Archive for September, 2009

Spotted: the Chemosphere

September 16, 2009 at 3:23 am · Filed under Artists, John Lautner, Travel

Jesse, my LA road warrior companion, got us to the bottom of the Chemosphere (Malin Residence) today. We won’t be able to view/tour this one, but it was great to see it from the outside. The hills around the area are so strange – they make for very private spaces for the homes as the roads curve around (sometimes at very tight angles) and rise and fall in elevation. We were looking and looking for this one, got to a dead end, and were only able to catch it as we came back down the same road. We turned one of the tight corners and all of a sudden, there it was, towering over us:

Leave a Comment

LA: Research and House Viewing Day One

September 16, 2009 at 2:07 am · Filed under Exhibitions: Away, Exhibitions: Home, John Lautner, Travel

There are very few words to describe the experience of walking into a home that is brilliant, thoughtful and incredibly well-designed. I can’t express enough gratitude towards the people who have made it possible for me to see some of John Lautner’s homes in person – two of them on my first day here. Out of respect for the privacy of the owners I won’t go into detail here or post the photos I was lucky enough to take. It was at time overwhelming to walk into these homes and see the breathtaking view first hand, to feel the warmth of the interior, and fully understand the experience of the indoor/outdoor connection Lautner believed in. As I wandered around these homes I felt like I was in a museum, and the owners were so kind to let me wander like I was in a museums. I think I said the word “incredible” a million times today. For some reason that was what kept coming out of my vocal chords.

I also spent the morning/afternoon at the Getty Center viewing the wonderful Julius Shulman photo archive while narrowing down the focus of my research. Since I’m hoping to depend heavily on photography for the exhibition, seeing what is available first hand was immensely helpful. I’ve narrowed it down to about 8-9 structures, spanning Lautner’s entire career. Tomorrow I’ll view the drawings, etc. from the specific structures. I’m sure it will prove to be even more helpful.

I got so caught up at the research library with the photographs that I ran out of time, sadly missing the Irving Penn exhibition. We were lucky enough to have a Penn photograph on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in a 2008 show, UNITED in Art. I am very interested in his non-fashion work – I find fashion photography akin to eating ice cream. Enjoyable, but in small doses. The Getty exhibition focuses on a series of images Penn did in the 1950s, which are portraits of people (everyday working folk) holding tools of their trade. They are photographed as typologies, almost scientific portraits documenting working class labor. The more I think about this, the more I may just have to go back and see it.

Leave a Comment

Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena

September 14, 2009 at 3:30 pm · Filed under Artists, Exhibitions: Home, John Lautner

An article from the Los Angeles Times on Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, calling them John Lautner’s archtectural “heirs”.

En route to LA today.

Leave a Comment

Garcia Residence: Los Angeles, 1962

September 8, 2009 at 7:49 pm · Filed under Exhibitions: Home, John Lautner

Client: Mr. and Mrs. Russ Garcia (Russ Garcia was a jazz composer)
Located on Mulholland Drive on a steep mountainside.


Features: Wooden arched roof and steel frame “floats” above the hills supported by two V-shaped steel supports. The structure is divided into two distinct living spaces: half consists of the open living room with built-in sofas, the other half private spaces (bedrooms). Central entry is open with curved stairs leading from the carport above.

Quote: “Lautner described the Garcia House as ‘lamellated wood arches [designed] to blend in the hills’ by taking the same form as the curved ‘hum’ in the terrain. The house echoed a more complex topography by splitting itself into two at a slight fold in the land-decisively dividing the house into the two distinct domestic zones the clients required-and then bridging the gap.” (Between Heaven and Earth, page 100)

In the News: A restoration project was in the works in 2008 (curbed LA article) by current owners Bill Damaschke and John McIlwee (NY Times article) with a pool being a more recent addition (curbed LA article 2).

In pop culture: This is the house that was “blown up” in Lethal Weapon 2. It’s a pretty impressive rendering of how one would collapse and destroy the structure:

Comments (2)

Correspondence: Wish List

September 8, 2009 at 7:04 pm · Filed under Artists, Exhibitions: Home, John Lautner, Travel

(Portion of an e-mail I sent detailing areas of John Lautner’s influences and lists of structures I will be focusing on while at the archive.)

1. Anything related to Marquette: Midgaard, Deertrack, Lautner family
home (photos, ephemera, etc.)
2. Anything Lautner made at Taliesin

3a. Julius Shulman photographs of Lautner’s buildings.  It is my
intent for this exhibition to rely heavily on photography for
logistical and budgetary reasons. Below is a list of buildings that I
am hoping to have 2-3 images of; I hope to also be in touch with Mike
Moore and Alan Weintraub who have also photographed Lautner’s buildings.
3b. Julius Shulman archive/ephemera: I see by searching the Shulman
archive there is some Lautner-related ephemera. I am particularly
interested in newspaper/magazine clippings (such as those in box 59).
I would like to construct a display of ephemera for the exhibition
detailing media coverage of Lautner (I am very interested in his
influences on contemporary and “pop” culture).

4. Specific structures:

a. (The following structures seem to have 2 or 3 drawings already out
on loan for the touring exhibition. I am wondering if there are more
drawings available and possibly models of any of these? Also, if there
are models in the archive but not on this list, I would like to
consider those as well. I am just not sure how many models are in the
archive at this point.)
Carling Residence
Desert Hot Springs Motel
Schaffer Residence
Foster Residence
Heathall Residence
Concannon Residence
Tolstoy Residence
Wolff Residence
Zimmerman Residence
Harpel (both Hollywood and Anchorage) Residence
Krause
Griffith Park Nature Center

b. (These structures seem to have been heavily focused on by the
touring exhibition, but I am wondering if there are any other drawings
available for consideration for the DeVos exhibition?)
Segel Residence
Hope Residence
Turner Residence
Malin/Chemosphere
Pearlman/Idyllwild
Wahlstrom
Sheats/Goldstein Residence
Mabrisa
Elrod

Leave a Comment