres Garcia

I visited Montevideo, Uruguay across the Rio de La Plata from Buenos Aires recently. There we went to Museo Torres Garcia - a museum dedicated to the work of Uruguayan artist Joaquin Torres Garcia. I enjoyed the introduction to this wonderful artist who is credited with introducing Constructivism to South America. He lived most of his adult life in Europe, but upon his return to Uruguay he began to be influenced by Pre-Columbian and indigenous art. This influence gives his later works a distinctly South American vibe.

He is perhaps best known for the sketch "America Invertida", but I loved his colorful constructivist paintings from the 1940's.

America Invertida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A great School of Art ought to arise here in our country... I have said School of the South; because in reality, our North is the South.  There should be no North for us, except in opposition to our South.  That is why we now turn the map upside down."

Teatro Colon - Buenos Aires, Argentina

I'm living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a few months and thought I'd share some of its interesting Architecture and Design. I visited Teatro Colon for a performance and a tour recently.

Teatro Colon was completed in 1908 and was the largest opera house in the Southern Hemisphere until the Sydney Opera House opened. It seats 2,500 and has standing room for 1,000. Three different architects worked on the theatre, and it is an eclectic mix of architectural styles. It is said to have the 3rd best acoustics in the world. The opera house was completely renovated and reopened in 2010.

View of Teatro Colon across Avenida 9 de Julio

Main entrance hall

Entrance hall dome

Grand staircase

Entrance hall from the 2nd floor

Salon Dorado (Golden Room)

Salon Dorado ceiling (the dark holes are air conditioning vents added during the renovation)

Salon Dorado - the dark rectangular patch shows the color of the walls before restoration.

The stage is set up for an orchestra performance

The next photos were taken before a performance of the opera La Pasion Segun San Marcos - a modern Argentine opera.

The view from our seats in the 5th tier of the balconies - la tertulia

Charles & Ray Eames

The home of Charles and Ray Eames is one of my favorite design inspirations.The couple met while studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in the late 1930's, and then married and moved to Los Angeles. They both became central contributors to the modern architecture movement that bloomed at that time in Southern California. They designed furniture, buildings, toys, films, exhibitions, and books, all aimed to improve society - not only functionally but culturally and intellectually as well.

Their home is the perfect mix of modernism and bohemianism- they mixed their own sleek designs with colorful pieces brought back from their travels around the world.

Their house was used many times as a backdrop for photography shoots, because it embodied the popular West Coast aesthetic of the time. This image is from a 1954 issue of Vogue.



















Resources:
Eames by Gloria Koenig, published by Taschen
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames, published by Harry N. Abrams in association with The Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum

Waste Land - A documentary about Vik Muniz by Lucy Walker

This has been in my queue since the Oscars and we finally got around to watching it last night. Tim and I both highly recommend it - a truly moving story about the transformational power of art. I loved when Muniz described how people experience an artwork - the moment when the image is transformed into the material. Also, his sincerity in collaborating with the garbage pickers to create their portraits was inspiring. Tim, of course, was more fascinated by the sociological aspects of the film - seeing the pickers getting ready to attend the opening at the Museu de Arte Moderna Rio de Janeiro prompted much commentary on the contrast between the favelas and the upper class communities which they surround.