subtlety at sfmoma

rosana castrillo diaz

has a new piece at sfmoma.

it is 90 feet of white leading visitors from the main building to the new rooftop sculpture garden.

i'm not sure i would call it a painting. maybe the world's flattest sculpture. it plays with texture and reflection. an essay in white, the image changes with the viewer. as you move through the space, the image on the wall changes due to the viewer's angle, the light reflection (or non reflection) bringing forms to the fore or causing them to recede.

i first saw castrillo diaz' work at anthony meier fine arts, and i was struck immediately. tape "drawings" which again weren't drawings or paintings at all, but a flat sculpture of loops of tape... and more conventional pencil drawings of rubber band balls or stacks of paper on end so highly detailed, i imagine it took her over 100 hours to get the shading just right (take THAT napoleon dynamite!) i can imagine the process being one of ridiculous rigor, trance inducing contemplation.

at the meier show, everyone was there for her work. not so at sfmoma. what i witnessed there: her work is such a whisper that many people don't "hear" it. 

so, if you go to the new sculpture garden at the top of sfmoma, be sure to take it to the bridge. 

reFresh 090521

refresh will be located on my blog site from here on out, along with other items. i intend to actually write and post beyond just sending links, but we shall see.

at some point i will learn how to actually blog, so the layout and content will hopefully get richer (nowhere to go but up)

lebbeus woods has a blog now.

stuart semple's happy clouds ethereal

hong kong pulp fiction.

frank lloyd wright exhibit opens at the guggenheim

this may have been the first place i got a wee bit tipsy in san francisco. i will miss the tonga room.

can norway provide insight into the economy?

speaking of norway, craig dykers' (graduate of the university of texas) firm snohetta won the most recent mies van der rohe prize for best building in all of europe for the oslo opera house

speaking of unsolicited plugs for my home state 

eco appliance sales pitch #1: rainwater hog allows you to collect and use rainwater on your garden/yard or in your house.

eco appliance sales pitch #2: nature mill is an indoor composter

more niemann genius

austerity project number one: claudio silvestrin

custom treehouses one

custom treehouses two

austerity project number two: uno tomoaki

got a restoration project? the old house parts company is exactly what it sounds like.

are you hot? you need a bigass fan

i don't need much prodding to talk about champagne. veuve clicquot launched their new ecofriendly gift box with an emphasis on design.

and since we're talking bubbly, let's recycle the cork in a mosaic tile

i just learned of these guys, OHIO, a san francisco based furniture company 

corbusier at the barbican in london closes sunday

tired of austerity and modernism? head to southern california for some good old storybook architecture. i encourage looking around this guy's site. 

download vitruvius ten books on architecture here

for everyone who's asked me what is the most eco friendly way to remove/strip paint, i now have an answer

new york has a green roof company. let me know if you hear of a san francisco one.

tomas alonso's furniture seems to draw inspiration from fred sandback

lego is introducing an architecture line, starting with frank lloyd wright (thanks chris)

looks like jones | haydu will have to redesign our business cards.

i figure i will be mentioning long overdue things a lot over the next four years. this is the first.

blow up hall is a new kind of hotel in poland, billed as interactive art. when you make your reservation, the room chooses you after you pick a series of images and answer a few questions.

the pixel hotel in linz has unique rooms to stay in throughout the city. 

this is an ad, but is an amazing work of film. there is no action. it is all freeze frame, only the camera moves through the scene as a narrative unwinds.

global quality of living rankings here

i don't know the science behind this, but fun nonetheless, and maybe a way to plan your summer vacation. graphic maps of the united states showing propensities for the seven deadly sins.

my latest favorite tableware... by aldo bakker

iphone user or apphole? there's an app for that. 

anyone who's ever driven around east houston to west louisiana knows the eery beauty of refinery fires in the sky. this captain took time lapse photography of his ship going through the houston ship channel.

bus stops that serve the community

mecca master plan leaked on youtube

RIP arthur erickson

jiffy pop architecture: stainless steel as thin as foil used as building shell. its structure is spray foam sprayed to the back.

toyo ito designed stadium for taiwan's world games looks like a coiled snake. the scales are solar panels. 8,844 of them.

one of my oft mentioned favorite design collectives, droog, has had a series of tiles for some time. they've put out a few more... expanding into kitchens. have a look. the stove is genius...

some great photos of twin houses in leis, designed by recent pritzker winner peter zumthor

pizzetta 211

one of my favorite unsung, understated restaurants in san francisco. SO much detail taken care of. such delight and wonder where you would not think...

to wit:

in the restroom, a diorama with a mini video screen (and audio) showing scenes out a train window.

perfect really.

andy goldsworthy @ presidio

i finally made it out to andy goldsworthy's "spire" piece in the presidio

a piece constructed of 37 felled tree trunks

there is an internal sttructure that is completely hidden: a steel armature anchored into an enormous concrete foundation.

similar to much of goldsworthy's works, the piece feels as though it is a natural occurrence, albeit one that on closer inspection becomes directed. currently, it sits as a monument in a clearing.... as such, it feels contemplative... a focal point... there are newly planted trees in the clearing. at some point years in the future, the monumental quality of the spire will subside. instead the monumentality should prove more natural, subtle, surrounded by living trees.

there are two other spire sculptures planned for the area.