Between Connection and Contradiction

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The series “Between Connection and Contradiction” is a contemplation on and a reaction to modernism. This series is architectural and can trace its origins to studies of architectural representation. These paintings are distorted architectural representations.

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Architecture is not only about building, it is about our environment and how we live. Architectural representation is thought of as the way we conceive our environment and, by extension, how we are supposed to live.

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As an architect, I conceive of modernism in architecture as the assumption that there is an objective and rational way to determine the so-called best way to design our environment, the way we are supposed to live. I do not agree.

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We may attempt to see the world rationally, but how we see the world is riddled with individual and cultural assumptions that conceal contradictions. The way we treat our so-called objective rationality, which is riddled with assumptions, is reminiscent of the mystique of religions.

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One way I found to fight this mystique is through undermining the concept of binary opposition, a conventional framework to make sense of the world. I attempt to deconstruct conceptual oppositions by attempting to discover what is between.