ARCHITEKTUR: NUMMER ZWEI

For part one of this article see here:

"The International and Deco Styles are the purest and most beautiful of all architectural schools; and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fucking moron."  This quote is attributed to Archie Templar, and was written in that last sentence.  But far from being just the shrill ravings of a self-styled Architecture aficionado this feeling is shared by many lovers of these styles.

On an island whose landscape has been blighted in the last twenty years with the most hideous, ill-conceived and badly built urban dwellings, it is soothing to the soul to know that dotted around the land there are little pockets of architectural beauty, curios of the recent past.  A time when early Modern Architecture gave hope to the idea that perhaps private homes did not have to subscribe to the mundane, pitched-roof, dull grey aesthetic that for some insane reason has become the standard by which all homes are now built.

Below are two fine examples of these styles situated in Foxrock, Dublin.  While these ditzy little drawings really don't do them any justice you can take a 46A bus to a cul-de-sac called Knocksinna and stand outside the houses and wave to the visibly annoyed occupants inside.

FAHANMURA- (2009)

GLENCROE - (2009)

Peep Booths Of Future Past

JASMIN - (2009)

LEARNING IS HARD, AND SHIT...

BUKEWURM - Abandoned/Unfinished titles page (2009) 

The image above almost perfectly captures how I felt when I got to a certain stage with this piece and started scratching my head and wondering, "what next?".

Some images I plan or I don't plan and they work out just fine.
This one didn't know if it needed more or less...

THE FUTILE SPLENDOUR OF THE DIVINE...

Interestingly the words contained in the image above are one of those rare bodies of text that cannot be found by simply entering them into a search engine and hitting "find".  

No, to find these words one must actually open the pages of a specific book based on an opera, namely Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner, which contains these same words printed with ink upon pulped, dried and flattened wood; one must then navigate to an actual page within said tome and then search the sheet upon which these actual words are to be found.

A time-intensive process, it is not to be recommended.

ARCHITEKTUR: NUMMER EINS

Dublin is home to some of the world's ugliest architecture.

Dublin is home to some of the world's most beautiful architecture.

Both of these statements are true; though some would favour the former over the latter and vice versa.
Most people would agree though that Dublin certainly is not a living gallery of architectural beauty, such as the likes of Manhattan, Amsterdam, Bruges or Rothenburg ob der Tauber to name a few.

In Dublin at a street level, navigating amongst the hordes of shoppers and commuters it can be hard to make out any real beauty or see any standout buildings outside of the obvious tourist attractions like the Customs House, Trinity College or The National Gallery for example...

Sometimes you need to stop and take a moment to look up and see your surroundings and it is then that you can really begin to get a sense of the beauty that's hidden in plain sight - buildings that people take for granted going about their day to day business but that are there nonetheless, towering over us but somehow invisible.

The George's Street Arcade building takes up an entire city block but the best views are the facades along South Great George's Street itself.  An intricate masterpiece in redbrick - there is so much superfluous and unnecessary detail here that one quick glance up just isn't enough.

 Number 29 Dame Street, built in 1870, has a stunning facade with hand carved elements that are completely wasted as they sit twenty feet above eye level.

 The former Burton's Store, situated on the corner of Dame Street and South Great George's Street was custom built for the Burton's chain, with the Dublin City branch being completed in 1930.  As with the previous buildings, intricate and superfluous details are what make this building stand out.

At odds with the modern credo of function over form, the buildings overall design could nevertheless be repeated for eighty stories as it forms the perfect lines for a decorative skyscraper, in this authors humble opinion.

CYBORGASM!

CYBORGASM - Digitised OptiBooth® HoloFoto® taken in 2045

This picture was/will be taken in 2045 - It is a future that predicts that no matter how wrong the human race gets it, we will still make time for the rehabilitation of human beings that have suffered the indignity of gross mutilation and even early death, by way of cybernetic prosthesis and AI.  Viva AfterlLife®2.0!

COURAGEOUS COVER!

Creating the cover to National Tragedy's COURAGEOUS MAYHEM! was a labour of love - so here is a start to finish from concept to finished piece.  The final piece included logo and text design from Phil Barrett and you can see it here and browse some pages of COURAGEOUS MAYHEM! while you're in the trenches.

Original Sketch A5

Original Pencils A2

Finished Gouache Watercolour

Coloured in Photoshop

Detail