White Compositions - by Anthony Ames (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Ames playfully collages architectural elements, such as facades organized by grids, with everyday (yet highly specific) objects--like a Morandi-esque vase, a Corbusian pair of glasses, a can of coke, an electric guitar, or a basketball hoop. The contrast between the (supposedly) rational, objective, and universalizing characteristics of modernism in confrontation with the particular, the idiosyncratic, and the autobiographical quotidian communicates a uniquely Ames-ian sensibility that provides a distinctive and refreshing take on the 20th-century architectural movement.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Anthony Ames has operated his eponymous architecture office since 1976 and began painting in 1984. Ames' White Compositions--a series of 11 monochromatic relief wall sculptures--originate from and elaborate on the architect's painting practice, closely attending to proportion, layout, recurring forms, and motifs found within both his artistic and built works. His paintings--as described by Courtney Coffman in her previous review of Ames's solo exhibition at a83 gallery in New York--"oscillate somewhere between the formality of a still life, the dynamism of sculptural relief, and the juxtaposed delight of collage." A natural evolution in Ames's practice, the 11 wall sculptures are accompanied by documents that provide insight into the precise and accomplished nature of Ames' design process: from buildings to art.