MY BRAIN HURTS

During Thursday night's crit, I was asked if I could establish a stronger relationship between a quick rendering I had drawn of a building used as a “think tank” near Sterling, VA and the sculpture required for that evening's class. The quick rendering is by no means a literal representation of the building, instead it's comprised of two basic geometric shapes (an inverted pyramid and rectangle) that I associate with the building's overall design. Of the two shapes, the inverted pyramid is the one that draws my attention due to its subversive nature. . . so much so that I've come to associate the inverted pyramid with “think tanks.” The sculpture is a box separated into compartments loosely based on the Golden Section. Within some of those compartments, copies of Rene Magritte paintings have been placed. I've chosen Magritte because of the subversive nature of his subject matter and mostly because I've enjoyed his work for years. Due to art historians' incessant need to categorize artists, Magritte's work has been categorized as surreal; though I don't believe that term truly applies. Surreal art is intended to capture the essence of the subconscious while Magritte's work clearly plays with the observer's conscious activities. The paintings are intended to initiate interactions between painter and observer. Studies on how the human mind processes information was a passion of Magritte's and painting was the medium used to
express his philosophies.


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I tend to believe that media art would've been his choice of medium had he been alive today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1YO8bUMDY

--- Conscious activities seem to be a possible link ---

I was also asked to develop a design process for this project instead of concerning myself with materials, etc. I immediately drew a blank. Thumbing through several books, websites and plans over the weekend for inspiration, I 've chosen the following topics to help with the process: Neurotransmitter Synapses, Golden Section/Platonic Solids and Fundamental Principles of Architecture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF04XPBj5uc&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90cj4NX87Yk&feature=related

http://goldennumber.net/goldsect.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/22866/English/Architecture/fundament.html

Aside from the above, I enjoy analyzing plans/sections/elevations in the hopes of gaining more insight into design.

--- Media/Digital Art will be the link between the process and the final design ---

I've enjoyed the works of Diller & Scofidio for at least a decade and have chosen their design for the Museum of Art & Technology as inspiration for my final design.