Special Read: Asterios Polyp

My favourite book of the year: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli

Now, I've read a lot of fine books this year and this one just takes the cake. Asterios Polyp is a work more than ten years in the making. It's about a paper architect (one that designs but whose buildings are never constructed) and an arrogant professor.

As a star in his field, he meets a new sculpture instructor at a faculty party and they hit it off. He and Hana are married and they begin their life together. But Asterios's his insistence that the world can be defined in dualities jeopardizes their relationship. Asterios's compulsion to see everything as black and white is just his instinct, however. The protagonist is an identical twin; his brother Ignazio died at birth and Asterios cannot help but wonder how his brother, the narrator, would have done things differently.

I'm not even scratching the surface here ... and all there is is surface in this book. Mazzuchelli's epic work is mostly only about form here: how do we express our realities and consciousness to one another to create meaning? But it is explored through a truthful depiction of family, gender, and sex.

His telling of Hana's story is beautiful, unforgettable, and so true.

I read this book and then I read it again. That's something I can't say about Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware, my other favourite graphic novel and a strong parallel of Asterios. I love Ware's work. It fascinates me. It's clearly the work of a mad genius. It's sad and rich and complex. But it's also frustrating and difficult to read. These are all qualities that make me love Ware's work but I think that's where it differs so much from this book.

Asterios Polyp is simple to read but certainly complex. Mazzuchelli's use of colour (blue for Asterios, red for Hana, purple instead of black for outlines and shadows) is enough material for a Doctoral thesis. There is something to be said for the way that Mazuchelli refined the narrative into a simple story of a man finding redemption while skillfully infusing a meditation on meaning, expression, commerce, and art into the pages.

A fine achievement. Now, go read it.

Not for Kids

The Guggenheim and Fallingwater in LEGO. Press Release and Product Page (it's such a tease!).

Merci, M. Saint Laurent

While in San Francisco, I stopped by the YSL Retrospective at the De Young Museum (a spectacular, dystopic building, by the way, designed by Swiss Firm Herzog & de Meuron), the only US stop for this stunning exhibition. We were truly lucky to be able to take in 120+ accessorized outfits, including that creepy knitted wedding dress from 1965, an original Le Smoking, and those iconic wool jersey, Mondrian-inspired shift dresses. The exhibit was inspiring. I overheard women talking about the first time they saw some of the fashions and how truly groundbreaking it was at the time - it's not just fashion myth! YSL revolutionized women's fashion.

And then I watched Project Runway Canada , and a member of a team assigned to create a couture collection inspired by YSL had no idea who the designer was. Fortunately, Iman gave him a tongue lashing and declared that he "descrated" the house of YSL with his design. (Heidi Klum would never say such a thing.)

So, lest his name be forgotten by more young folks, I want to remember M. Saint Laurent tonight with these striking pictures by Hedi Slimane:

"World renown fashion designer Hedi Slimane took a visit to the Yves Saint Laurent home back in November of 2008. Playing a major role in the relaunch of YSL Rive Gauche Homme, Slimane shares a well documented history with the famous Fashion house tracing back to his stint as Art Director. Of course, he is also well known for his time spent at Christian Dior until his departure in 2007. We now get a look at some of his photographic work from the latter part of 2008 capturing YSL’s partner Pierre Berge in his Parisian residence."

--hypebeast

Beijing is Burning!

This brand-new building designed by Rem Koolhaas went up in flames yesterday. This unconventionally shaped tower houses the Beijing Mandarin Oriental hotel, which was yet to open. It is a part of the TVCC complex, which also houses the very oddly shaped China Central Television headquarters. It is reported that the hotel tower exploded with flames as revelers set off fireworks celebrating the end of Chinese New Year.

An interesting twist on the story has emerged in recent hours, however, regarding coverage of the event in Chinese media(from HuffPo/Reuters):

According to the Shanghai-based site [Shanghaiist], the Chinese government sent notices to various news sources and sites in the mainland in an attempt to control the online coverage of the event. The notice demanded that news outlets cease posting photographs and videos and to only publish details consistent with the official state media report. The notice can be found at chinaSmack, an English-language China news blog.

The chinaSmack site notes that television coverage of the fire was virtually non-existent and that China's bigger sites, such as Sina were made to pull photographs off the Web.

My friend Herman is in Beijing... maybe he has something say about this. Or not, possibly because the gov't has already removed his assuredly investigative report. Why do I suspect this might be happening? In past months, the great Firewall of China was very good at interrupting our skype conversations, eliminating profanity and some vaguely democratic musings. Perhaps I should have resorted to "frak" a la Battlestar Galactica to better communicate my frustration. "Their Own Worst Enemy" by James Fallows for The Atlantic (November 2008) sums things up nicely, though only tangentially related.

And then here is an analysis from the ever enlightening blogosphere:

"I'm not scared, the fire has not spread to the Big Underpants yet!"

If you are still reading, you may also appreciate this virtual tour of the (former) building:

Mammoth Architecture

In Part II of Phaidon's bid to define architecture, they have published the sequel to The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture. Their editors have produced an 800-page knockout with 4600 photos and diagrams of the best architecture from the past 9 years. Who knew so much building (exactly 1037 "exemplary buildings") was going on all over the world in such a short time? How big will this book be in 50 years?

Phaidon also created a great site to get you hooked, with a limited preview of the book. Here's what's packed inside:

"This collection of key buildings has been chosen through a rigorous selection process involving a panel of expert advisors with specialist input from each world region. The list includes the work of an emerging generation of architectural stars featured alongside buildings by internationally acclaimed architects. Each building is fully illustrated with drawings and photographs, and described by a short essay. Further information includes key facts such as construction cost, client name, area of the building and geographical coordinates. Cross-referencing between projects enables the user to find other buildings by the same architect included in the book. In addition, a mass of useful information is provided including details of architects' practices and extensive indexes."

I want Phaidon to document my life.