Monday, March 17, 2008

"Straight Lines are Ungodly"



"Humans have more than just eyes to enjoy beautiful things and ears to hear beautiful sounds and noses to smell beautiful smells. Humans can also feel with their hands and feet. The flat floor with straight lines has been recognized as a real danger to humans. The uneven path becomes a symphony, a melody for the feet. This path makes one vibrate with joy." Friedensreich Hundertwasser
A few years ago I visited amazing Vienna with a prime target being the Klimt collections. These were truly impressive but a later Viennese artist was equally impressive. Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (his chosen name) was an incredibly creative and controversial artist. He developed public spaces that were works of art and transformed ugly institutional buildings into intriguing gleaming and colourful confections, like the one above. This is one of Vienna's incinerators and a heating plant. It was a gray ugly eyesore until the "doctor of architecture" performed a face lift. We visited the buildings which were a delight. Even the pavement in the parking lot revealed Hundertwasser's touch. The painted dividing lines were wavy, not straight. He felt straight lines were unnatural, only man produces such uncomfortable constructs. Osaka has copied Hundertwasser's ideas for their incineration buildings which are often mistaken for a theme park.
My current project is an homage to Hundertwasser, a bas relief piece using foam core and lots of textural effects. Here's a preliminary sketch of my imaginary "Hundertwasser House"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

oooh Hennie, I think this is going to be exciting! Looking forward to seeing it evolve. I read a little book about Hudertwasser's art and his architechtural work about a month ago...it was really incredible! It reminded me of what it would be like to live in the English cartoon character 'Noddy's' world..or perhaps to be a gnome or an elf. it was very refreshing and uplifting to see architechture crafted with care and consideration of mans natural inclination to be with the comforting curved and uneven lines of nature.