“What A Wonderful World”

This world is something that we need…Imagine!

Axwell, Bob Sinclar, and Featuring singer Ron Carroll

It was and still is a great goal!

Come on and let’s get together. What a wonderful world this would be!

People, Things, Love & Chaos

STAND OUR GROUND: Justice For Trayvon Charity Artwork

From the artist, Tes One:

I created “Stand Our Ground” for people – regardless of race or gender, to stand in solidarity against the injustice this law allows. Adding awareness to the Trayvon Martin tragedy, and aiding his family in their pursuit of justice. All proceeds from the release of “Stand Our Ground” will be donated to the Justice for Trayvon Charity and their advocacy efforts.” – Tes

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Available At: http://1xrun.com/runs/Stand_Our_Ground

Auroville House Of Roger Anger: Merger of Sculpture & Architecture

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an “experimental” township in Viluppuram district in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as “The Mother”) and principally designed by french architect Roger Anger (1923-2008).

Anger’s personal home is an amazing combination between sculpture and architecture. The splendid expression of Auroville’s chief architect Roger Anger breaks the mould of the conventional code of ‘four walls and a roof habitation’. A graduate from the classical ‘Beaux Arts’ in Paris, Roger came to India in 1956.

Home to him and his companion Jacqueline, the house has an incredible timelessness about itself. A product of the 60′s movement in architecture, with Roger’s background as a sculptor, painter, artist, architect, planner and above all a visionary, this house built in the early seventies even today is as contemporary as the day designed.

“Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.”

Between Heaven & Earth — Arango-Marbrisa House By John Lautner

“Lautner’s dwellings took on dramatically new and varied shapes, as he moved toward the central theme of his career — how to use architecture to sublimate the domestic, and to domesticate the sublime,” states Nicholas Olsberg.

John Lautner Arango House / Casa Marbrisa: a modern visionary house! The design of John Lautner’s Arango House is inspired by the natural features of the site, the sense of space, ocean and sky.

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This 1973 icon of mid-century modern, organic architecture is located in Acapulco Mexico and boasts a floor space of 25,000.00 square feet. The house perches on a very steep site overlooking Acapulco Bay. The upper floor, serving as the main living and entertainment area, composes a large open terrace surrounded by a cantilevered moat/railing pool, wide and deep enough to allow for swimming, that seems to overflow into the ocean below, inspiring a feeling of infinite space.

The curved, sloping concrete roof anchors into the hill at one end, then sweeps over the house and the driveway and returns to the hill at the opposite end. The roof rides low on the hill side and high on the Bay side, allowing an encompassing view of the sky and the ocean. The enclosed family room and bedrooms situated on the lower floor, facing the bay, provide elevated landscape with a continuous planter-railing along the edge of the decks.

“When I first visited the site,” says Lautner, “I got the idea to build a large, open terrace so that all you had was the beauty of the Acapulco Bay and the sky and the mountains. You don’t feel you’re in a building at all. You’re out in space. With the beauty of nature.”

Just viewing the house inspires. The curved lines provide the house a fluid feel, like the water that runs along the edges of the terrace or the clouds that embrace it, yet the dominant impression is one of boldness.

This house is the rarest of residencies: a house that is of itself, the environment, and the world expanding beyond… a house with few precursors and few progeny — a house with integrity. And therein lies its boldness, its originality, and its beauty.

My first thought upon seeing it was, “I want my life to be like that.” Bold and fluid. Calm and inspiring. It is a house of means above most and elevated physically above, while open and embracing. The building has a clear purpose, and every part of it works towards that end — without exception, without shame.

The Arango House is more than just an artistic cure for a feeling of aimlessness or of ordinary existence. It is at once both a relaxant and a stimulant — a work of art that not only compels relaxation of mind and spirit but also inspires to live with more passion and to pursue creatively with zeal.

President Obama: To The Good

If everyone honestly assesses the environment President Obama walked into, they will admit he was given a helluva mess to clean up and that he has performed a good job — maybe not how you would prefer, but good.

• He didn’t invade the wrong country to get Bin Laden
• He didn’t land a flotilla of warships to take out the Somali pirates
• He didn’t taint the administration with ethics violations
• He didn’t betray his family with an affair
• He didn’t make the U.S. or the Presidency into a laughingstock
• He didn’t claim “mission accomplished” like some tv serial…
• He just worked his tail off to try and right the ship.

