Edward Cella Art & Architecture is proud to present the work of two visionaries in the fields of architecture and urban planning: R. Buckminster Fuller and Hans Hollein, at the FOG Design + Art Fair in San Francisco. Recognizing the fair’s pioneering spirit and bold hybrid approach as a platform of contemporary design on the West Coast, ECAA’s fifth year at the fair highlights it’s unique interdisciplinary position with an exclusive presentation of historic architectural drawings and objects. Gathering several new architectural estates for this curated project, ECAA is honored to debut drawings by Hans Hollein among its deep roster of celebrated architects and designers.
Mapping a transformation of Post-war to Postmodern sensibilities in 20th Century architecture, ECAA exhibit at FOG will include the work of Fuller and Hollein within context of work by Tado Ando, Douglas Darden, Jiminez Lai (of Bureau Spectacular), Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Paolo Soleri, Sergei Tchoban, and Lebbeus Woods, among others. Together, the collection of rare original drawings, models and objects presents ideas for systems of habitation and patterns of development that suggest new urban models made possible through innovative technologies and design.
The inspiration for the exhibit is the work of R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) who was a widely recognized architect, systems theorist, and inventor, popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth” in his effort to transform deeply ingrained patterns of development and building forms. ECAA will present prints from a limited-edition portfolio entitled Inventions: Twelve Around One, which offers graphic representation of his innovative building systems and patented inventions for housing and transportation and is considered an overview of his life-work. Accompanying these will be two small-format, stainless steel sculptures which model the development of his Tensegrity structures.
ECAA is also proud to present, for the first time, a collection of early drawings of Stadtstrukturen (City Structures) by the Pritzker Prize winning architect Hans Hollein (1934-2014). Born in Vienna, Austria, Hollein came to the United States and was transformed through his studies at Illinois Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley. Of additional influence were personal encounters with Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, and his travels across the United States (most famously visiting all of the American towns named “Vienna”).
Hollein created a series of proposals for new typologies of urban structures circa 1960 that offered an advancement of Le Corbusier’s concept of architecture as an object in the landscape. Trained first as an artist, Hollein assimilated the nascent aesthetic investigations of Pop Art and Land Art into his futuristic city structures, consequently documenting his earliest engagements with the vast American landscape. In relation to Austria, Hollein described California as having "a fascinating phenomenon, a realization of a new approach, of a new spirit”. Over his lifetime, Hollein would expand this body of research into photomontages and other investigations which, as cited by the Jury of the Pritzker Prize, incorporate a “wit and eclectic gusto [which] draws upon the traditions of the New World as readily as upon those of the Old.”
Returning to Vienna in 1964, Hollein emerged as an architect, artist, educator, and urban planner, and would establish his practice as a vocal critic of Functionalism, famously uttering, “Form does not follow function.” These beliefs were reflected in his early commercial commissions in Vienna for the Retti Candle Shop and the Jewellery Store Schullin. Although these commercial stores were considered unconventional commissions for an aspiring architect, they would garner international recognition for Hollein’s inventive use of materials and a unique, contemporary sense of Viennese opulence.
In addition to running his own architectural firm, Hollein’s writings and work as an editor allowed him to disseminate his ideas in such publications as Bau magazine, Arquitecturas Bis, Bauen und Wohnen, Space Design (Japan), Kunst und Kirche, Architectural Forum, and Progressive Architecture. Moreover, Hollein’s work has been exhibited at institutions around the world, including the National Art Museum of China, the Centre Georges Pompidou in France, and the Venice Biennial. His works can be found in several public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Fondación Miró, Barcelona, Spain; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; The Art Institute Chicago; The Minneapolis Institute of Art; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; The National Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; and the Getty Research Institute.
