March Medley
Abstract Sculptures, An Interview, and an Update on the Collage Challenge
At my last job, I had the opportunity to explore and curate Ezra Stoller’s images through the Esto Archives for the company’s inspiration tool. I was not familiar with him until I saw his iconic black-and-white photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, Mies Van der Rohe and Phillip Johnson's Seagram Building, and Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal.
Specifically, the interiors of corporate buildings in New York City brought to mind the aesthetic of the series "Mad Men," featuring Jon Hamm as an advertising executive in the 1950s. Browsing through Ezra Stoller's photographs felt akin to strolling through the staged set— a production designer’s dream! Mr. Stoller displayed a meticulous obsession with details, skillfully capturing the contents within drawers and cabinets, furniture and lamps, as well as various types of office equipment like telephones, typewriters, dictaphones, turntables, and more.
After that job stint, I've cultivated a deeper appreciation for modern architecture and design, now noticing details that might have escaped my attention in the past. Such was the case when I ventured into the Mission district this week to meet up with my good friend Sam whom I had not seen in person since we parted ways at Airbnb HQ in late February of 2020, a week before the COVID lockdowns.
I got off the BART train at 16th Street Mission Station and was captivated by the abstract sculptures lining the walls on the escalator bank. The same artists’ work adorned the 24th Street Station where I boarded the train back to the East Bay. Instinctively, I wanted to capture this scene in black and white— a deliberate nod to its modernist aesthetics and Ezra Stoller’s photography. The plaque nearby indicated that the station was completed in 1972 but the name of the artist was left out. A quick search on the internet revealed that it was English Sculptor, William Mitchell, primarily recognized for his large-scale concrete murals and public artworks dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. Once I arrived home, I continued to visit other sites to view the breadth of his work in the UK.
I'm sharing this, dear readers, because many years ago, I had zero interest in architecture. I found it dull, even overlooking this elective course at Brooks. Gradually, my perspective shifted. I found myself developing a liking for it, albeit from the angle of narrating stories about my family. This inclination manifested in two personal projects: Family Spaces and Cubao.
What I learned is this: our tastes do evolve when we maintain an open mind and tune into our curiosity. (I also think maturity factors in, right?)
Speaking of taste,
and I did an interview together last month and I’m excited to share it with you!
Thank you so much for your friendship and for believing in me. I truly appreciate this!
Mia also hosts a wonderful podcast called The Art of Curation (Flipboard). Check it out when you have a moment.
I’m also happy to report that I made it through the end of Februllage 2024 without skipping a day. 29 new collages in 29 days!!
You can view all of them on Instagram.
For those of you who are new to Sundays with Stella, I wrote this post two weeks ago about my third attempt at this collage challenge.
The Third Attempt
The month of February is an exciting time for collage art. Back in 2019, The Edinburgh Collage Collective and the Scandinavian Collage Museum initiated an open submissions project called Februllage encouraging artists to create one collage per day for the entire month: the founders,
Certain word prompts resulted in lukewarm outcomes, while others proved more successful. It became an exercise in recognizing when to conclude iterations and share the collage, regardless of my personal feelings.
"Well, that's the best I can do today," I would acknowledge to myself every evening, attempting my best to release judgment and self-doubt. After all, tomorrow brought another day and another word. A clean slate—a fresh start. It was not always easy but surely, it was a practice of letting go.
So, out of the 29 pieces, here are the top five the collage community enjoyed the most:
5: POPCORN
4: RIVER
3: PLAY
2: REMEMBER
1: CURTAIN
And that’s it for today, dear readers. Substack says I’ve reached maximum capacity. As always, let’s meet each other in the comments section below. Let me know if anything I shared resonated with you.
See you all next Sunday!
Thanks for an enlightening read. I don’t know either Ezra Stoller or William Mitchell but I like what I see!
I love your collage work so much 👍👍👍