Art and architecture
By ADAM TANOUS
Express Arts Editor
From a crude layman’s perspective, art and architecture
might be seen as mirror images of one another: the former distills a range
of experience and emotion into a single image or concept, while the latter
starts with a concept and realizes it in various three-dimensional forms.
And no doubt the connections between the two disciplines become more
apparent the greater is one’s understanding of the two fields.
The Secord Medical Building, Santa Barbara. Photo by
James Chen
Artist, architect and art collector Barry A. Berkus has
spent much of his life exploring these disciplines. Just one of the many
products of his labors is a recently published book entitled, Art,
Architecture, Parallels, Connections.
In a recent phone interview, Berkus said the book was 14
years in the making and with it he is "looking at a broad spectrum of
art and relating it to architecture." To elucidate some of the ideas
in the book, Berkus will present a slide show and lecture Thursday, 7
p.m., at the Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum. His watercolors are currently
exhibited at the Severn Gallery.
Reading by Pablo Picasso
Berkus’ book is an eloquent expression of one man’s
experience in the worlds of art and architecture. He writes in the
preface, "This book is best approached, not as a comprehensive
monograph, but as a collection of compelling art experiences, moments from
key projects with which I have been involved, and the resulting parallels
I have observed in other places…I do not intend to account for the
fields of architecture and art as a whole, but to reveal some to the
connections and parallels that have captivated my imagination."
Berkus places photographs of architectural works next to
images of art, for instance, the Secord Medical Building in Santa Barbara
and Picasso’s painting Reading, to illustrate a particular
parallel. In this case, Berkus refers to the way Picasso and the architect
of the medical building "fused several visual perspectives into
one."
Other concepts Berkus examines are the ordering of space,
boundaries, the use of specific shapes and patterns and the movement of
eye and body.
Berkus also considers the idea of tradition and how it can
be lead us in new directions in both art and architecture. He focuses on
traditional forms found in desert environments, on the farm, in Europe,
Japan and in the modernist movement. Berkus writes, "Architects and
artists alike participate in the evolution of culture by abstracting from
what has come before. Truly original work involves a rethinking of
familiar traditions in a way that is meaningful to people in the
present."
Throughout the book Berkus presents dozens of parallels
between art and architecture that, at first glance, seem quite subtle, but
with his insightful commentary suddenly become very apparent. The end
result is that the disciplines are revealed to be much more complex both
as they relate to one another and as they exist in their own right.
He did point out on the phone, however, that the process
by which one approaches the disciplines can differ. "Art comes from
some place in the back of one’s mind. There is no responsibility to
create a structure that stands…a stage where [people] can act out their
lives…In creating art nothing is so precious that you can’t tear it
up."
