Saturday, August 11, 2012

BY REQUEST THE VERTICAL AND THE HORIZONTAL

ONE OF THOSE  truly rare avis in this scene, as in a happening,  with taste, credentials, pragmatic to the most with aesthetics and maintenance in mind,  asked your humble servant, what I think about this installation in far away tropical islands of volcanic origins in the middle of nowhere,  a territory of the USA.

The Majorelle,  29 July 2012, taken from, aplantfanatic.blogspot.com.  This Majorelle is  a huge installation with ponds, a pergola, patio and a truly dark indigo blue themed walls and clashing combinations of all kinds of cacti  with palms and vegetation totally at home..

I looked first,  then observed each photo with excellent resolution, focus and such. This could be a subject for the future, nice photos amplify what is ugly, odd, out of place, unusual, the same way it does with beauty and pretty.

The order of those elements or problems that really disturb me after 5 visits, appear  in photos 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 11.  Let the record show this installation is not the author's own. What is written below does not concern him, he is not responsible for the good and the bad.

There is too much shade in this long pond. An absurd plant in the middle of it, ruins the essence: to reflect.  The bamboo and palms, everyting too close to the edge.

The blue, yellow and terracota pots besides their uglyness destroy the flow of lines in the pavement.  The shinny smooth surface a hazardous pavement for pedestrians when wet.

The  cacti installation with graffitti is overwhelmingly tight and crowded.  The combination of vertical/horizontal growth, columnar and round, with agavaceas  top a pain to my eyes.  

Photo number six should be stressed everything in sight is vertical, dull and seem unnatural.

7 with tons of cacti by the pond, like one of those movies in which the plot happens but it is not plausible, it is really striking or shocking if I may.

The blue pergola has huge monstera leaves with dried edges hiding what seems to be another pond with some injury to the accident, matching terracota ponds in each side.

Last but not least.  That truly dark indigo blue ruins the possibility of creating a relaxing atmosphere. Instead of brightening the space, already too dark with the excessive and exhuberant vegetation, it makes  the space somewhat wet, somber and sinister... Perhaps it was chosen to avoid the growth of fungi and moss, I see no possible aesthetic reason.   

There are two things I like. One of those blue walls with a nice grilled metal work and a Brugmasia in close up and  the Spanish patio, ruined with pots and palms

In brief, this installation has not only too much vegetation for my taste, but it is crowded, every plant seem to be in top of the other. 

The rule of composition small, medium, large while planting to create
some depth and contrast, is not here. Check the cacti and succulents installation for example, and you will notice the vegetation was planted without any logic in therm of height, shape and grow habit.

The more I thing of it the more irritated I become. One should keep the plant selection in certain spaces. Repetion is fine, but those cacti by the pond totally unncessary and the damn pots everywhere!  I keep plants in pots for lack of space only. If I had such a huge space there will bo pots at all.

Besides the blue and the thrown at random vegetation there is hope for this space. It has the essence to be great.  It would be a matter of editing and some light.

The contrasts in texture and shape or else get lost in all this mix and match of  density of vegetation, colors and too much shade, truly overwhelming.   I got tired looking and now writing. But it has been a great exercise to practice observation with absolute objectivity. Jaha bilingual one.  Thanks to David Cristiani for the suggestion.

The end


 







the pond 






   

 cia
  


 

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