I just got back from London and found my monogram all over the city… these are some favorites.
Texas in 24 Hours: Louis Kahn, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano and Rem Koolhaas
Kimball Art Museum
Ever since the film, My Architect, came out in 2003 I have been wanting to visit Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX. The fact that it was located next to Tadao Ando’s recent Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2002) was just too much good architecture to pass up… so MY architect and I made a plan… we couldn’t rationalize the expense or time for an extended trip so we decided to see what we could do in a day…
Monday
We left Boston at rush hour on a Monday and arrived In Dallas a little after 8pm. We picked up our rental car and headed to the very hip Belmont Hotel. After some good people watching and a couple beers at the hotel bar we hit the sack to prepare for a full day of museuming (is that a word?).
The Modern
Tuesday
8:56 am: on our way to Fort Worth.. first stop the Kimball Art Museum. While bold in personality this small gem is everything I hoped it would be. The use of natural light inside the galleries is clever and stunning. The clean classic lines of the interior and the use of concrete creates a wonderful backdrop for this amazing art collection.
11:03 am: still on schedule… walk across the street to The Modern. Wow. Designing a building next to a Kahn masterpiece is no easy task, but Ando delivers. Using a similar vocabulary of concrete and repeating forms Ando’s work is distinctly modern, but it also emphasizes how timeless Kahn’s building is.
Noon: lunch at The Modern cafe overlooking the reflecting pool.. excellent food and spectacular view. We even got entertainment… the maintenance crew donned waders and seemed to be changing light bulbs or something or other in the reflecting pool (how many maintenance guys at The Modern does it take to….)
1:12 pm: The light is good so we need to take some more exterior shots of the Kimball.. then get in the car and head to Dallas.
Nasher Sculpture Gallery
2:09 pm: After a quick stop at Dealey Plaza on the way in to Dallas, we head to the Nasher Sculpture Center designed by Renzo Piano. Another excellent use of natural light, this time controlled by a cast aluminum sunscreen. The outdoor sculpture gallery is fun and varied.
4:37 pm: Almost time to head back to the airport, using Google and the trusty iPhone GPS we find the new Theater in the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts which is under construction. Designed by Rem Koolhaas, the theater is set to open in September 2009. While still under major construction, the vertical “pipes” which make up the dramatic exterior space are in place.
Dee and Charles Wyly Theater: rendition (left) and currently under construction (right)
Four major architects and three museums in 24 hours… not bad for a day’s work! I am overwhelmed with the amazing spaces and quality of detail I have seen.
Shepard Fairey at the ICA
There is finally a show worthy of the Diller, Scofidio and Renfro building which houses the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand opened February 6th and is on view through August 16th at the ICA.
The show started with a bang as Fairey managed to get himself arrested on the way to the opening on outstanding warrants. Many guests who had paid up to $500 for tickets to the opening on Craig’s List were disappointed, but this was not a new experience for Fairey… as a street artist he claims to have been arrested 14 times. Apparently it wasn’t the media event the Boston Police hoped for because Fairey’s cab missed the main entrance and his arrest happened at a side entrance rather than in front of a crowd, but it none-the-less reminded us that Fairey made his name “bombing” (to paint, sticker or post many surfaces in an area)… a less than legal practice.
(An interesting first hand account of the arrest by PEEL magazine publisher Dave Combs can be found here.)
As I wrote about in New Beginnings, Fairey is perhaps best know for his iconic “Hope” image used by the Obama campaign, but this is only one small part of this extensive exhibit covering 20 years of work. The show includes murals, screen prints, collages and other media covering a subject range from Andre the Giant to anti-war propaganda to rap artists, rock stars, and political figures. One thing is clear… this guy works hard. The quality and amount of work he has created in a short period of time is prolific.
As a graphic designer I am drawn to this exhibit for its bold visual appeal. The consistency of style and mostly red, black and white palette (dictated by working with only 2 toner cartridges early on) gives his work an overall unity. I particularly love the juxtaposition of Fairey’s bold images with the exquisite detail you see when you see these works up close. What seems to be a “red” area is actually made up of a layers of newsprint collage. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is exquisite… not something you would expect from someone who by necessity “installs” his work with speed and stealth.
Repetition is also a key element of Fairey’s art. The same images are used over and over again throughout the show in different way. This builds to a crescendo in the final rooms of the show where we are greeted with a huge wall of identically-sized prints incorporating graphics seen throughout the exhibit. On either side is a large single mural covering most of the wall — a single bold image incorporating layers of graphics in one piece… pretty amazing.
Fairey’s work challenged our notion of “art”, The recent AP legal battle over the photograph used by Fairey to create the Hope poster will have implications for future artists. Jason Pollock writes a great piece in the Huffington Post comparing transformational figures Obama and Fairey in politics and art and how both have pushed boundaries.
Don’t miss this exhibit. It is bold, fun and challenging all at once. Not bad for the price of admission.
A couple reviews of the show worth checking out:
This video shows Fairey at work and discusses the creation of Obama Hope image.