Oscar Niemeyer’s “Strick” House Los Angeles
I will never be able to get Joan Didion out of my head
Reflections from a life lived
Sometimes I lie in bed with a bit of a panic in my mind. I consider thousands of architectural examples: Why have I traveled to hear them whisper What are my ghosts within telling me?
What were my instructions about photographing a famed Hollywood studio head’s home in Malibu?What is it about me that needed to capture the house that the Japanese Architects “SANNA designed. Why is Oscar Niemeyer always touching my cameras?When I traveled to Los Angeles and Tokyo, I think I found some answers: Joan Didion described what might be the potential murder and mayhem behind the white picket fences. Walter Benjamin once described the centuries of history behind the glass walls of the Parisian Arcades.
My camera needs to define “The Life of a House”.
The Charles Gwathmey Design:
I was given strict orders not to move or touch anything in the home. I wandered to the Malibu beachfront. I marched to the Pacific Coast Highway. It was like smoking a cigar. You need to get a feel and a smell for your moment.
Charles Gwathmey: Hollywood Producer’s Home Malibu California
I entered the house. I measured the degree of interesting wealth. I made aesthetic assumptions that only mattered in the moment. Most importantly, I saw the power of “Charlie’s” design. I made dozens of photographs thinking I was shooting to impress the architect, and the owner of the house.
Most importantly I found my gait. I stepped, strode, and tippy toed from room to room; window to window. I was like Magellan, I was an adventurer discovering the world of Charles Gwathmey for the very first time.
SANNA in Tokyo:
Before SANNA was a celebrated firm, they were merely a whisper among Architecture’s “exclusive”. It was considered a coup for me to have this opportunity to shoot their portrait, and examples of their work.
SANNA designed home in Tokyo
The pressure was in the time of the day. They (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa) were about to leave town (Tokyo) so my clock schedule for the day was in a state of anticipatory shock. They also were about to internationally explode not only into the minds of Architects and fans of such works. They would soon become among the “it” team across the globe.
When I was directed to photograph one of their earliest designs, I thought “hmmm, a house”.
When the rain stopped that afternoon one of their assistants let me out of the car in front of the non descriptive house. The assistant said she would be back in a few hours to pick me up.
The sun appeared. The shadows softened. The color of the light whispered. Joan Didion warned
me to watch out for the unknown; sometimes the simplest of moments can be the most harrowing.
I knocked at the door. Nobody answered. I heard sounds. I walked down and away on one street.
I turned back for one last look. I realized everything in the world of architecture and in the life of this house was beckoning my camera: Texture, narrative and maybe a quiet scream; “I got it” made my photograph. This tiny house was captured in one frame. I will never know if that is all I needed.
Oscar Niemeyer in America:
Oscar Niemeyer designed home Los Angeles California
Oscar’s lone free standing building in North America is a gem. Is it among his best or absurdly beautiful: No. But it is a fabulous cousin to some of his great works. One can easily understand why a few memorable architects like Zaha Hadid and Ma Yansong seemed to have have a touch of the Niemeyer DNA… and follow his tenets across the globe.
When I arrived at the “Strick” home in Los Angeles I felt like Jack Nicholson arriving at the hotel in “The Shining”; Excitement and danger lurked. My mind’s electrolytes lit up.
A lush garden, metal designed spears, and blinding sunlight welcomed me. Yet I had only to that point lifted my body above the eight foot wall. I wanted a sneak preview before my hosts gave me their tour.
Once inside, and after multiple days shooting, I realized after all of my years shooting fabulous buildings, it was the small things that mattered. It was Walter Benjamin whispering; “look, look for the history, look for the story, look for the reflections that will reveal even more if you allow your eyes to bend for the moment.
Listen for Oscar’s ghost”.