Carlo Scarpa’s Brion-Vega Cemetery

scarpa.jpg

“I would like to explain the Tomba Brion…I consider this work, if you permit me, to be rather good and which will get better over time. I have tried to put some poetic imagination into it, though not in order to create poetic architecture but to make a certain kind of architecture that could emanate a sense of formal poetry….The place for the dead is a garden….I wanted to show some ways in which you could approach death in a social and civic way; and further what meaning there was in death, in the ephemerality of life—other than these shoe-boxes.” Carlo Scarpa

Dan Hill at City of Sound reminds us (okay, reminds me…) of Carlo Scarpa’s incredible private cemetery via a link to a Wallpaper* photo feature about the place. Scarpa’s final work (he’s buried in the grounds) was built for the Brion family at San Vito d’Altivole, Italy, and completed in 1978.

This construction and other Scarpa buildings often come to mind after encountering some disastrous use of concrete in architecture. Scarpa, like Frank Lloyd Wright, shows how well that meanest of building materials could be used with the application of care and imagination. And Scarpa, like Wright, also favoured attention to detail, with the cemetery providing copious examples of this, notably the motif of a pair of interlaced circles which feature as a prominent window design and recur in tiny elements elsewhere. Those paired circles and the garden itself remind me of the Jantar Mantar at Jaipur. I’m sure I read that one of Scarpa’s influences for the cemetery was Arnold Böcklin’s The Isle of the Dead but I’m unable to find any online reference. For more about that painting, there’s my earlier post on the subject.

• Flickr has a wealth of photographs of the cemetery
A black & white photo set by Gerald Zugmann

Previously on { feuilleton }
Hugh Ferriss and The Metropolis of Tomorrow
The Jantar Mantar
Arnold Böcklin and The Isle of the Dead
Frank Lloyd Wright’s future city

The art of Cuauhtémoc Rodríguez

rodriguez1.jpg

Irradación from Microescenarios.

rodriguez2.jpg

Triumbirato from Microescenarios.

Two of many striking digital works by Mexican artist Cuauhtémoc Rodríguez. The use of chiaroscuro always gets my attention and there’s plenty of that at work here, as in the example above. Via Bajo el Signo de Libra.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The gay artists archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
The art of Scott Treleaven
Brian Riley
Daniel Nassoy
Chiaroscuro II: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734–1797
Chiaroscuro
Shadows at Compton Verney
Dylan Ricci

Naked sword

kool.jpg

Matthijs Kool, middeleeuws zwaardvechten.

Yes, the web breeds fetishes you weren’t even aware of once…. I blame Frank Frazetta for my interest in naked men with swords. This photo of Matthijs Kool is one of a series by Ewoud Broeksma who specialises in portraits of athletes and sports people.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The men with swords archive

Pride 08 continued

pride04.jpg

Balloons in Bloom Street.

Another day of the Pride weekend and despite my gloomy predictions the sun shone all day. Amazing.

pride05.jpg

After eating little and walking/standing around all day I didn’t feel like waiting for Roisin Murphy’s set. Sorry Roisin. But I did watch Australian Abba copyists Björn Again who were great fun and went down really well with a crowd that knew every word of every song. So well, in fact, it would have made sense to drop one of the more turgid acts on the bill and let them play for longer.

Meanwhile, more photos from Saturday are turning up on Flickr.

pride06.jpg

Drag japes in Sackville Park.

Manchester Pride 08

pride01.jpg

The Cruz bus flaunts its giant flag.

It’s that time of year again as Manchester gives over its city centre to the flamboyant hordes. I was surprised that the afternoon weather—which has been singularly dismal this year—managed to be bright and even slightly warm while the Parade was in progress. Yes it’s August but this summer has seen temperatures struggle to rise above 17ºC and we’ve had continual rain.

pride02.jpg

The Canal Street throng.

After the Parade the Gay Village streets were insanely crowded, too much so, it was impossible to move much of the time. That aside, there was a good atmosphere as there always is in gay crowds. (Or is that just my bias?) Roisin Murphy is playing the main stage on Sunday evening so I may stick around if the weather holds. As I type this it’s raining heavily—again.

pride03.jpg

Numerous drag queens in evidence. And a shirtless guy on stilts

Previously on { feuilleton }
Over the rainbow
London Pride
São Paulo Pride 2006