Month: August 2015

Werner Herzog, “Fitzcarraldo”

Fitzcarraldo: Written and Directed by Werner Herzog, 1982, Starring Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jose Lewgoy

Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house in his town and decides that to make his dream a reality he needs to make a killing in the rubber business. In order to become a successful rubber baron, Fitzcarraldo hatches an elaborate plan that calls for a particularly impressive feat – bringing a massive boat over a mountain with the help of the local native population.

The film is derived from the historic events of Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarraldo and his real-life feat of transporting a disassembled steanbiat over the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald.  The film had a troubled production; Herzog forced his crew to manually haul the 320-ton steamship up a steep hill, leading to three injuries. The film’s original star jason Robards got sick halfway through filming. So Herzog hired Klaus Kinski, with whom he had previously clashed violently during production of ” Aquirre, the Wrath of God”, Their second partnership fared no better and an extra even offered to kill Kinski. Herzog reluctantly declined.

A great classic film with Klaus Kinski. The scenes of moving the huge ship over the mountain by hand are amazing. The movie idea was based on a true event.

James McNabb, “Empty Kingdom”

James McNabb, “Empty Kingdom”, Scrap Wood Citiscapes

James McNabb‘s “City Series” is a collection of wood sculptures that represent a woodworker’s journey from the suburbs to the city. Each piece depicts the outsider’s perspective of the urban landscape. Made entirely of scrap wood, this work is an interpretation of making something out of nothing. Each piece is cut intuitively on a band saw. The result is a collection of architectural forms, each distinctly different from the next.

Frank R Paul, “Amazing Stories”

 

Frank R Paul, “Amaing Stories” Cover Art

 

Frank R Paul was an American illustrator of pulp magazines in the science fiction field. His early architectural training is evident in his work. A discovery of editor Hugo Gemsback, the founder of “Amazing Stories”, Frank R Paul defined what both cover art and interior illustrations in the nascent sci-fi pulps of the 1920′s looked like. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009.

 

Cornelia Konrads

Sculptures by

Cornelia Konrads

Cornelia Konrads was born 1957 in Wuppertal, Germany. Even though he studied philosophy and culture-Science, he has been freelancing since 1998. He focuses on site-specific installations and objects. He participates in various sculpture- and Land Art projects in Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, USA, Taiwan(wowowowwww), South Korea and Australia.

Gazing Onward

Photographer Unknown, (Gazing Onward)

“Why do you reduce art to an autobiography? Once a piece of art is concluded and ejected into the world it changes with every single pair of eyes and becomes an endless object of transformation. The spectator makes it his or her own. Don’t decontextualize it and call it truth, call it your perspective.”
― Laura Gentile, Within Paravent Walls

Domenico Pieratti

Domenico Pieratti, “Gladiator”, Villa di Castello, 1635

Domenico Pieratti. born in Florence, worked with his older brother Giovan Battista. Both were students at the workshop of the sculptor Chiarissimo Fancelli.

Pieratti’s most labor intensive work was the decoration of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. The rebuilding of the palace and garden of the grand-ducal residence was undertaken by architect Giulio Parigi, who had gathered for his artisan group a number of sculptors and architects among which the Chiarissimo Fancelli and the two Pieratti brothers.

Among Domenico Pieratti’s best works are the two fonts supported by marble angels in the Chieti Church of Santi Michele e Gaetano in Piazza Antinori. In the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella is his marble crucifix from the  House of the Medici; it was transferred here by the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de ‘Medici in 1731.