Richard Meier: Art and Architecture

Richard Meier: Art and Architecture

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On October 12, “Richard Meier: Art and Architecture” opens at the Louise T Blouin Institute. The following texts, provided to ARTINFO by curator Jenny Blyth, correspond to wall panels in the exhibition. The first appears downstairs with models, photographs, and sketches, and the second is upstairs with sculpture, collages, and product design.

This exhibition of Richard Meier’s art and architecture aims to provide not only an insight into 45 years of architectural excellence, but also an exploration of his extraordinary versatility as artist and designer.

Richard Meier remains the youngest recipient of the Pritzker Prize (1984), perceived as the "Nobel" of architecture awards. He has created iconic designs for international museums including the Getty Center, Los Angeles; the Atheneum, New Harmony, Indiana; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona; and the Ara Pacis Museum, Rome. He has been hugely diverse in his range of architectural projects, creating libraries, performance halls, city halls, courthouses, exquisite residential properties, and every conceivable corporate entity.

He has been described as taking modernism to the extreme, and certainly the clean white lines, bold facets, and practical applications that you see in his architecture allude to a "Brave New World." However, a master in form and structure, Meier creates an architectural alchemy through his use of light and space and chosen textures, which adds a sublime consciousness, and at times a lyricism, to his buildings.

Despite a staunchly modernist dynamic, he manages to celebrate the outdoors from within, and he achieves this through his use of form and also his choice of material. He marries striking modernist materials with the nuance and language of the earth around us, so that, despite the intervention of geometric, futuristic construction into the landscape, there is a reciprocated sense of delight in the elements. Meier’s enjoyment and celebration of art is evident in his architecture in the artistry woven into the fabric of his designs.

For more than four decades, Meier has been developing the distinct signature that has established him not only as one of America’s most influential architects and designers, but also as a major player on a world platform.

Parallel to his architectural practice, Richard Meier has been making sculpture, collages, and oil paintings. His collages are created from papers, tickets, and cuttings collected on his many travels. "Each must be seen as an element in my total work," he says. "They are, for me, an adjunct and a passion related to my life as an architect."

His sculptures express the space and pivotal moments that are explored and articulated with such eloquence in his buildings. They are constructed from steel and allude to fantastical machinery that hints at function, while primarily celebrating form and balance. One has the sense that Meier feels compelled to create these. Artworks in their own right, they are a part of his ongoing architectural journey.

Furniture, ceramics, glassware, silver objects: In each he has created iconic designs, marrying a minimalist tradition with beautiful simplicity. His grand piano highlights his unique contribution to the world of design: Truly decadent, the lacquered veneer and highly polished chrome celebrate the style and elegance of the 1920s, while the form of the instrument is a "sculpture" of Meier’s architecture. 

The Louise T Blouin Foundation is a sister organization to LTB Media, ARTINFO’s parent company.