Selective Affinities
THE UNDERGROUND PRESS, TAIF CITY, SAUDI ARABIA
Narciso Simeon
Selective Affinities… (And other insignificant interests)
Copyright page 2018 Narciso Simeon All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. THE UNDERGROUND PRESS books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information , please e-mail narcisosimeon@ymail.com or write to Special Sales Department, The Underground Press, 76 Pagal, San Carlos City, Pangasinan, Philippines 2420 This journal was mostly set in Adobe Gothic Std B by the Underground Press. Printed and bound in Saudi Arabia. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Simeon, Narciso. Selective Affinities (and other insignificant interests) / by Narciso Simeon. ISBN- 00: 000-0-000-00000-0 (hard copy: paper) 1. Fine Art -- Study and Teaching. 2. Drawing – Study and Teaching 3. Humanities – Study and Teaching I. Title. II. Title Selective Affinities (and other insignificant interests). XX2000.XX00 2018 000 – 07jan 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Mai, for pushing me hard and making this endeavor possible… I love those moments when you tell me to shut up because I am already thinking too much…
Author’s Note This JOURNAL aims to strengthen the foundation of the creative life by providing starting points upon which the thinking process may thrive. The following lessons in “ideology”, creativity, concepts, and presentation first came to me in the summer of 1987, when I was but an amateur observer and participant of the “charmed life” circle.
Narciso Simeon Winter 2017
Acknowledgments Many thanks to Richard Valerio; Butch Balantac; Fernan Bukid; Rommel Reyes; Isagani Camacho; Norman Caguioa; Gigi Cayanan; Robert Bautista for giving me daily doses of inspiration and sometimes criticisms… To my older sisters ate Elena, Ric, Margie, Prescy and Euly for teaching me how to read and write at an early age, and their countless instructions in life and love; To my nieces Mary, May-ann and Abi for pushing me to my limits thereby achieving higher grounds; To my teachers Leila, Dolly, Jovy for telling me to believe in myself; To my beloved Tess for ever being patient at my side in my eccentricities and To my mother who sowed in my dark soul the value of compassion and self-sacrifice, this work is for you.
Selective Affinities… (And other insignificant interests…)
MASSING SPHERES HATCHING CROSS-HATCHING SCRIBBLING STIPPLING LINES POINTS DOTS…
Actually the first object I learned to draw is the coconut tree near our house…and then the bananas, and then the bamboos, eventually practicing my new-found hobby even up to my early high school days…
Beauty is…
Defined inherently or by the beholder…
Eccentricity is often misunderstood. Sometimes it is the catalyst for delving into the higher order thinking process…
I often think of asymmetrical design as a by-product of eccentricity…
53
Good concepts never run out of good qualities when discussed and deliberated from time to time.
View clockwise…
Geometric shapes or known shapes speak for themselves in terms of direction…
The reason why cubist and juxtaposed figures are always interesting… Or so I thought…
Or abstractions even in building…
Crossing lines and compositions In same manner as abstractions…
Counter actions even in conceptualizations render ideas interesting…as in real life situations…
And poetry…
Shapes, geometry, abstracts…forms…sometimes they derive from the subconscious yearnings of active imaginations
57 Effective presentations of any project is better done verbally accompanied by illustrations…
Then engineer the result… Try this idea…
Shapes are formed by the available methods and processes known to people. Otherwise they engineer…
Traditional…modern…they could come in cycles…
We sometimes confuse traditional to classical designs…but what is really the difference in terms of function and aesthetics?
People sometimes contradict their own ideas… the theory of opposing personalities in one entity…
Why not combine contrasts in one unified idea…
And then confirm your boredom…
Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. (born June 25, 1925) is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures in the twentieth century. Together with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, he helped to shape the way that architects, planners and students experience and think about architecture and the American built environment. Their buildings, planning, theoretical writings, and teaching have also contributed to the expansion of discourse about architecture. Venturi was awarded the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1991; the prize was awarded to him alone, despite a request to include his equal partner Denise Scott Brown. A group of women architects attempted to get her name added retroactively to the prize, but the Pritzker Prize jury declined to do so.[1][2][3] Venturi is also known for coining the maxim "Less is a bore", a postmodern antidote to Mies van der Rohe's famous modernist dictum "Less is more". Venturi lives in Philadelphia with Denise Scott Brown.
Watch your steps…
When criticizing an idea, be aware that it is impossible not to step on some toes…
This… Or this…
Just settle with the girl with earring…
Or create your own Mona Lisa…
Just draw, paint, illustrate, photograph… Any medium will do…
If you change your plan or your mind, make sure there is a reason…
First we draw…
Always show construction lines in your drawings… they add to the humanity of their character.
