cubism
A BUTCHER'S #36
A BUTCHER’S hook/look (Cockney rhyming slang)
it’s how you look at it
From the simplest to the most complex, Roman mosaics are just fantastic - actually, when I think about it, even the most simple ones are complex. This floor is from the 1st century BC. and demonstrates the ambiguous so called ‘necker’ cube, where depending on how you look at it, you can mentally/visually shift the perspective of the cubes. A classic of course.
‘The orientation of the Necker cube can be altered by shifting the observer's point of view. When seen from apparent above, one face tends to be seen closer; and in contrast, when seen from a subjective viewpoint that is below, a different face comes to the fore’
diced
Demonstrating my ongoing interest with the ambiguous relationship between two-dimensional and three-dimensional space, I did this piece in 1991. I was working on how I could represent all sides of a dice on a flat surface. (OK, it’s a singular ‘die,’ but it just didn’t look right!)" It does work by the way.
cubed
Scale is important - if you live In a country where most of the cities are based on a medieval plan, smaller vehicles are required. In fact it’s a bit sad to see the cars in Europe steadily getting bigger - many are now totally impractical for the scale of the streets. Petrol is way more expensive, so hybrid, gas, electric and small vehicles are a practical alternative in Italy.
My curiosity and fascination with micro cars probably stems from seeing them driving around in England as a kid. That and being picked up from school by my brother in his 3 wheeled Isetta bubble car (a new version is out - the microlino). So it’s always rewarding when visiting Rome - there’s bound to be a bizarre looking tiny ‘car’ of some description that I’ve never seen. I noticed one of these Citroëns on a previous trip and now they’re all over the place.
This electric Citroën Ami is really a quadricycle as it only needs a moped license. It’s made of ABS plastic (the same as Lego) on a steel frame. The front and the back panels are exactly the same, just with different colored lights. The sides are the same component parts where the doors are both hinged on the right (think about that - see pic below).
It’s 2.41m (7ft 9”) long x 1.39m (4ft 7”) wide with a pretty spartan all plastic interior, oh yeah
caged
Meanwhile from New York, here’s a favorite photo of a cubed arrangement in a strange part of Brooklyn
