La Grande Ruche – drawings (2010)

acrylic on mitsumata tissue, 120″h x 120”w

La grande ruche reflects an ongoing exploration of the beehive metaphor in architecture, with connections between the ideological, political and artistic spin-offs of the beehive, ecology, and animal husbandry.

My current interest is in the work and ideas of utopian architects such as Gaudi, Olmstead, Le Corbusier, Walter Burley Griffin, Frank Lloyd Wright etc. It has been suggested that it was their observations of bees and beehives as a model or blueprint for utopian communities, and their use of natural forms, coupled with geometry, that rendered their work both intricate and alive. Specifically, Canberra, Australia designed by Burely Griffin and Le Corbusier’s “primitive hut” have inspired this investigation of beehive imagery.

La ruche is my contemplation of the hive as architectural model.

Selected Essays –Excerpts from a conversation & Miner for a Heart