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10/24/2005: "A whole playground of playhouses..."
Last time I wrote to you it was about a playhouse inspired by Gaudi.
I asked why not build a Picasso playhouse?
A Miro playhouse?
A Matisse playhouse?
Do you know the Austrian painter Hunderdwasser?
A Hundredwasser playhouse would be great fun.
And a Salvador Dali playhouse?
Ed Baron from Baron Conservancy in Wonder Valley near desert oasis city of Twenty Nine Palms, a few miles east of Los Angeles wrote:
"Can't you just see a whole playground of Playhouses? What a wonderful art project. It would certainly tie in with our purpose of preserving Art and Human Nature. Perhaps volunteers will agree to come erect them at the Baron Conservancy?"
First I asked Ed Baron if he was serious?
He answered: OF COURSE I AM SERIOUS.
In order to describe this project to sponsors I have designed a number of new playhouses inspired by the great masters.
Pablo Picasso
I do love very many of Picasso's works.
Once I visited New York I was at MOMA.
In my photo album there is this amazing photo of one of my sons and the Picasso She Goat.
The She Goat is a fairy tale character in the fairy tale "The Baby Carriage and the Sleep Sheep", too.
A staircase up to the door and two windows.
The playhouse you can see to the left.
Leonardo da Vinci
Everybody knows Leonardo da Vinci. Everybody knows da Vinci's masterpiece at le Louvre in Paris.
I have been in Paris a couple of times, last time to see Biblioteque Forney, where they have a collection of my posters.
But I have to visit Mona each time.
This time you were allowed to photo her.
As I returned home I made the Colorful Mona Collection.
You can have Mona in a canvas, in a paper cut-out and now in a playhouse version.
The height is supposed to be 15 feet.
Andy Warhol
I have seen Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans here and there. At AROS Museum of modern art in Aarhus, Denmark I saw an original.
The height is supposed to be 18 feet.
Michelangelo
I saw his renaissance fresco "Creation of Adam" (1508-1512), which is a part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling decoration in the Vatican Museums in Rome. In my opinion God's right hand and Adam's left hand are the essentials of the fresco motif.
I have worked with these two hands in various contexts.
Now these two hands have become a playhouse design.
The height is supposed to be 15 feet.
Salvador Dali
Since I saw Dali's soft watches for the first time I have been fascinated by them.
He was crazy. Really crazy.
I met his son in Rome, we exhibited at the same place, he was a nice, humorous fellow painting nice aqua color motifs from his home city Venice, Italy.
"Like father like son" proved wrong.
The soft watch became the roof of a playhouse.
Height 9 feet.
Christo
Christo Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon are famous for wrapping buildings.
Here a playhouse is wrapped in green and with a blue string.
Height: 10 feet.
Vincent van Gogh
Playhouse inspired by Vincent's chair.
Height: 21 feet.
Joan Miró
I sent all the above designs and a design of a Miró playhouse to Copy-Dan to clear intellectual rights (Copyrights).
All the above have been cleared, but my Miró playhouse was made with a gable painting that was too close to Miró.
A question to the blog readers about something else:
Editorial Croquis, which is a printed art magazine and a publishing company in Buenos Aires has run some of my articles about art museums in Spanish.
The director and editor of Editorial Croquis Martin Enriques Gil has asked me to write a book "The Museums of the World by Asbjorn Lonvig", published by Editorial Croquis in Danish, Portuguese, Spanish and English.
And I have answered: I'll do it, I'll find out how.
We need a sponsor for this project.
Do you have any suggestions??
Replies: 16 Comments
on Sunday, November 13th, marta m. t. herman said
Dear Asbjorn, Your idea of the playhouses seems to have sprouted wings - I definitely think that children should have a hand in designing them - otherwise, it becomes a plaything for a mature artist to simply use the 'themes' of well known artists to create a design - it has a rather commercial feeling to me.
However if children from all over the world were to design houses - from their imagination - including in them all the things they thought important and say they were brought together for a month with their parents in tow to create this 'Park'...somewhere in the world (perhaps in a desert) now that would be a very interesting sight to behold and it would reveal so much about the state of the world in which we find ourselves. It would also create good will and bring the future artists of the world together as well.
on Monday, November 7th, jiimi said
i really rate the idea of a playground of play houses
on Saturday, November 5th, Sean Adams said
Cool site! I'll be back. my parents didnt told me about it: http://www.sun.com , think that will make relief , thins that excited you at 14
on Thursday, October 27th, paul said
Asbjorn,how about answering my question about dali's kids?
on Wednesday, October 26th, wendy jean hyde said
hey Asbjorn, i really like the Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans just as is. i mean, let's see some paintings and some real (roll up your sleeves) drafting for these. "measure twice, cut once" i'm also interested in how the structure will relate to the landscape. do you really want to do this? if you do, i'd be excited to see the planning just as much as the final piece. Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Christo brought the surroundings into context of there work and they leave lovely documentation along the way. will the surroundings be also part of your work? i see your photo of the playhouse at top and the tree on the left is wavy in a similar way to the edges of the structure. nice.
on Tuesday, October 25th, jordan Gunnels said
hey why dont u make a contest for the whole state of wy and see who can come up with the most outragous playhouse and add that on to your website here.
on Tuesday, October 25th, Seth Atkinson said
The play house are cool.
on Tuesday, October 25th, gabriella said
Hyacinthe; "Bastardize" may be too harsh a term to describe what Asbjorn is doing with these playhouses. How about "variations on...", a kindlier and more accurate way of describing what are really plays on types of imagery?
