Prose/Poetry: Street - Garden

Metamorphosis

Today my shoes leave behind the rooted concrete of the streets,

They step over metallic remains of oblivion,

Zooming out an infinite echo of noisy words.

Today my feet decide to walk barefoot wrapped in emptiness,

They don’t care to walk aimlessly,

Lost in the woods of despair.

Now they only want to hurry and scream loud if only they had a mouth,

Detach from the matter and become a free spirit,

And feel the earth and grass beneath their skin,

Drink from the cold morning dew,

Wash the fleshy temple of sacred devotions. 

Today my feet want to show those wings that have been hidden for a long, long time,

The wait has become blurry,

But I will make sure that time accelerates its steps

Because my feet, like to prophets,

Have told me to wear magic silk to not stumble during a journey that is about to start.

The Discipline of Nature: Architect Alfred Browning Parker

The work of Alfred Browning Parker is an amazing source of inspiration for those who embrace and appreciate good architecture. I love the way that he tried to combine nature into every design as a fundamental element in his architecture. I also admired the well analyzed use of materials to create a style that could go in harmony with Florida’s weather. The way that his houses were designed gives definitely the sensation of a tropical environment. It is charming the great taste and use of minimal designs along with organic shapes where green and brown take place.

I really liked to see the process and evolution of his work throughout the whole exhibition. I found very impressive and intelligent the use of light in his architecture. While seen the show, I could not keep asking myself why we barely see designs like this in nowadays. There is so much boring architecture that we see every day and that doesn’t have anything attractive. It feels like a bunch of big boxes or legos dropped in a tiring repetitive way that makes me feel like living in a monotone city. I know that is also a problem of money, but I really think that others designs like these ones should be take in consideration to build more comfortable spaces.   

Visionary Metropolis: Tony Garnier's Un Cite Industrielle

            The show “Visionary Metropolis” about Tony Garnier utopian city at Wolfsonian Museum was an interesting experience. It is impressive the great capacity that Garnier had to conceive a city in such a great dimension and with so much detail. As anyone can perceive, his works reflect the passion and strong influence of the industrial revolution. Named in his native language “Une Cite Industrielle”, the utopian city is mentally designed between a mountain and a river. In this place in between the imaginary city is created as a whole, where balance takes place in a surreal perfectionism.

Garnier’s sketches are an amazing outcome of a mind that wanted to create a world for others to escape to. He built a shelter where people could rest their minds and believe that harmony between human and nature is possible. However, like any utopia, his imagination arrives to us as a world full of nostalgia. Many of his work appear as a fragile creation, an intangible one. I that some of us carry a Garnier inside, some of us hope for the perfect city.      

I visited both shows the same day "Art and Design in the Modern Age" and "Visionary Metropolis"

Landscape: The Street

            This street assignment has been interesting because it has made me approach the city in a different way. I chose to walk around Coconut Grove are, specifically the area by the sea, nearby Darwin street. Walking around, I started paying attention to these isolated found objects that have been left on the street, such as cans, bicycles, plastic cups and bags, piece of cardboards, or even a tire. I was fascinated by the contrast that they had in such a “clean” environment and their story. How they got there? Who placed them there? These were questions that I would ask myself while photographing tem. This process reminded me the same way that Gabriel Orozco would get inspired when walking outside and taking pictures of found objects.

I liked the way how these objects left in a certain oblivion would strangely interact within the context that were left in. For this piece, I always thought about transferring images because I wanted to obtain a ghostly and not clear, but dirty image to reinforce the idea of oblivion and filthiness that these objects had. I selected the aluminum foil as the material to work with because of its metallic visuality. I wanted a material that would look synthetic since the found objects are made by men, and therefore, they are not organic.  

Testing materials and process

Finished piece

Landscape: Garden Research

Buckminster Fuller worked unstoppable during the 20^th century, from his entrance in Harvard in 1913 until his death in 1983.

Ha-Has walls can be found in diverse grounds of grand country houses and states, such as at Yarra Bend Asylum in Australia, the Hameau de la Reine in Versailles, the Royal Artillery Barracks in London, and the Washington Monument.

Parco del Mostri are the gardens of Bomarzo, Italy that were created in the 16^th century. My favorite sculptures or “monsters” are the Orcus mouth and the snake half woman.

The Roman Forum is a rectangular plaza, which was the center of public life in Roma. The most oldest Roman Forums were built in the 6^th century. The one that I like the most it is located in Portico Dii Consentes.

Boboli Gardens were created between the 16^th and 18^th century in Italy. One of my favorite images is the one of the entrance from the courtyard of Pitti Palace.

The Jardin du Luxemburg was created in 1612 in Paris. My favorite image of it is the one of the Fountain of Medicis.

Tivoli Gardens were created in 1843 in Copenhagen, Denmark. My favorite image is the one that shows a small lake with boats and there is a Chinese architecture in the back.

The Bernini’s Four Rivers is a fountain that was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Roma, Italy. My favorite image of it is the one with the God Ganges in the front.

Jean Dubuffet’s Jardin d’Emaille was created in 1974 in France. My favorite picture is the of the inside of the garden.