Obama just did what he needed to do… for us all — GOOD JOB, SIR!

A-cero Architects’ House In Somosaquas, Spain

A-cero Architects, Spain, are master designers creating residential works of art for the well-heeled.

And, art is one of an A-cero home owner’s passions in Somosaques/Madrid, so in addition to adorning the garden with large sculptures and exhibiting works of art in the interior, the house is a work of art in itself.

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This exceptional property is located in the heart of Somosaguas, part of the town of Pozuelo de Alarcón, northwest of the Spanish capital. As reflected in its residents’ quality of life, this hamlet is one of the largest and richest in the Madrid region.

This is an area of great beauty, with upland flora of oaks, shrubs, and Carrascal Jarales, among other plant species, something very characteristic of a continental climate.

The 1700 square meter house sits on a plot of 4,100 square meters. Its large size allows indoor spaces to be consistent with the overall property and permits wide spaces with up to 7 meters height at the highest point of a room.

Upon entry, the house clearly shows aggressively stylized forms. Horizontal lines dominate volumes, which are superimposed upon each other, from a partially visible basement, forming layers that appear to emerge naturally from the ground.

The lines outside and inside the house produce sculptural volumes. Art and Architecture have gone hand in hand in this project.

On the ground floor, the main lobby is highlighted, situated beneath a curved canopy that adds a great deal of space, from where the rest of the house spreads out: the living room, dining room, master bedroom suite including a closet and bathroom, gymnasium, indoor pool, kitchen and office.

On the second floor lies a painting studio in a long and curved deck, with plentiful natural light and views. The basement floor is dedicated to leisure and health: game room, locker rooms for the outdoor pool, massage room, theater, wine cellar, gym, storage area, and the service and facilities for the entire dwelling.

Shepard Fairey — Art Antagonism

From 2010: Shepard Fairey Mural Created In Collaboration With NYC Kids At World Financial Center

On May 2, 2010 contemporary artist, graphic designer and illustrator, Shepard Fairey guided over 100 teens from The CityKids Foundation through his artistic process to create a 40-foot mural as an expression of the collective power of young people to change the world.

Accompanying the mural was an exhibit of Fairey’s artwork at the World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery. The exhibit features some of Fairey’s iconic images that depict four socially pressing issues: youth violence, education, environmental protection and human rights.

Fairey has been known amongst pop, graffiti and agit-art fans for many years but became widely known during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, specifically for his Barack Obama “HOPE” poster.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston calls him one of today’s best known and most influential street artists. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Shepard and his message are brilliant!

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Flag Art

Outdoor Mural Art

A Banksy Stained Glass Cathedral Window

As part of MOCA’s “Art In The Streets” Exhibit, graffiti artist Banksy provided panels for school students to tag, the result of which he configured as a stained glass window…

Re-Architecture: Cement Factory Transformed Into Contemporary-Medieval Castle

A former Cement Factory is now the workspace and residence of architect Ricardo Bofill

Some things grow better with age, and in this case, it is a project completed in 1975 and still worth exploration — given global emphasis upon resource conservation and reuse, perhaps now more than ever!

The Cement Factory came to attention in 1973, as an abandoned cement factory partially in ruins, comprised of over 30 silos, underground galleries, and huge engine rooms. Architect Ricardo Bofill bought it and began renovation… or, re-architecture.

He defined the space by demolishing certain structures, cleaning cement, exposing previously concealed structures and creating the landscape architecture by planting varied plants such as eucalyptus, palms, olive trees and cypresses; renovation work lasted nearly two years.

Seduced by elements of contradiction and vagueness of the cement factory space, Bofill preserved the basic structures and modified the original brutality, sculpting it like a work of art.  In the process, surrealistic features arose and gave impression of cathedral and castle windows, turrets, and courtyards. Incorporating several languages from the history of Architecture, all these magical elements stand in the midst of transformed gardens which were once the yard of a cement factory.

Ricardo Bofill currently lives and works in The Cement Factory, as it is the one place he can concentrate, think in the most abstract manner, and create projects with the unique vocabulary of his architecture.

“To be an architect means to understand space, to understand space organized by man, to decipher the spontaneous movements and behavior of people, and to detect the needs of change that they might unconsciously express. It is essential to track down these issues if we want to contribute with our personal work to the history of architecture.” Ricardo Bofill