Junkspace + (ART)chitecture
I've mentioned before that lines and linework play a large part in my artmaking for this body of work. Even outside of this project I've had a love affair with linework and the complexities that come from jumbling up those lines. When I do drawing over drawing over drawing, the actual house can get lost in a smorgasbord of lines. The drawing is a clear representation of an image turned into an art object, as I favour the aesthetic of repeated lines and imagery over any sort of accurate representation. The jumble of lines also pays a slight homage visually to actual maps and even resembles traditional mapping conceptually, wherein a bunch of lines and information come together to outline human inhabitation. There is something about the overlapping of images and lines that has struck a chord with me, perhaps due to the amount of information that can be packed into a single field of view and what that layering can mean conceptually. These are a few of my favourite artists and works that showcase line in their art:
But there is something about the density of overlapping and repeated lines that creates such a beautiful image. The maximalist, visual chaos of these kinds of images have a feel of modern life to them, a modern world that is buzzing with information, traffic, noise, advertisements, and buildings upon buildings upon buildings to shelter our population of billions.
This chaos of lines, and thus the chaos of architecture and the modern world itself, is what is poetically discussed in architect Rem Koolhaas' Junkspace. His essay ultimately critiques our contemporary method of urban building. He argues we are essentially post-architecture (He states: "It was a mistake to invent modern architecture for the 20th century. Architecture disappeared in the 20th century.") and what is now being built is too commercial, too mass produced, and as a result modern architecture is merely a commodified afterthought. It is the junk that fills up our space.
Koolhaas goes on to define Junkspace with a series of musings and metaphors that ultimately point out how true interactions with space have been left at the wayside only to be replaced with flashy buildings and experiences that ultimately lack substance.
So what does this mean for my own project, one that encompasses space and architecture? In many ways my work aligns with Koolhaas' critiques, considering the fact almost all of the buildings I have drawn from are from previous generations and are often centuries old. I aim to look at our architecture, space, and surroundings in a perspective that celebrates it's beauty and appreciates the space it takes up. Koolhaas writes as though the art has been lost in architecture. Does that mean "good" architecture can then only exist in art?
An example I think of are site-specific works that intentionally consider space in its construction. The art and the space are manipulated to create an experience.
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