These are two people I should never have met in my life. They are a partnership–emotional, artistic, intellectual, and cultural. They live in Montreal and will soon live in Belgium. Fortunatly for me they are both artists so Naoshima beckoned and our paths crossed.
Jerome has won an opportunity to be an artist in residence for 6 months in Japan. His art is unique as THE NEW he creates is a juxtaposition of text and paint on canvas. With a scalpel he stencils a delicate text and then applies acrylic which he collapses onto the text. The result is a collaboration of message and medium.
Erik was an architect until he felt that his craft was not sufficient and he needed to expand the depthh of architecture to encompass more than rendering. The result is that he teaches architects to see beyond the craft of technical design to a broader vision of the architect as the creator of a relationship between people and the spaces they need for their lives. His teaching enriches the field with an emotional and psychological component currently missing in the overly technical emphasis of the practice.
My encounters with them were intellectually and artistically rich and kaleidiscopic with thoughts tumbling at a roller coaster pace. We were so wrapped up in our discussion that our little Japanese food counter mates were laughing at the dramatic interaction among us. A treat for me,
