Many of Serra’s large steel sculptures are balanced in place which adds to the tension when walking around or within - we like to call this “Danger Art”. See more works here.
Bernd and Hilla Becher - Photographers
This German couple spent their lives documenting industrial architecture that was slowly disappearing. Their rich large-format b&w works would go on to influence photographers and historians. See more here.
Pendulum Waves (1 min. 45 secs.)
I find this simple demonstration mind expanding. If you haven’t seen this before, leave a brief comment with your reaction.
Phil Bolger - Boat Designer / Builder /Innovator
Over his 81 years, Bolger designed more than 600 boats - many called “instant boats” - because of their non-traditional plywood construction. In the early 90’s, my good friend Larry ‘Lars’ Bickford introduced me to a book of Bolger’s designs - needless to say, boat building ensued. See more of his oddly elegant designs here.
Blucifer - Luis Jiménez
Here’s a fun take on the haunting sculpture at DIA that has an equally horrific history. Read more here.
Mirror Neurons - Science
Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that fires when you do an action, and also when you simply watch someone else doing the same action. For example, when you are grabbing a cup of coffee, Motor Neuron A (which also happens to be a Mirror Neuron) fires to tell your hand to reach out and grip the handle of the cup.
1957 A Frame House - Andrew Geller (Architect)
Geller is credited with designing the first A-Frame style house. Apparently, after the NY Times published his design this style house began popping up all around the world. Here are a few fun ones around the country for rent.
30x40 Design.Workshop - Eric Reinholdt (architect)
I tend to check in on 30x40 once or twice a month to see if Eric has posted any additional videos (which are excellent) on his design or administrative process. Check out 30x40 here.
Kehinde Wiley - Painter
Wiley famously painted Barack Obama’s portrait for the Smithsonian National Gallery which houses the portraits of all the US Presidents. See his bold painting here.
Ennio Morricone - Composer
Morricone has scored music for more than 400 movies and television shows (e.g., Cinema Paradiso, The Mission, Space 1999, The Hateful Eight, and on and on). He put the sauce on the Spaghetti Western. Listen here to the scoring for Once upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and more.
Tin Shed - Raffaello Rosselli (Architect)
This almost doesn’t work but I’d say the oversized steel framing on the large windows tips it over the edge. The crisp new fence doesn’t hurt either. See more here by Raffaella Rosselli.
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (Writer)
This is one of those books that everyone should be required to read. Loved it. Eugenides also wrote The Virgin Suicides and The Marriage Plot.
Gordon Matta Clark - Artist / Activist (June 22, 1943 - Aug. 27, 1978)
Clark worked in the 1970’s cutting-up buildings (mostly in NY) that were slated for demo. I love how his raw apertures exposed the many layers of buildings (inside & out) and often turned the mundane into art. See more about him/his work here.
Thelma Schoonmaker - Film Editor
She’s the magician behind the magician. She’s edited 23 of Martin Scorsese’s films including Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Departed. Read/watch more about her here.
Frank Gehry - Architect
Gehry has done some beautiful work, but his home (modified bungalow) in Santa Monica is still one of my favorites of his projects.
I.M. Pei - Architect (April 26 1917 – May 16 2019)
See some of his influential works here.
WILCO - Musicians
Great stuff. Listen.
Humans of New York - Social Experiment
Photographer, Brandon Stanton, started taking photos of people in New York and captioning each picture with a story an individual or group shared with him at the time. Needless to say, his experiment has grown, see more here.
Carlson-Reges Residence - Roto Architects
This is a very fun LA project - transforming an old power plant into a house/gallery. We saw this 20 years ago and loved it. Note on the 2nd level, the pool jutting out the right side (it’s made from a large industrial tank). The vegetation has taken-over nicely too. Check out more here.
Santiago Calatrava - Architect / Engineer
I love a good bridge and Calatrava has been making some beautiful ones for the past 30 years. His architecture follows his white and skeletal preferences but the bridges have the added bonus of being clear urban connection points. See more of his elegant work here.
