'It is dangerous to trust a man who is hungry"

I went to see Iñárritu's "Biutiful" this weekend, expecting to acquaint myself with the sights and sounds of Barcelona, only to be bowled over with emotional intensity. Javier Bardem's portrayal of a father trying to keep his family together through illegal, but well-intentioned business ventures is heart-wrenching, and as the title's namesake, beautiful. Iñárritu does a fabulous job of visual metaphors that follow the plot line and the rest of the casting was done incredibly well. If you make it to the movies in the next couple weeks, it's one of the best, if not the best option out there.

Video Love

The demo reel for The Mill Group is pretty incredible, albeit a little long. Wonderful story progression across multiple projects, driven by best choice in music I've seen on a demo reel..

The Mill Group Showreel 2011 from The Mill Visual Effects Studio on Vimeo.

Music + Type

Snagged from a FB friend, this UK site takes popular quotes and sets them in poster format of typographic design. Very simple idea, surprised I haven't seen this produced monetized before. I'll be waiting for lyrics that I resonate with ;)
speaking of which, this Lykke Li is a nice way to start the day..
"Dance, dance, dance, words can never make up for what you do..."

AIA San Antonio Lecture Series - "Still Here"

Last night at Pearl, Billy Tsien of Todd Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York, presented 7 of the husband-wife team's projects, 4 completed and 3 in progress. The lecture addressed site, program, and progression. The subtle buildings emphasized access to natural light through various sky wells and a sense of materiality. Although I enjoy tactility of concrete and stone, I question whether shipping in stone from Palestine to Philadelphia is reasonable. Other than that observation, the designs were sensitive to place, and time.
Some memorable thoughts I jotted down..
.. The goal is to create a sense of quiet, an impression that the building will be there much longer than you or I.
.. Slowing down your perception of an object, the idea of quieting down the noise of daily life before entering a space
.. Taking away the sense of an object (in reference to the Cranbrook Natatorium being just a series of walls within the landscape)
.. Emphasis on a circular plan, if you can never get caught/cornered the space feels much bigger. She introduced this approach when discussing the American Folk Art Museum in NYC, shown below
.. growing as an architect means becoming less infatuated with object, and more concerned and aware of the experience

I found the Barnes Collection, a work in progress, to be the most intriguing program and solution. The idea of recreating entire exisiting galleries at a new location has interesting ramifications from a theoretical and logistical perspective. I will tackle that project in an entry of its own... You can find a little preview of the concept below. In the meantime, enjoy perusing their site, linked above, as you make it through your workday.

Daily Distraction

Apparently Beck set up an visual artist spotlight on his website called colorspace, and the latest feature is Devendra Banhart (thank you facebook). Who knew that guy danced around the visual world as well? I think his stuff is interesting enough to take a peek, page composition and color are pretty solid.
This portion of Beck's site is clean and navigable, as is the rest of the site. You can also listen to some new tunes while you're there.

:)

Line Love

Let's take a look at Aubrey Vincent Beardsley for our first exploration of fine lines.. I'm thinking "For the Love of Line" will be a reoccurring feature on this blog.
Beardsley was an important illustrator in the development of Art Nouveau and closely aligned with the Aesthetic movement, which included such artists as Oscar Wilde and James Whistler. I won't go into much personal detail of his life, as I have linked his wikipedia page where you can read further. He died at the early age of 25, leaving us only 6... 6 very marvelous years of work. Who knows what he would have produced if he had lived long enough to build on his momentum.
Let's take a look at a couple pieces..

This work is the frontis piece from Le Morte D'arthur. I've pulled these images from Aubrey Beardsley Art Images, where you can check out the rest of the volume as well as other illustrations. The line work is absolutely rich, with acute attention to contrast and balance. Below is the work "Salome", followed by "Isolde".

Beardsley was also well known for 'naughty' drawings, which referenced Japanese erotic illustrations and mythology. He  developed his printing technique using Japanese precedents in woodblock. I'm always blown away by the graceful power of the prints.. enjoy! 

Hello. Welcome. And all that jazz..

"Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends. "

- Lewis Mumford

I hope this to be a compendium, a dialogue of all the best we can offer as cohabitants of the urban space. What do we find in our daily lives that brings us joy, laughter, stimulation?... and where do we feel neglected in these senses of happiness? This may be vague to start, but I am confident this blog's identity will become fleshy, tactile, and rich with external exploration. Other blog names I have toyed with included:

'Glass Half Full'.. a critical conversation of our built world with optimistic overtones

'For the Love of Line'... an enthusiastic expose of the trajectories that make up our environment, how you see them,  how I see them, why we love them. An illustrator has already snagged this title, but not domain, debating whether to push forward with it.

'SkinnySA'.. more focus towards local design progress (and stagnation), this title might become the umbrella that will catch my blog along with a few other colleagues.

The intention is to create an active, vibrant forum for the local, the lateral and the curious... so here we go, cheers!