I myself see this type of museum style construction of possibilities only possible in North America. After all throughout the world there are children living in shanty-towns constructed of the most unexpected and discarded materials. "Playhouses" are such a Disneyfied concept, why not a series of installations of recreated Shanty-houses from all over the world at the Baron Conservancy, which would showcase how real children all over the world experience "house" or "abode"? Not so much a showcase of what might be possible, but an expose of what is actual?
on Tuesday, October 25th, gabriella said
Hyacinthe; "Bastardize" may be too harsh a term to describe what Asbjorn is doing with these playhouses. How about "variations on...", a kindlier and more accurate way of describing what are really plays on types of imagery?
I myself see this type of museum style construction of possibilities only possible in North America. After all throughout the world there are children living in shanty-towns constructed of the most unexpected and discarded materials. "Playhouses" are such a Disneyfied concept, why not a series of installations of recreated Shanty-houses from all over the world at the Baron Conservancy, which would showcase how real children all over the world experience "house" or "abode"? Not so much a showcase of what might be possible, but an expose of what is actual?
on Tuesday, October 25th, Asbjorn Lonvig said
Dear Hyacinthe Baron,
Bastardise?
In my view it's an honour to have your work turned into playthings.
I obviously have to look for another place for realization of this idea.
Sincerely,
Asbjorn Lonvig
on Tuesday, October 25th, Margaret Stone said
Well, Asbjorn, we are stretching your playhouse idea now aren’t we and Andrew and Hyacinthe, having children design the playhouses is an interesting idea. What crossed my mind was the possibility of putting out a call to schools. Groups of children within a school could design a playhouse. How schools would be chosen or how it would be organized, I don’t know. Could entries be juried? Or not. This is not my area of expertise--the methodology of such things. However, it is even conceivable that the school or an organization local to the school could fund the house being constructed in the desert. Could be a media event. Just a thought, spinning out on an idea.
on Tuesday, October 25th, Hyacinthe Baron said
To begin the goat sculpture sits in the Museum of Modern Art and it was always with great pleasure that my young son and I would go to there to "Play the Goat." The nails that projected when pinged would create a variety of sounds.
To me the idea of Playhouses based on Architectural examples is exciting. To bastardize artist's works by turning them into playthings, well that goes against my grain. It is like putting reproductions of art on sweatshirts, or carry-on bags. Then there was the framer who cut into mats and painted them because he thought the picture should be "extended."
No, I would prefer playhouses based on the original designs of living artists and architects. I would prefer to hear from the children what their visions are for their playhouses.
I would like to see a Lilliputian playground out in the middle of the desert. There is an act of creation that would inspire creativity in all involved.
I am thinking that there might even be a section in the ART AND HUMAN NATURE COLLECTION, Literary and Art Book of new and fresh conceptions for an imaginary art work that could someday become a reality.
We are working on plans for conceptual structures for the Earthwork in progress at the Baron Conservancy. Those will be posted on the www.barongallery.com website.
And of course all these concepts lead to sponsorship not only for the actual building but support for living, breathing, working artist.
on Tuesday, October 25th, Margaret Stone said
Asbjorn, a great idea--an idea that could have a lot of creative spinoffs. I think playhouses in the desert would be surreal. How about one by Gustav Klimt. Complete with touches of gold leaf to reflect the desert sun..........
on Tuesday, October 25th, jose said
Asbjorn, a great idea in motion. Andrew's idea to get kids involved is worthwhile considering. can't help much on the financial side or finding sponsors but if you ever need a translator for the portuguese version i'll be here (free of charge as long as it's not a 300lb megabook). have to confess i didn't know Gala had given Dali children either. Hundertwasser's work, ideas and interventions are amazing and i have to admit, sadly, that like Paul, i didn't hear of him until the mid-90's, when, i believe, he had already moved to new zealand.
on Tuesday, October 25th, Andrew said
Hi Asbjorn,
It's nice to see you jumping on the case and following up on what has happened to one of your ideas. There is room here for infinite variations, and I think it might even be interesting to get a group of kids together and have them study just one artist...and then come up with their own designs for a playhouse done using that artist's themes. It's about finding a reason to enjoy the learning you do, having a task that to accomplish, you're going need what you've learned. Learning is for some boring and tedious, because you don't have an immediate need for the things you are taught. The playhouse ideas all give that to the kids in one way or another. You've made learning fun!
on Tuesday, October 25th, paul said
Asbjorn,I never knew salvador had any kids,if he did,he kept that one quiet.
I like the playhouses, very good. I will ask my daughters later what they think of them.Also I am an artist who prided themself about knowing every artist,but I never heard of Hundredwasser,until I met my wife who was amazed Id not heard of him,although I had seen his work around for years without really registering it,but he's not really promoted abroad,I dont think.
