Having spent many years studying art and being fortunate to visit many galleries; it seems, however, one artist eluded my studies. I recently came across a work by Maxfield Parrish of whom I knew of his name but not of his works in detail. I was awe struck by the beauty of “The Lantern Bearers” as Coy Ludwig, a leading Parrish scholar, described 'The Lantern Bearers' as “a stellar example of Maxfield Parrish's remarkable ability to combine imaginative design and dazzling technique to create an eye-catching and immediately appealing composition.” Perhaps the piece caught my eye because Parrish’s works are as uniquely dimensional in color as they are flat in an almost medieval conveyance. The flat imagery beckons the viewer to look closely and dare to find a frivolous brushstroke or a hidden meaning behind any one of the lantern bearers that bare the same likeness to one another. Yet one does not find any stroke without intent. Perhaps it is the bold juxtaposed artistry of solid blocks of monochromatic subject colorways that are then given strength by well defined outlines and background color saturation that in many ways brands the work as architectural, fresh and modern. I find this painting fascinating and more over, the choice to draw the viewer in by the use of captivating illuminated simple subjects & structures such as the ‘paper lantern’ verses a painted urn of amassed treasures overflowing or of a predictably placed bowl of ripe fruit… simplicity & functionality at their best is explored and presented amazingly over 100 years ago. Painted in 1908. Image below: http://masterpieceart.net/maxfield-parrish/
Today, the ‘paper lantern’ still retains a mystical quality that can define a space or an event with little expense spared. Illuminate the paper inside and a world of intrigue takes over. Even though we are in the age of emerging “Starchitects”, who are dreaming and building heights nearing the heavens, much can be learned from the basic formation and shape of paper construction and form. From the wasp's masterful nest to 3-D printing in M.I.T.'s labs, simplicity of form and ways in which to construct design ideas digitally has become the springboard of new model making in the 21st century and eventually construction. Image below: Todd Baker, Flicker
Centuries old practices can seem nouveau when lanterns illuminate a path. Regardless of the ability to comprehend the text, there seems a reverence to the simplistic form and ‘Less is More’ approach to the lantern’s design. Below: paper lanterns light a wagon on the night before gion matsuri in kyoto Source: www.fecielo.com
Effortless adaptation of form has made the paper lantern not only a mainstay hundreds of years later but a novelty as fascination surrounding it’s fundamental success continues to draw onlookers and willing participants.
In the above image, the paper lantern has reduced it components to a form of intermingled strips. The overall re-interpretation has produced an effect that has modernized the lantern while adding 20th century flashback chic.
Massimilano Fuksas of Italy designed the Zenith Strasbourg Music Hall of Fame in France below, which mimics the beauty of a paper lantern in form and intrigue. Skylights provide day lighting and connect the outdoors with the indoor. While the structure accommodates massive indoor seating, there is a lightness and a melodic sense one gets from the insightful architecture which beautifully supports the program & purpose-a music venue.
Below, Vodafone’s head office in Portugal is another structure that explores the play of architecture as a wrapped structure vs. solid form. The white exterior ‘gauze effect’ stretched around the irregular shape becomes a beacon of interest. Inside, the interior spaces/nooks created by the building form give the designer a challenge while at the same time an exciting forum on which to plan innovative contemporary work environments. Images: http://www.bandwidthblog.com/2011/09/14/inside-vodafone-portugal-office-photos/
Environments influenced by the ‘paper lantern’ have given rise to temporary art installations that push the envelope in spatial experience and size. The image below is of the Paper Lantern festival in Japan. Numerous sizes and resemblances of objects were represented-all illuminated and exhibited for the public to experience. Image below: www.neverendingvoyage.com-paper
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It would seem that there is a parallel between Buckminster Fuller and the new shift in exploring temporary installations, new building forms and interior support structure in general. Fuller's infamous ‘Geodesic Dome’ in many ways was like the ultimate paper lantern. Able to stand alone yet appearing to have the ability to float away at any moment. Structure so simple yet modern and inherently strong.
"Buckminster Fuller’s project aimed to produce a dome with a forty-eight foot diameter, a height of twenty-three feet, and an area of fifteen hundred square feet. It was to weigh less than 270 pounds. The students measured long strips of venetian blinds and computed the tensile strength of each unit. Each strip was coded and the points marked where they would meet.
The class began to connect the points on the strips, but the dome collapsed to the ground when tension was applied during its attempted erection. Fuller had said in advance that it probably wouldn’t hold (the materials weren’t right), but decided nevertheless to go ahead and complete the class project, blithely referring to the experiment’s result as the supine dome.
“Hong Kong-based architects Kristof Crolla (LEAD) and Adam Fingrut (Zaha Hadid) married traditional Chinese craftsmanship and digital design technology in their temporary pavilion, Golden Moon, which won the Gold Award in the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Wonderland last month. The 60-foot-tall structure was built in just 11 days atop a reflection pool in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, proof that “complex geometry can be built at high speed and low cost with the simplest of means,” said Crolla and Fingrut, who sought to rethink digital design by “anchoring the paradigm in a strong materiality.” To create the “fiery flames,” a reference to the Chinese legend of Moon Goddess Chang, Crolla and Fingrut began with a geodesic dome structure made from steel and wrapped it with a bamboo grid made using traditional scaffolding techniques. In this case, however, that “highly intuitive and imprecise craft” was based on an incredibly precise computer generated grid designed to install and bend the bamboo rods into a specialized structure around the steel dome. The dome was then clad with metal wire and a translucent, flexible fabric, two typical paper lantern-making materials, which were then lit up by 10,000 LEDs.” Source: http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/49931