Description
Chicago-based artist David Hartt explores how architecture both reveals—and fails to fulfill—the ideals of a given community. Titled after a 1974 book by the architect Moshe Safdie that argues for the social benefits of modular and prefabricated design, these drawings depict the inadequacies of one such project—architect Jean-Louis Chanéac’s 1962 “juxtaposable cellules,” oval pods arranged in organic clusters. On the right, a well-dressed man in a luxurious interior expresses a leftist statement that clashes with his lavish environment.
On the left, a diverse group of citizens protests under the banner of Safdie’s slogan; the subtext is that Chanéac’s spaces are only accessible to the wealthy. Hartt enlisted a professional illustrator to draft these images based on a digital collage he designed himself. He then glazed the drawings using color Plexiglas in the palette of 1960s and 1970s psychedelia, arguably another failed utopian project.
Accession Number
219263
Medium
Inkjet prints (diptych), artist's proof
Dimensions
Each image/paper: 151 × 201 cm (59 1/2 × 79 3/16 in.); frame: 152.5 × 204 × 5.5 cm (60 1/16 × 80 3/8 × 2 3/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by The Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation