All the Arts Under One Roof

This is the last assigned project of my undergraduate program. The task was to re-work a previous project from one of our earlier studio courses with the purpose of build on upon it (rather than fixing or improving it). I chose a simple drawing exercise I did in my drawing class; an orthogonal projection of a building (Sage Art Center).

Orthogonal projections are interesting to me because they don’t represent the object as in a perspective, but rather describe it, and in a way, abstract it or reconfigure our understanding of it. The idea of showing architecture in a way different from how we commonly perceive it fascinates me.

I decided to accurately draw the ceiling plan of Sage Art Center, which is essentially an open plan building consisting of 25 columns, and

My goal was to further abstract something that is already abstract and unnoticed–a building/architecture. I like to graphically interpret architecture in an effort to show viewers unseen or unthought-kiof aspects/possibilities of a building they regularly use and perhaps (probably) barely notice.

At the same time, I like geometry and patterns, and architecture is all about that. Sage is a perfect square with multiple geometries embedded in the form of column grids, mechanical chases, light fixtures, etc. Perhaps people can look at the ceiling and its elements (for the first time) as things other than random utilitarian interventions, and find some order and even beauty in what at first seems like an undefined structural chaos.

Good Old Drawing: Cities; My City

It’s been a while since I did a drawing project. It used to be my thing before I started college. Drawing, for hours, cities and buildings on paper, with black ink ( I never liked pencil drawings–too dirty).

Last weekend, I finally had the chance to do a fairly large drawing project (about 25 hours of work). A drawing of the main square of my hometown, Durango, Mexico.

A colonial city, 500 years old, founded by the Spanish conquistadors as a local settlement along the “Royal Road,” which connected Mexico City with Santa Fe, now in New Mexico. The main purpose of this road was the transportation of precious minerals from the New World to Spain.

My city, founded near an iron hill which was though to be made out of silver, is now a 500,000 population state capital. During the last decade, the government has been restoring and even rebuilding much of the colonial heritage of the city.

It is a lovely town embedded between the western sierra and the desert of the Mexican Plateau. Hot and dry throughout the year, it is a great place to live in. This drawing is my orthogonal tribute to it.

Once Upon a Time, in the Bauhaus:

Lines, geometry, grey scale.

Going back to the basics.

This is the piece I go back to to get reminded of the power of analogue; this is not entirely about clean lines and perfect geometry, but about the texture and general tactile quality of the surface. Most of my work is digital now, and my current struggle is how to achieve that texture and “life” which non-digital works have.

This piece was inspired by David Wyeth’s amazing painting “Christina’s World.”