MAK Center for Art and Architecture, L.A. at the Schindler House
March 14 – September 2, 2001
“In the context of renewed interest in the work of architect R.M. Schindler and Modernist design, the exhibition In Between: Art and Architecture reflects on the radical experimentation of the Austrian émigré architect and his contribution to the legacy of Modernism… [and] presents contemporary works that reflect upon the formal and material qualities of Schindler’s design as well as the social histories and design concepts that evolved from his work.
… Julia Fish’s Garden Drawings employ geometric structure as the underlying architecture for her organic markmaking. Creating a pattern of abstract shapes on Japanese grid paper, the artist abstractly represents a gardenscape as framed by her exacting gaze. The fluctuating transparency and opacity of the ink and the rippled skin of the water-sensitive paper establish the materiality of the work while suggesting the translucent and ephemeral qualities of their subject. These “framed” views of nature suggest a relationship to Schindler’s architectural framing of the surrounding landscape. Schindler sited his designs in response to the prevailing views of a plot of land, incorporating the surrounding landscape into his diagram. Fish’s drawings engage a similar but more microscopic act of looking to the landscape for the forms and shapes that she draws upon the grid paper.”
Excerpt from the catalogue:
LouAnne Greenwald, Curator
M A K Center for Art and Architecture, L.A. © 2001