Architecture and Art (Dedication to Gaudi)

When I traveled to Spain, the city that took my breath away was Barcelona, much of this is attributed to Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was an architect with an astute knowledge of geometry and design. His buildings took my breath away. His work was so innovative and distinguished for his time (circa 1850). Gaudi is credited with being the Catalan representative of Modernism. The Modernism movement was a revolt against the conservative aspects of realism. The fundamentals of Modernism was to do away with the classical convention of what was tradition and to create a new cultural movement that would coincide with the emerging industrialized world. Modernist were not like the Enlightenment thinkers, they did not credit anything to "The Creator". They developed the ideas the world was more complex and could not be defined by religion, government, God, or science as the final authority. Gaudi represents this lack of convention in the structure and aesthetics of his work. It is like nothing I have ever seen and highly doubt it can ever be replicated. Here are some photos I took...

These last two photos are of La Sagrada Familia, this is Gaudi's most famous work and sadly he was not able to finish it due to his untimely death in 1926. Sadly, many people will never get to see this architectural masterpiece completed in their lifetime. It is expected to be completed in 2025, I will be 37 years old and you can bet that I will be in Barcelona to see La Sagrada Familia completed. The completion of this cathedral now falls in the hands of construction workers and citizens that have VOLUNTEERED their skills and time to make Gaudi's vision a reality. Now, if that is not a beautiful story then I don't know what is. So my advice to you is to put this on your list of places to see. Even if you have seen 100 cathedrals in your lifetime you have not seen one like this.

With that I say Adios, 

Kristina

Androgyny

Yesterday I saw the film "Adaptation" (2002) starring Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep. The film was brilliant. I have never seen a film that can have about four intricate plots and stories and they all seem to work. This film tells the story of a screenplay writer played by Nicholas Cage that is hired to write a film based on the book written by Meryl Streep's character. The book is about orchids.

Ok, so I bet you are wondering why this meant anything at all to me. To start off the orchid is my favorite flower. In the film, Meryl Streep's character is speaking to an orchid expert and he explains to her the origin of the flower. This is what interested me. In the film the orchid expert states that the word orchid comes from the word orchis which in Greek means testicle. This is interesting to me because the orchid is a flower that exudes sensuality and in art is typically portrayed as female genitalia. Therefore this flower has both male and female characteristics and interpretations making it, androgynous.

Anyway, the film is spectacular and I definitely recommend it.

Till Next Time,

Kristina