LandEscape Art Review | Page 118

Land scape
Stefan Lesueur
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Design Week Portland . The installation was part of a larger event called “ Revolution in the Landscape : Re-Experience Halprin ’ s Fountains ” that was organized by the Society for Experiential Graphic Design in Portland . The event was set as a way to celebrate a sequence of fountains built in downtown Portland in the seventies by Lawrence Halprin . The fountains were designed to mimic the path of a mountain stream , and the general goal was to bring back natural space and form into the urban setting . Luckily enough , I was asked to participate with my own installation along one of the walkways between the two southernmost fountains , and I proceeded to create a work with string . As always , it will be easier to see through the photographs , but I picked out a branch from each tree lining the walkway and created “ walls ” of string which ran along the length of the branches , and from the branches to the ground . The goal of the project was to create an interruption for people in the middle of an otherwise straight path : to direct people to pause and look up along the string to see the trees and study their form . Now , of course , I can ’ t say that everyone had this literal experience , but again , the point is to start a conversation . I spend much of my time wondering about the motion and form of my surroundings and wish to translate that in some way . The Halprin installation provided a great opportunity to do so .
Yes , I would hope so . Again , that ’ s part of the idea of creating a conversation . Though I have my own designs with my work , I hope for people to pull out their own perspective from it and share it . Of course , Obscura has a rather direct call for self-reflection , but it ’ s interesting to consider how Landscapes for Richter does it on a