starving architect:

“you can be confident and secure and know that you do a good job at what you do. but you don’t know to be arrogant about it.”        —Ruben Studdard

“confidence is 10% hard work and 90% delusion.”        —Tina Fey

if at any point the architect exudes a personality of confidence, do not be fooled. the artist has merely painted a facade.

artful leadership

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.”

—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

“Faith in the ability of a leader is of slight service unless it be united with faith in his justice.”

—George Goethals (1858-1928)

“The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence.”

—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888)

There are times when, as the architect, nominations for leadership arise. It can be hard not too be prideful, considering why one’s peers deem one worthy of leadership, but one’s pride is perhaps not the reason a nomination was given. Most often one is nominated because others are afraid to be the leader themselves. It is, perhaps, easier to be a soldier than a general.

architectural love

“In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.”

—Pliny the Elder (23 AD - 79 AD)

“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.”

—Ursula K. LeGuin

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

—Voltaire (1694-1778)

“Love is everything it’s cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.”

—Erica Jong, O Magazine, February 2004

The heart fuels the mind, while the mind keeps the heart alive.

The artist always falls in love before the architect. The artist falls in love with the subject, finding a love that inspires work, creation, imagination; the architect falls in love with the work, always worried that any other love might prove too distracting.

The architect cuts out ‘unnecessary’ distractions, never realizing, perhaps, that such distractions, particularly those involving love, human love, only foster a deeper passion for life and an excited inspiration to produce great work, or to work greatly.

The balance, then, comes in realizing how to be both an architect and an artist. Is either love greater? This is relatively uncertain, but people are often more permanent than buildings. A building does not reciprocate matters of the heart, but serves only as a reflection of the passion, the love, of the architect.

Perhaps this is why so many fall in love with work, as in its muted reciprocation, it does not possess the ability to hurt—failure is not the fault of the building, the architectural product, and the architect has only to blame himself. But what is love without risk, without the possibility of being hurt, without one putting everything on the line for an uncertainty that might fail, but might be greater than the artist ever imagined.

This architect is naive; this artist is idealistic.

falling upwards

“The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn’t commit when he had the opportunity.”

—Helen Rowland (1876-1950), A Guide to Men, 1922

“When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”

—Bernard Bailey

“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.”

—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”

—James Branch Cabell (1879-1958), The Silver Stallion, 1926

Falling upwards is an interesting phenomenon, as it may be assumed that one cannot see where they will end up as they might when falling downwards. Life is, perhaps, then a series of ‘up-falls’, or a singular falling-up, in which a parachute will do no good. It’s better not to have regrets when one knows there isn’t a cord to pull, and better to cherish time spent in the clouds, rushing towards the heavens, the cosmos, then fearing a ground that becomes more clear on approach.

Taking a trip, a fall, without a known end can be exhilarating, considering the possibilities of the end result, assuming there is a result, are virtually endless and cannot be predicted in all their variations. This is, perhaps, why art is so seductive in comparison to architecture. The architect wants to know what the product is, what it will be or become, whereas the artist has more freedom in exploring what leads to the product, with the process becoming that which is considered the final piece—art.

Yet, there is often confusion when a project is proposed with an unknown end. Why must the unknown always be feared when its possibilities might be cherished?

A rambling conversation, really. But the artist certainly likes to ask questions, and the architect occasionally has answers.

silent space

“In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity.”

—Meister Echkhart

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”

—Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

“Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting with the gift of speech.”

—Simonides (556 BC - 468 BC)

That moment when one desperately grabs for the words that moments before fluttered from their lips. Such a disappointment, to know that once something has been heard, not said, it may never be forgotten. For the words that are spoken but never heard are merely secrets lost to the wind.

Perhaps it is easier to speak through paintings, poetry, buildings, space. Then again, one is oft to misunderstand the words of another, especially when they are simply hanging on the wall, are the wall, without the presence of their origin.