http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001893316_visarts02.html
By Matthew Kangas
Special to The Seattle Times
"Linear Plenum" installation by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo at Suyama Space
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Two exhibitions this month deal with imaginary architectural spaces. They challenge us to explore the relationships between art and architecture. "Linear Plenum" at Suyama Space is an installation of 19,000 suspended strings by a small architectural firm, Lead Pencil Studio, comprising Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo. New York artist Steven Yamin has sent 17 prints and drawings to Davidson Galleries that are isometric projections of complicated building structures. Each show presents an opposite approach to the experience of architecture. The former is completely open and accessible; the latter is sealed off and unattainable.
Han, 36, and Mihalyo, 33, are going far beyond any traditional built structures. The results are exhilarating, if temporary. The pair, trained at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts, spent more than six weeks researching, preparing and installing "Linear Plenum" in the spacious skylit area. Stapled closely together on the high ceiling, the strings create a see-through forest of green and white lines that viewers are free to walk through.
Exhibit reviews
"Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo (Lead Pencil Studio)," 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, through April 30, Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave., Seattle (206-256-0809 or 206-684-7312).
"Steven Yamin," 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Tuesdays-Saturdays, through May 1, Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle (206-624-7684 or www.davidsongalleries.com).
In the process of such a stroll, aspects of buildings are alluded to: how much space a structure takes up; how we experience the height, width and depth of a room; and how available daylight combines with artificial light to affect how we see.
As shimmeringly beautiful as the installation is, it's far from original. Prominent American craft artists like Gerhardt Knodel, Rebecca Medel and Larry Kirkland have been using suspended colored strings in architectural interiors for the past two decades. Even so, Han and Mihalyo bring a welcome simplicity, if not austerity, to their enterprise.
Try walking on the perimeter paths first, and then carefully proceed through the flowing filaments. The sketchy, provisional nature of the idea - materials filling a space - becomes very real as the strings touch one's body.
Steven Yamin
Completely theoretical as far as physical access to a designed space goes, Yamin's prints and drawings are so tiny (some two inches square) that the viewer is transported into an imaginary state. Other artists have been here before Yamin, of course. Like Han and Mihalyo, he's adding to an existing tradition, in his case, the fantasy prisons of 18th-century Italian printmaker and architect Giovanni Piranesi or proposals by 20th-century visionaries like R. Buckminster Fuller and M.C. Escher.
GENE MCVARISH / COURTESY OF DAVIDSON GALLERIES
Steven Yamin's "#61," intaglio/stencil on paper.
Most of Yamin's prints average 17 inches square, so there's more of a chance for the eye to wander into the many layers of would-be buildings. One looks down into them from an aerial viewpoint and tries to mentally walk through their puzzlelike hallways.
Yamin, 58, is also toying with the convention of architectural studies and preparatory drawings. Contractors and construction-site managers will love Yamin's visual "instructions" and, if they don't tear their hair out in the process, they will appreciate his stylish spoofs of building plans.
Exquisitely colored with some additions of gold and silver inks, Yamin's "Projects" ultimately stand as beautiful limited-edition prints. Examples are on view from 1980 to the present. Included in museum collections in London, New York and Paris, Yamin is an increasing subject of serious interest and has exhibited widely in Asia and the U.S. as well.
Pay close attention to "#61" (2003), a diamond-shaped print of great complexity. Like the others, it uses pale red, yellow and blue inks to accentuate volumes. Intricate grid patterns and black lines provide a background for imaginary structures such as walkways, ramps, elevator shafts, stairways and facades.
Just when the image presented seems most feasible or buildable, the artist pulls back and shifts dimensions onto an improbable or impossible plane. Lifted up into a completely fantastical realm, this is the precise point when they cease to be architectural studies and firmly exist as art.
--
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By Matthew Kangas
Special to The Seattle Times
"Linear Plenum" installation by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo at Suyama Space
E-mail this article
Print this article
Search archive
Two exhibitions this month deal with imaginary architectural spaces. They challenge us to explore the relationships between art and architecture. "Linear Plenum" at Suyama Space is an installation of 19,000 suspended strings by a small architectural firm, Lead Pencil Studio, comprising Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo. New York artist Steven Yamin has sent 17 prints and drawings to Davidson Galleries that are isometric projections of complicated building structures. Each show presents an opposite approach to the experience of architecture. The former is completely open and accessible; the latter is sealed off and unattainable.
Han, 36, and Mihalyo, 33, are going far beyond any traditional built structures. The results are exhilarating, if temporary. The pair, trained at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts, spent more than six weeks researching, preparing and installing "Linear Plenum" in the spacious skylit area. Stapled closely together on the high ceiling, the strings create a see-through forest of green and white lines that viewers are free to walk through.
Exhibit reviews
"Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo (Lead Pencil Studio)," 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, through April 30, Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave., Seattle (206-256-0809 or 206-684-7312).
"Steven Yamin," 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Tuesdays-Saturdays, through May 1, Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle (206-624-7684 or www.davidsongalleries.com).
In the process of such a stroll, aspects of buildings are alluded to: how much space a structure takes up; how we experience the height, width and depth of a room; and how available daylight combines with artificial light to affect how we see.
As shimmeringly beautiful as the installation is, it's far from original. Prominent American craft artists like Gerhardt Knodel, Rebecca Medel and Larry Kirkland have been using suspended colored strings in architectural interiors for the past two decades. Even so, Han and Mihalyo bring a welcome simplicity, if not austerity, to their enterprise.
Try walking on the perimeter paths first, and then carefully proceed through the flowing filaments. The sketchy, provisional nature of the idea - materials filling a space - becomes very real as the strings touch one's body.
Steven Yamin
Completely theoretical as far as physical access to a designed space goes, Yamin's prints and drawings are so tiny (some two inches square) that the viewer is transported into an imaginary state. Other artists have been here before Yamin, of course. Like Han and Mihalyo, he's adding to an existing tradition, in his case, the fantasy prisons of 18th-century Italian printmaker and architect Giovanni Piranesi or proposals by 20th-century visionaries like R. Buckminster Fuller and M.C. Escher.
GENE MCVARISH / COURTESY OF DAVIDSON GALLERIES
Steven Yamin's "#61," intaglio/stencil on paper.
Most of Yamin's prints average 17 inches square, so there's more of a chance for the eye to wander into the many layers of would-be buildings. One looks down into them from an aerial viewpoint and tries to mentally walk through their puzzlelike hallways.
Yamin, 58, is also toying with the convention of architectural studies and preparatory drawings. Contractors and construction-site managers will love Yamin's visual "instructions" and, if they don't tear their hair out in the process, they will appreciate his stylish spoofs of building plans.
Exquisitely colored with some additions of gold and silver inks, Yamin's "Projects" ultimately stand as beautiful limited-edition prints. Examples are on view from 1980 to the present. Included in museum collections in London, New York and Paris, Yamin is an increasing subject of serious interest and has exhibited widely in Asia and the U.S. as well.
Pay close attention to "#61" (2003), a diamond-shaped print of great complexity. Like the others, it uses pale red, yellow and blue inks to accentuate volumes. Intricate grid patterns and black lines provide a background for imaginary structures such as walkways, ramps, elevator shafts, stairways and facades.
Just when the image presented seems most feasible or buildable, the artist pulls back and shifts dimensions onto an improbable or impossible plane. Lifted up into a completely fantastical realm, this is the precise point when they cease to be architectural studies and firmly exist as art.
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html