MALEVICH

Dear Sophie -

To explore the roots of modernism, we need to turn to early 20th century RUSSIA and the SUPREMATIST movement. 

The leader of the pack was the artist and theorist KAZIMIR MALEVICH, who was a radical, independent thinker .

His early interests were in regional folk art which then evolved to his modernist manifesto. It is very interesting to look at the works and relate it to the revolution that was rumbling in Russia at that time.  We're talkin' 1917 baby!

When you look at Malevich, you'll surely see the relationship with contemporary artists such as Robert Mangold, Tuttle or Robert Ryman, exemplifying how we build upon knowledge as we learn from one another.  

With love,

Mom

WANG SHU

Dear Sophie -

The 2012 Pritzker Prize winner is WANG SHU, the first Chinese citizen to win the coveted award.

With elegance he recycles the past to invent the new. 

“Everywhere you can see, they don’t care about the materials,” Mr. Wang said in an interview. “They just want new buildings, they just want new things. I think the material is not just about materials. Inside it has the people’s experience, memory — many things inside. So I think it’s for an architect to do something about it.”

With love,

Mom

OLAFUR ELIASSON

Dear Sophie -

Welcome to the beautiful feast generously provided by the Danish/Icelandic artist/architect OLAFUR ELIASSON.

His structural experimentations hark back to Buckminster Fuller, while materials such as light and atmosphere relate to Diller Scofidio's Blur building as well as the works of James Turrell.

With love,

Mom

DANIEL LIBESKIND

Dear Sophie -

The architect DANIEL LIBESKIND has assumed the daunting task of rebuilding at the site of the world trade center, designing an elegant structure that defiantly pierces the sky. 

His angular disruptive impositions have thoughtfully served the Contemporary Jewish Musuem in San Francisco along with the military museum in Germany where he severed the celebratory spirit of the past and transformed it to a humbled present. 

But this home is perhaps a little pointy?

With love,

Mom

LOUIS KAHN

Dear Sophie -

LOUIS KAHN may well be my favorite of all, as these solid heavy materials turn transparent and poetic as he plays with site and light. 

He had a complex personal life as told eloquently by son Nathaniel in his documentary "My Architect". 

The Salk Institute can be seen in San Diego, but apparently his ultimate masterpiece is Kahn's parliament building in Bangladesh.

With love,

Mom

JEAN NOUVEL

Dear Sophie -

The Parisian based architect JEAN NOUVEL makes one brilliant move after another.  Never repeating himself, always finding unique solutions, inventing and engineering some of the most poetic and enjoyable spaces throughout the world.   

With love,

Mom

FRANK GEHRY

Dear Sophie -

The job of an architect is incredibly complex.  One must reconcile the pure emotion of a space with the site, the climate, the light, the materials, functionality, sustainability and the feasibility when constructing a space.  She/he must collaborate with both the client and a team.

FRANK GEHRY changed me.  When I first came to Los Angeles, there was a room that made me feel exalted... cocoonlike while exuberant. It invoked a feeling of endless possibility.  It was if he said... go.  Be the best you can be. 

He has gone on to have an amazing career.  Maintaining a spirit of spontaneity and defying every convention, insisting that the best of the human spirit prevails.

Way to go Mr. Goldberg.

With love,

Mom

R. CRUMB

Dear Sophie -

ROBERT CRUMB is the father of comix and the graphic novel.

I used to be put off by his unapologetic sexism and racism, but I'm now more good humored about it. I think uopon seeing the telling documentary CRUMB, I consider him as how a traumatized, uniquely talented child might view the world.

America didn't suit him, so he moved his family to the south of France. (Aline Komisky-Crumb, daughter Sophie and an extensive vinyl collection). 

I think he is actually quite a good man.

With love,

Mom

GEORGE OHR

Dear Sophie -

GEORGE OHR was confident in technique and place in history, but his works were greatly misunderstood and he was dismissed as "Mad".  

THE MAD POTTER OF BILOXI crated up his work and stored in in a garage with instructions that it shouldn't be opened for 50 years when it might be appreciated.

Indeed now there is a museum dedicated to him, designed by Frank O. Gehry and the fluidity and originality of his forms are celebrated.

With Love,

Mom

SIMON RHODIA

Dear Sophie -

In Watts Los Angeles, SIMON RHODIA worked at a local ceramic factory and with chipped plates, tiles, neglected bottles and broken cups, built the majestic and magical homage to the memory of his childhood home in Italy.

We have to give thanks to a pair of passionate individuals who purchased and rescued SIMON RHODIA'S WATTS TOWERS from vandalism and destruction by ignorant government bureaucrats. 

Now the celebrated masterpiece is the centerpiece of a community and a beacon for creativity and revival.

With love,

Mom

JUDITH SCOTT

Dear Sophie -

JUDITH SCOTT is an important OUTSIDER artist.  The term was developed to accommodate artists who are outside of the art world context.  

Gratefully, the Oakland based art studio/gallery CREATIVE GROWTH welcomed Judith after her twin sister rescued her from an institution where she has been living for the majority of her life. It is a fascinating story of a prevailing spirit.