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Wright is one of my personal heroes. If you want to learn more about his life and work, Ken Burn's documentary is excellent.
http://www.pbs.org/flw/ (In particular, I liked the scenes involving Falling Water and the Johnson Wax Factory.)
Wright's life was really interesting. I love how he said F the establishment and did his own thing. And, in almost Joseph Campbell mythical fashion, after his greatest test, he acheved his greatest success.
From a personal standpoint, I first heard of Wright when I moved to MI in the 90's. Right near where I lived, there were many Wright inspired homes and buildings in the area and also orginal works; including an old gas station with a "Jetson's like" motif.
As a poorly educated, twenty-something construction worker, my first time in a Wright house resulted in an intellectual epiphany. Ever since, I have been a devoted and grateful admirer of his work.
IMO, to truly appreciate Wright, I think you have to look at his work in the context of the time and place that he produced his designs and then compare that to today. Even today, his work is still way ahead of its time.
From an artistic and creative stand point, go into the Guggenheim and, without looking up or around, take the elevator to the top and walk down the spiraling ramp. Spend time looking at the art on display.
When you get to the bottom, go to the center of the room and look up. I think you will find the building as inspiring as any of the art on display.
For me, Wright's work is a physical manifstation of that extremely pure brilliance/genius/intelligence/God...whatever you want to call it, that runs like a current through our exstence. In relative terms, despite its strength, that current has few conduits.
Whether I look at a Van Gogh or a Pollock, listen to Beethoven's 5th or Miles Davis' A kind of Blue or walk through a Frank Lloyd Wright design it is all one and the same.
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Wonderful post. I saw the Burns documentary too and also loved the Johnson Wax factory part too. I felt such a burning desire to see the place after that! Even though there were aspects of it that didn't sit quite right with me at first.
i think truly appreciating this at the level you do will be forever beyond me, and I'm sad and frightened and a little humiliated by it. Honestly I think so much of architecture is bullsh*t, but sometimes you get gripped by a genius and intuit the best of what he could be all about, and it humbles you. There are not a lot of architects, rightly or wrongly, that I feel humbled by. But I cannot deny Wright's power and ability to make me look more carefully and appreciate possibilities. That Wright's work can demand my humility and make my conceits impossible makes me feel as happy and excited as a child. It's probably far too optimistic and egotistic a dream, but I would be delighted to feel I fully understood his genius one day.
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Re: architecture
I couldn't agree more. 99% of it is crap. Rand, in The Fountainhead, her politics and seeming obsession with being tied up and sexually dominated by the Chrysler building aside, really nailed the problem; homogeneity, fueled by mediocrity, with the sole goal and consequence an indistinguishable landscape populated with a solid blockade of uninspired, unimpressive and unforgiving banality fruitlessly hiding behind addresses.