Design House Impressions
I was finally able to make it last week to the Spring ’08 Design House at the Washington DC Design Center before it closed on Saturday. I was prepared for it not to be that inspirational but once there, I thought otherwise. Here are my impressions: 1) The Entry was bright and bold capturing the theme of Color. From a distance it looked fine but up close I was surprised at how much prominent “bleeding” was visible on each of the horizontal stripes. It’s almost impossible to not get bleeding when taping off and painting stripes but this requires going back and “touching up” — painting over all those bleeds…
Beijing Buildings
Beijing’s bursting architectural boom, due to the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics, is either an example of “authoritarian architecture” or a proliferation in architectural advancement. According to Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post architecture critic, who writes this “Towering Ambition” article, much of China’s current architecture is meaningless. Here’s a video by Travis Fox for you to decide: The United Kingdom’s take in The Times isn’t so great either; although, I happen to like some of the structures and their contemporary feel, particularly the stadiums and the gigantic video facade, which remind me of other light show postings. I find Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium very similar to Martin Puryear’s “basketry-like” sculpture, particularly…
Art & Design Stamps
How do art and design differ? Hard question because worthwhile art, I feel, requires good design and composition but design is a subcategory of art and can be an entity onto itself. Home decor and interior design can be artistic, due to the creative nature in which man conceives and makes it, but is it art? My belief is that when stand-out design is recognized on its own then it is art. Here’s an example of the contemporary furniture designs by Ray & Charles Eames, which are now featured on a collection of US postal stamps. Here’s a link to an earlier post mentioning art in everyday things such as…
