Tis Dreams This Architect Makes
October 21, 2008
Pure genius. The book FRANK GEHRY ON LINE comes in a corrugated slip-cover. Not the usual horizontal slabs, but a row of dozens of 8-1/2" long, 1-1/2" wide pieces glued back to back, with a slit in the middle for the slim volume, the cardboard slip-cover reminiscent of Gehry's furniture. Reminds me of a college art class, where our first assignment was to make a chair out of cardboard. Easy, you think, oh no, because we had to use the same multi-layered effect. I recall frustration and barely finishing. Actually, both coincided the night before the cardboard chair was due.
But it was clever, and clearly outside the box. And so is this book. There are whimsical sketches inside the book -- my favorite is of the stunning Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. The architect sketches as a way of thinking aloud, the author, Esther da Costa Meyer says. The Princeton prof of art and archaeology lauds Gehry for taking art as his inspiration, for taking the value of art, and breaking down the walls -- and creating magnificent architecture. His sweeping sketches delight the eye -- and to see the finished architectural work nearby -- it is amazing.
It was Frank Lloyd Wright who was the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, but Gehry took on the one in Spain. I remember the commotion in the news about the Guggenheim in NY -- the buzz impressed my grade-school self.
I loved the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and didn't think anything could rival that.
But I remember as a kid walking into the Guggenheim and being stunned by its glorious well-lit spaciousness, and how the art popped from the walls.
This book is a small taste of art transcending itself into our lives.
Gehry's sketches are, as the author says, the stuff of dreams.
Pure genius. The book FRANK GEHRY ON LINE comes in a corrugated slip-cover. Not the usual horizontal slabs, but a row of dozens of 8-1/2" long, 1-1/2" wide pieces glued back to back, with a slit in the middle for the slim volume, the cardboard slip-cover reminiscent of Gehry's furniture. Reminds me of a college art class, where our first assignment was to make a chair out of cardboard. Easy, you think, oh no, because we had to use the same multi-layered effect. I recall frustration and barely finishing. Actually, both coincided the night before the cardboard chair was due.
But it was clever, and clearly outside the box. And so is this book. There are whimsical sketches inside the book -- my favorite is of the stunning Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. The architect sketches as a way of thinking aloud, the author, Esther da Costa Meyer says. The Princeton prof of art and archaeology lauds Gehry for taking art as his inspiration, for taking the value of art, and breaking down the walls -- and creating magnificent architecture. His sweeping sketches delight the eye -- and to see the finished architectural work nearby -- it is amazing.
It was Frank Lloyd Wright who was the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, but Gehry took on the one in Spain. I remember the commotion in the news about the Guggenheim in NY -- the buzz impressed my grade-school self.
I loved the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and didn't think anything could rival that.
But I remember as a kid walking into the Guggenheim and being stunned by its glorious well-lit spaciousness, and how the art popped from the walls.
This book is a small taste of art transcending itself into our lives.
Gehry's sketches are, as the author says, the stuff of dreams.
Labels: architect, art, book review, Esther da Costa Meyer, FRANK GEHRY ON LINE, Guggenheim
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 11:25 PM
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