Optimisation 13.05.21 – 29.05.21
Discipline and Harmony
Exhibition with works by Peyton Abbott
“True architecture is timeless, but rooted in its time of creation. There
is always opportunity for a monument, for playfulness, dignity, balance,
simple practicality – but the lasting solution is based on ADJACENCY. This is the only approach that leads to integrity, quality, economy and – desirably HARMONY.” – Peyton Abbott
At 18 years old Peyton Abbott decides to become an architect, he takes his wife, baby,books records and clothes and drives from Raleigh, NC. to Chicago, Il. where he starts studying at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
After graduating in 1967 he received an offer to start working at Mies Van Der Rohe‘s office in Chicago where he stayed for 25 years. Mies was one of the pioneers of modernist architecture and Peyton’s mentor.
In the early nineties when the big depression hit the U.S. he was freelancing and took a year off in order to motorcycle around the U.S., that was a rewarding experience. When he returned to Chicago a pupil of his called and asked if he could come to Germany where he was establishing an architectural firm. They did architecture in several German cities and moved then their partnership to Dresden for more architectual practice and named their firm Landmarks GmbH.
About the exhibition
In this exhibition Peyton Abbott’s tells the story of the search for architecture through drawings and installations.
Peyton could spend days or weeks on proportions of his drawings. On windows, for instance, he says, “proportions are very nebulous, like a musical note”. There are scales involved, just like there are with musical vocabulary. When a musical tone makes a harmony, there aren’t any specific rules, people just agree on whether or not it sounds good at the end. Peyton describes the same mysteriousness in getting the right look and feel when designing an architectural structure.
All of the hand objects created by Abbott embodies both discipline and harmony, as each of the pieces created by him required him to work meticulously and with accuracy.
Most of his hand work was created spontaneously out of joy, and for a specific use. They are also fabricated keeping in mind the sustainability of the material.
Catalog Optimisation Exhibition
Galleri Heike Arndt DK is grateful for the extraordinary support by Eva Hübner, Peyton Abbotts wife to create this exhibition.