Original plan
Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome Built 1506-1615 Donato Bramante, architect Modern aerial photo
Bramante
The dome, as planned by Bramante
Modern day photo…
Columns are not merely functional, they can be objects of organization and art…
Signage is always useful in this planet… (I have another collection of signage concepts…)
Fill your emptiness…
Execute concepts and ideas in wireframe plans as well as 3d sections for maximum impact…
This is where it originated…
Unsatisfaction with one angle of inquiry leads to more curious exploration of details…
By all means of exploration methods…
Do not settle with one aspect of the project… go through and around the idea…
However, you have to be articulate enough to convey the concept to your audience by drawing in realistic fashion…
Start from the inside…
But observe also from the outside…
Practice on a small scale…some call it thumbnails
You may present any idea starting from natural observation or as the eye see or imagine…
Imagine with a bird’s eye view for starters…
Then gradually progress to other modelling methods or devices…
Scale model samples…
To organize a system, you must have in mind the end result of the central idea or core purpose…
A thorough understanding of the requirements in any design process is vital to the efficiency and completion of any project…
Functionality and poetry should always come hand in hand in any endeavor… To say the least: utility and aesthetics should be integral in any idea…
Every idea or concept can be boxed-in…
Therefore it can be built or unbuilt…
Overkill…buffer zone…allowance…safety net…be flexible
Look at this…
Nothing on earth is perfect in our perceptions… so we try to make rules or standards…in doing so, others tend to think that by conforming to those rules, they attain a degree of perfection…they’re wrong…
Virginia Woolf in 1902; photograph by George Charles Beresford
I wonder if Leonardo or Michaelangelo is on a parallel perspective…
Look at so called “magnificent” architecture…
You could not avoid asking afterwards…or after being in awe: Is it safe?
I designed a gasoline station complex a few years ago…the owner insisted on ignoring the fire escape location at both ends of the hotel building…normally the city hall will not allow plans without showing the locations of fire escape stairs or ladders…so to make things less arguable, I just showed the plans to the owner not even bothering to comply with requirements. However, I just included the fire escape plans on the final drawings that the owner could not change or edit, rather, he has to submit the whole set of drawings to the building permit officials.
For the compilation of my architectural projects, please see “the underground journal” An unpublished sketch book done for the past 20 years or so…good luck
Place original letterings here…
Letterings are really important…signage, drawing titles, labels…There’s a lot of uses in our daily lives…teach your children.
At times that you learn to gain control, sometimes a feeling of losing control arrives…
True style does not happen because you like it… it is branded by the next generation.
Bell bottom blues…70s and 80s…although I’m not much a follower of fads…
We tend to attach to a certain period of time or era… be it the past, the present, the future…
Some people shuttle in between…
Once I spent my days here…
On some weekends I hang around here…
Every now and then, I get reminded by these places That I have to write my memoirs…be it sad or engaging…
Matthew Frederick
Literal art will not be appreciated…implied art might work.
Try unfinishing…
A low profile will always be manageable, down to earth, even loved.
Try designing like this… Consider yourself to be using the building or program and responding to your needs or requirement before making the final decision to implement the design.. In other words, you should be pleased first before pleasing the client…
Sometimes keeping the low profile contradicts your purpose of pleasing the audience…
Remind yourself to sit down, watch a concert of classical music, get inspired…
Or take a walk, go to a gallery or museum, feast your eyes with art…
People can be drawn to your talents…but it takes prolific performance to get them involved… that means you have to produce…
People feel best and secured when reprimanded, counterpunched or opposed… It’s nature’s way of assuring the existence of life… Apply this to geometry.
There will always be something or someone that stands out among the crowd…
I feel terrified of the background… But I can feel secure on the foreground…
Love and keep your artworks…somebody else might appreciate or value them when you’re gone…
Or the memory of that place that you once walked through…
You will always keep coming back…
91 If you have something to show, don’t hesitate…if you have something to say, say it… If you have an idea, pursue its completion…life is about affirmation…
Know that no matter how small and insignificant you look at yourself, you are part of a bigger whole.
You…
Relationships can be shown in a gradually increasing context of things… Small, medium, large…good, better, best…keep offering the possibilities.
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (August 20, 1873, Rantasalmi, Finland – July 1, 1950, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States) was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was the father of Eero Saarinen.
In my disability, show me the way…
Regulations, codes, standards…study and know their limitations, and then you go beyond…
You might learn something about Philippine art, architecture, Photography, painting, culture, history… Explore endless possibilities…
Family portrait…
Let me tell you my story…
94 Home is always sweet…
Signage is never difficult to find
Neither landmarks…
We will always come home…
But I spend my summers in my aunt’s house…
I had five older sisters…
There are no winters in the Philippines
When your heart says so, It’s always summer…
You invent the game…
My handicaps encouraged me to go beyond my limits…
Try designing a house on a 3 meter by 27 meterlot…
Yes something like this…
A design problem when faced with limited resources becomes big. Try dissecting the problem and then apply the small solutions. See what happens…
This work is also dedicated to Madelyn Lamanilao…
When the odds are overwhelming, retreat, regroup, gather your forces. Then come back with a cold vengeance. Try this principle on any design problem.
Now start drawing…lazy bone!
To solve a problem, give it character so you can control when and where to end its annoying
No…I don’t intend to sell my books…they’re records of my thought processes as I learned from Nathaniel Hawthorne, the biography of a man does not consist only of his writings and monographs, rather the daily record of his thoughts, actions, perceptions, aspirations and people’s observations of his life…I could be wrong…
Requiescat in pace…2016
Matthew Frederick
Artists don’t have to be eccentric…
They get their hair cut sometimes…
Writers must have a room…also typewriter, paper, etc. etc.
First edition cover by Vanessa Bell
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