A dark take on Los Angeles Architecture
July 26, 2010 There were two notable films I saw this week.
1. Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
2. Inception
Both films, the former recounting the greatest humanistic architectural photographer of the 20th century, and the latter an astounding piece of visual and mental prowess, changed the way I began to interpret these photos of L.A. I was all ready to post them last week, but things changed.
Now here I am sitting in my office encapsulated by my newly acquired Inception soundtrack, and a bevvy of architectural images which began to speak back to me. They are dark recordings of old and new modernism - a collection of pieces of architecture both adored and scrutinized by Schulman and his own photography of L.A. The more I look at these, the more they seem to freeze me in limbo. I decided to keep figures out of the spaces I photographed (with a few creative exceptions) - an emptiness contrasting the familiarity of the otherwise colorful grandeur we know as Los Angeles.
And there came Inception, a seething look into dreamworld architecture. Folding, tumbling, emerging, crumbling. Take a step back, and you'll see that all architecture around us began with an idea.
Alas, my compositions. Maybe I'll call this "Julius Schulman Romantics vs. Christopher Nolan's Connivings"
Welcome to a different take on Los Angeles.
"In a way, one.. can.. stop time" - Julius Schulman, 1910-2009
The Hollyhock House, Frank Lloyd Wright
Central Los Angeles High School #9, Coop Himmelb(l)au
L.A. Cathedral, Raphael Moneo
The Walt Disney Hall, Frank Gehry
Reader Comments (4)
dude! you got some good shots after all. glad for you. i have that julius schulman film in my netflix queue. gotta watch it before it isn't on-demand anymore.
the processing style is definitely fitting for the coop himmelblau with its references to corbu, brutalism, decon, and all. i'd love to see the bradbury building shot and interpreted in this way. it'd be very bladerunner but different/better. love the last shot, too. so much for no figures, huh?
I never saw the Himmelblau building in that way, but you're right, elements of deconstructivism married to ugly midcentury brutalism (giant boxes on stilts) and that ever interesting function curveball of corbu. I'm about to see Bladerunner again for some cinematic inspiration.. would love to see the Bradbury building next time I'm down in LA.
Very nice. Words and photos.
W.O.W. These photographs are phenomenal. I was wondering if architects would find Inception particularly interesting! Thanks for sharing.