The Lazarus Archives

Friday, August 15, 2014

The LD Jam Session

I took a small break from my residential work the other day, and simply asked myself “What if I took the Lazarus Designs logo (in its metallic state) and transformed it”? The exercise turned to be pure exploration of the creative moment. What happens if I do this…..what does it look like when I do that….what if, what if, what if.

I read somewhere that when the Who composed their songs, Peter Townsend and Roger Daltry pretty much knew what the song was going to be about, and sound like. They composed their music with a destination in mind. In contrast, The Rolling Stones would get together and simply jam together, create and collaborate in the moment, and discover their music through their process. Obviously, both approaches were successful, but in my mind, the beauty of the Stones method was in the almost organic growth of the music, In other words, the song, the rhythm and beat, and even the lyrics, were discovered through the process of creation, and the collaboration of the musicians and their instruments.

This exercise was very much like a Stones jam session, and was immensely enjoyable! What I’ve learned, and indeed I am struggling with are a couple of things. If intent is absent, then is the result accidental? There is a collaboration that occurs between me, and the program I use to create these compositions (products). At what point am I merely relying on the tool to produce the composition? For example….I have countless yellow rods in the composition, and they were inserted by me for the simple reason that I wanted to contrast the fluidity of the LD, and suggest an underlying component of rigidity, or construction. Through the rendering process, I discovered that their reflections on the metal surface were much more intriguing than the rods themselves. Am I simply exploiting the program to produce content…..art without an artist, music without the musician?

The other thing I am struggling (considering) with is if you don't have a destination, how do you determine if the composition, the product, is finished? Does it matter? I can change the frame dimensions, alter the lighting source, change materials endlessly (which I have somewhat demonstrated in the images). If I were to use the music analogy again, at what time do I decide to go into the studio and cut an album?

In any case, I enjoy the creations and all I can say is……Discovery through process and collaboration with a machine .....”It’s a gas gas gaaaas”!!

RBP

8/15/14

Friday, April 11, 2014

The Fabric of Architecture-Continued

I thought I would share some additional studies along the “The Fabric of Architecture" line.

What I’m looking for I am not quite sure of. …..sure is fun searching for it though!

Still learning, still searching....and still inspired!

RBP

4.11.14

All images, copyright Lazarus Designs

Monday, March 24, 2014

FABRIC of ARCHITECTURE

Fabric of Architecture-4.2/ 1.6

I’ve been looking to buy some additional books on architectural representation, art by architects and theoretical musings about the current state of architecture. Looking for a book seems a bit archaic today, as I have a vast library at my finger- tips but there is something to be said for actually turning a physical page!

That research led to a website that I frequently visit: the website of the late visionary architect, Lebbeus Woods, and a post-commentary on the work of architect, Thom Mayne (Lebbeus Woods-Thom Maynes Mind).The work shown in the post is intense, suggesting a mind that operates on a higher plane than most, and without a shadow of doubt, is uniquely, creatively and inspirationally original. What I see in the work shown on the post, is someone searching for a new vocabulary, a new language through which to explore the creative process and lift architecture out of its current accepted manifestation. It goes far beyond art, and hints to the depth of the underlying orders and dynamics of our physical environment. This particular work questions in a very real and tangible way the role of architecture as objects that occupy and define the physical environment. It seems to ask….Can architecture, can the built environment be a cohesive fabric that binds all those objects into one physical entity? The work shown in the post and the mental ingestion of it, along with the commentary by Lebbeus Woods, moved me to first imagine and create an extension (variation) of the Lazarus Designs logo.

Lazarus Designs-Metallic Transformation

Unlike a lot of my recent discovery through process endeavors, this time I started with a destination. Starting not from scratch, but from the logo of Lazarus Designs I began to interpret the logo using just two warped planes of implied metallic surfaces. The exercise was engaging, and I began to glimpse opportunities and possibilities, and began to understand (not in depth, just the scratch the surface type) of the underlying forces which Mayne was exploring. I began to explore those possibilities and challenged myself as to figuring out the methods. The more I looked the more I saw, the more I did, the more I wanted to do. This is the nature, beauty and mystery of the creative process. I began chasing ideas in three separate and distinct pieces, grasping to understand the language of the work that inspired me.