The Stowe Gardens had several alterations, but were first accomplished in 1750 in England. I love the Gothic Temple.

The Stourhead Garden was created in 1725 in Wiltshire, England. The picture that I love the most was the one with the grass slopes.

Washington DC Park was created in 1867 in Washington DC. I love the Mary Mcleod Bethune Statue.

The Viscaya Museum was created by Paul Chalfin in 1914 in Coconut Grove, Miami. It was named after the Spain province, “Biscay”. It is in Miami because the owner due to health problems decided to move there.

The Fairchild Tropical Garden was created by Robert Montgomery in 1936 in Coral Gables, Miami. It is in Miami because its creator had as a dream to build a botanical garden in Miami. It was named after a good friend and great explorer Dr. Fairchild. My favorite image is the butterfly g

arden.

 

Landscape: "Green Dreams: Gardens" by Robert Harbison

The reading “Green Dreams: Gardens” that forms part of a book called “Eccentric Spaces” by Robert Harbison has a beautiful concept about gardens and the space that they reflect. Honestly, when I started reading the chapter I got a little lost with all the descriptions and comparisons that the author was saying about different types of gardens. I wasn’t quite sure to what place the author was trying to take me. It wasn’t until the end that I confirmed my interpretation and understood the essence of the reading and the purpose of it.

“Green Dreams: Gardens” talks about gardens as a space where men shape nature at their will in order to create art. It is a space that builds different readings and tries to recapture something, to recreate something. I think that they also function as a reminder of the incredibly mysterious beauty in nature. However, gardens also contain a reflection of contradictory forces between nature and humans, in which these both forces are constantly battling. Gardens are a metaphor and a species of “invisible city”, an imaginary space that comes from men’s minds. They have a magical and highly hypnotic enchantment in where imitation and creation takes place.     

Rhino: Metamorphosis (process and finished piece)

 These sketches show my process of thinking and the numerous times that my ideas were transformed or changed to achieve a successful piece.

This is the project that I selected to work with, I'm transforming pillows and sheets.

Sheets turned into a rope

Materials: frame and spider wire

Using the pillow stuffing material

Gluing the pillow stuffing to camouflage the structure

I think that this assignment has been the hardest in relation to process (building the idea). It really pushed me hard to find the best option, unmarry ideas that I liked, and solve ways for technical problems in the piece.

The objects that I transformed, as you can see, were pillows and sheets. My intention was always to create a piece that could transmit the oneiric content that the parents objects had. The piece works as a metaphor where the magic and surreal takes place. I used the pillow stuffing to create what it seems to be a cloud. I chose to make a floating rectangle because I didn’t want to literally represent a cloud shape; I wanted to abstract myself a little bit more. Also the shape reminds a pillow, a pillow made of clouds. The rope coming out of the rectangle mentally invites the viewer to climb and enter into that ghostly space. However, the rope could be read in two directions, going up to heaven or coming down to earth; it is up to the viewer to freely interpret the way is seen. Also the rope has traces of clouds, which could be read as if the rope had come out of the cloud for you to climb it. The essence is that the piece functions as a portal to another world like in “Jack and the Magic Beans” where the beans are transformed into this “rope plant” that takes you to another world in the sky. I like how the piece has an embedded narrative and poetry. I chose the color white for the whole piece because, in this case, white is a color that communicates peace and comfort. Also white is the color that we see in clouds, and that we relate to a comfort in beads. I think that the color also gives this ghostly and heavenly atmosphere to the piece.

There are a few details that I want to improve in the piece for juries that I think will help even more.   

Rhinoceros: Portrait/Propaganda

In this orientation of portrait/propaganda I wanted to shift myself away from the classic propaganda format into a more subtle language. Their contrast, as debated in class, is given through the subject expression and atmosphere. In the portrait, the subject seems to be aware of the camera looking directly to the viewer in a calm and soft pose. In the propaganda, the subject decides to not reveal its entire identity by covering the eyes and the pose looks uncomfortable. Through the use of the text “...amame como soy” (love me the way I am), which is actually a real tattoo, I try to give the message of accepting others for who they are. I wanted to photograph a vulnerable moment, where the subject receives or accepts the other with the lack of sight. In a metaphorical way, I try to express the difficulty of accepting someone without judging. The subject’s androgenic physic enhances the message.  

Beatriz Santiago Munoz: A Universe of Fragile Mirrors

The exhibition “A Universe of Fragile Mirrors” of Beatriz Santiago Munoz was an interesting experience. Her work definitively shows the interest of an artist that brings to the viewer a unique and intimate space. It is a space where each piece, along with its characters, plays an important role and invites us to explore their environment. As the title of the exhibition says, I experienced the show as the reflection of different worlds that, at the same time, cohabits in one. Every piece can be viewed as fragments of the same mirror.

I loved the use of sensorial environments, especially with the vinyl records to depict emotional stages through sound. The small sculptures made with pieces of mirrors enhanced the space with the beautiful metaphorical concept of “fragile mirrors”. These sculptures would reflect the image of some videos, as well as their shadows on the intervened space. The characters in the videos seem to share and make the viewer part of their experiences.