FANTASY ARCHITECTURE - Introduction

I am a box maker. The works pictured in this book are boxes. They are some of my recent explorations in the realm of what I would call fantasy architecture. I think of fantasy architecture as any architecture, imaginary or real, whose primary concerns are conceptual, emotional or psychological, not functional or practical. There has always been fantasy architecture, from the ancient temples of Mesopotamia and the Yucatan, up through the Renaissance grottos and Neo-classical follies to the wonderful constructions of Gaudi. Much fantasy architecture exists only in two-dimensional space: medieval views of Heaven, the Renaissance Ideal City, the dark constructions of Piranesi and the mind benders of M. C. Escher. All of these have been sources of inspiration for the boxes in this book. Although they are boxes, their functionality is not the main point. They are explorations in miniature of imagined structures, celebrations of improbable spaces, opportunities for the mind to enter for a moment into a fantastic but still physical reality.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SUBTRACTION - Introduction

This is my second book of sculpture boxes. They are explorations of what I think of as the architecture of subtraction. By this I mean the architecture that is created, intentionally or not, by the removal rather than the addition of material, spaces resulting from going down and in rather than up and out. The works shown here are sculptures but they are also boxes with hidden drawers and secret compartments. The inspiration for these works comes from stairwells, quarries in Vermont, the mysterious step wells of northern India, the terraced hillsides of Umbria, and of course my own imagination. The fascination for me is with the possibilities of negative space and the emotional dimension of containment. These miniature spaces are meant to be experienced from the inside out, as only the mind can imagine.

 

 

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