Sunday, May 29, 2011

Dream a Little Dream


I've been thinking about what to do with my future. I could be a mud doctor, checking out the earth, underneath. *




Do you ever feel you're behind the times? I'm behind the time I planned to add to Corbu's Cave which was the opening weekend of Cave of Forgotten Dreams. I was there and meant to tell you about it right away.





At the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood you reserve your seat so it's already a special event, not just a movie but when the lady sitting next to me sat down she said, "Isn't this exciting?". To which I replied, "Yes! I've had the book and now I'm finally getting to see the movie!"




Cave of Forgotten Dreams is thrilling on a number of levels and it's still resonating with me, naturally I suppose since it's the raison d'être of this blog. Years ago friends from Paris brought me the book, La Grotte Chauvet a Vallon Pont-D'Arc, but really Werner Herzog's movie is the next best thing to being there. It's in 3D you know? And the caves are not now nor will they ever be open to the public.









To me it's amusing to listen to people in the film speculate as to the creators and their works in the caves because after 30,000 years it's anyone's guess. In my little blog I'm not guessing. I'm telling you that the cave paintings prove my point that we need images on our walls above all else. I direct you architects and interiors designers to ask your clients -"Where shall we put the mural?" Because from caves 30,000 years ago to le Corbusier and every other sort of dwelling a mural is necessary. It's part of who we are as people. Isn't that clear?

* Btw the opening line is a quote from another movie, Days of Heaven. It's topical because it's Terrence Malick movie and his Tree of Life just opened. Dreamy I'm sure.

Update: Architects Snøhetta, Casson Mann have completed work on The new International Centre for Cave Art (Centre International d’Art Parietal) in Montignac, France. Now the un-spelunker can get a real feel for cave exploration and astonishing cave cave painting. see here: Lascaux.

6 comments:

  1. Scott this is so fascinating! You are inspiring me to start come Trompe L'Oeil Painting.

    New Giveaway will be up on the 1st!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karena, That's a very unexpected reaction but I say go for it.

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  3. Scott, I listened to a long interview with Werner Herzog on NPR. It was fascinating to listen to him, both for his unique voice and intellect, and I can only imagine the experience you had. Wish I'd been there! Mark

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  4. Yes, I heard him on Terry Gross. Pretty interesting. His voice is by turns menacing and comical. When I was growing up we had the book and a record of Carol Channing reading Madeline so this Herzog parody is especially rich to me:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57EDxvldLD4

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  5. A Cinerama movie theater opened in the mid-60s in Whitehaven, then a separate community outside Memphis. Apparently it was a franchise as it was owned by a local businessman. The logo was used but not the geodesic dome. The decor was modernistic, however, and the lobby was decorated with paintings by the owner's wife. Each was (high) priced but none ever sold, as far as I could tell, and soon the area became depressed. The theater in Hollywood looks very interesting. I particularly appreciate that dramatic curtain at the grand staircase. __ The Devoted Classicist

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  6. John, When I was growing up we lived in St. Louis and there was a Cinerama there (sans dome). What really stood out for me was the experience of seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey. The opening scene of the camera coming up over the moon and looking back to Earth gave me vertigo -I think especially since we were seated in the balcony and that super wide screen. I also remember seeing How The West Was Won and other movies there. I think it was a drive-in where we saw It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World although you'll note that that was the first film screened at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

    Yeah, that curtain's really something isn't it?

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