10. Gallery B | Tower · Maze · Lawn

JEF7REY HILDNER | ARCHITECT

HOME  > Gallery B | Tower · Maze · Lawn ♞ |  JEF7REY HILDNER | ARCHITECT — Q.F.B.   |  ARCHITECTURE IS A  VISION QUEST LEGACY LABYRINTH:   DESTINATION AND JOURNEY "ARCHITECTURE IS A STORY TOLD THROUGH A BUILDING." ―JEF7REY HILDNER,   VISUAL EF9ECTS / Architecture and the Chess Game of Form & Story "ARCHITECTURE IS THE WORLD CONJURED FROM THE QUARRY OF MYTH." —JEF7REY HILDNER,   DISTURBANCE: Beyond The Matrix | T oward An Architecture ZI _______________________________________________________________________________________ Featured in the viewer above:   selective expressions of my concept of the Labyrinth—an architectural paradigm comprising three elements: Tower, Maze, Lawn. The 10 slides reflect this insight—and my aspiration to more fully fulfill the promise of this insight—which I first explored in Peter Waldman's book   Connective Tissues , my essay serving as the Epilogue, " LABYRINTH R.U.N. " And by so doing, the slides also convey an even deeper theme that runs through my work: what I call "The Chess Game of Form & Story"—or   Visual Ef9ects . _______________________________________________________________________________________ Slide 1—A Vision of The Hero's Journey House | Daedalus 9: The Labyrintheum Memory Point III An Atlantic coastal bluff at dusk, evoking the original arena of the mythical architect Daedalus's invention of the Labyrinth and Wings: Crete. From these seaside cliffs near Piriápolis, Uruguay—whose founder, alchemist Francisco Piria (1847–1933), shaped the city through metaphysical and symbolic principles—the Labyrintheum unfolds. Tower, Maze, Lawn—mirroring the three archetypal stages of our superhuman passage: Departure, Transformation, Return. Three stages. One journey. An epic journey Joseph Campbell termed— "The Hero's Journey." I have embraced this journey as central to my grasp of life—how life works—and as the thematic foundation of my art. "GREAT ART THREADS US THROUGH A LABYRINTH—ALONG A PATH AS OLD AS TIME: DEPARTURE, TRANSFORMATION, RETURN." —JEF7REY HILDNER,   PICASSO LESSONS: The Sixth Woman of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon _______________________________________________________________________________________ "ARCHITECTURE IS A VISION QUEST— A QUEST TO GROK THE FORM & STORY OF THE WORLD AND GIVE ARTISTIC EXPRESSION TO WHAT ONE SEES. THE FORM OF THE WORLD IS A LABYRINTH— THE STORY OF THE WORLD IS OUR ETERNALLY UNFOLDING SUPERHUMAN PASSAGE: OUR HEROIC LABYRINTH R.U.N." ―JEF7REY HILDNER,   DISTURBANCE "There's only one story: the primordial World Story, told and retold: one shape-shifting story of the vision quest that transforms the world." —Joseph Campbell From the documentary   The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell   (1987), written by Janelle Balnicke, Phil Cousineau, and William Free _______________________________________________________________________________________ Jef7rey Hildner is an award-winning architect, painter, and writer. Through all his creative endeavors, including 11 books, he passionately explores the architecture of art and life. He sometimes paints as Henry Trucks and writes as Michelangelo A. Roland Slate, aka M.A.R.S. Like the first architects—oracles, astronomer-priests—Jef7rey quests to grok the Architecture of the Form & Story of Reality. And give artistic expression to his vision. He draws signature inspiration from the ancient Greek myth about the protagonist Joseph Campbell called "the hero of the way of thought"—the architect of the Labyrinth and Wings Daedalus. "A BUILDING IS AN AESTHETIC & SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION OF AN ARCHITECT'S VISION OF THE WORLD: A CREATIVE DEMONSTRATION OF COURAGE, IMAGINATION, AND TRUTH." —JEF7REY HILDNER,   HENRY TRUCKS — PAINTER: ancient myths meet modern landscapes _______________________________________________________________________________________ DESTINATION AND JOURNEY TOWER · MAZE · LAWN  |  Departure · Transformation · Return "A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory won: the hero comes back from the mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man." —Joseph Campbell,   The Hero with a Thousand Faces " LABYRINTH R.U.N. " combines two seemingly unrelated frameworks—and reveals others concealed within them—to create a vision of the world at once architectural, metaphorical, and human—a way of seeing that has become the fountainhead of my work. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · I set Jefferson's 1817 design of the University of Virginia's Academical Village against the 3,400-year-old Greek myth of Daedalus. I began to see the Academical Village within the Daedalus myth— and the Daedalus myth within the Village. A reciprocal act. Architecture into Myth. Myth into Architecture. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · I crafted "LABYRINTH R.U.N." as a story— a yarn spun from Joseph Campbell's formulation of "The Hero's Journey"— Departure · Transformation · Return For example—Dorothy in   The Wizard of Oz . Departure: Kansas Transformation: Oz Return: Kansas Or Daedalus: Departure: Greece Transformation: Crete Return: Sicily—his new new home—borne on the wings he created · · · · · · · · · · · · · · I layered the essay with another triad: one I saw embedded in Jefferson's design—emerging from my interpretation of Daedalus's paradigmatic invention, which I regard as the ancient Greek storytellers' conjecture about the architecture of the world: The Labyrinth . Not a simple maze—but something more: a structure that includes two other components of Daedalus's ultimate design. Elevating the Labyrinth into an overarching concept— a deeper, more far-reaching expression of   Form and Story — echoing through the ages from the island of Crete: Tower · Maze · Lawn   Dorothy again: Kansas, Labyrinth, Kansas— The Labyrinth as Oz. She falls from the Tower of home as she knew it—crash-landing in the house of her ordinary life. She enters the Maze: the Yellow Brick Road. She defeats the Minotaur—the Witch of the West—in the arena at the heart of the Labyrinth: The Lawn. Jefferson's rectangular Lawn—brought from Virginia into Daedalus's Maze on Crete. In that move, a classical void becomes a mythic field condition— the Lawn no longer opposing the Maze but emerging as a moment of clarity within the Labyrinth. Dorothy tries to Tower up in the Wizard's balloon— but the outward escape fails. She returns another way: not by flight but by recognition— clicking her heels and discovering there's no place like home . · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Campbell's  The Hero with a Thousand Faces  was published in 1949,  well after Jefferson's departure in 1826. Jefferson didn't frame his Academical Village as an archetypal Journey: Departure, Transformation, Return. Nor as a Labyrinth— let alone as the triad it represents: Tower, Maze, Lawn. Jefferson spoke instead through forms that evoke ancient Rome and Neo-Classical France: Rotunda, Colonnade, Pavilions, Gardens, Lawn. Yet within his masterwork: the Rotunda—a luminous  Tower  of thought the Colonnade—a circulating  Maze  of passages and exchange the  Lawn He built a Labyrinth—without knowing it. A magical realm signifying both Destination and Journey. Crete. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Ordered hierarchically: Tower, Maze, Lawn— in the classical sequence: 2, 3, 1. On the Chessboard of Form & Story— The Tower is the King. The Maze is the Chessboard: the Field of Play The Lawn is the Queen. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · My synthesis of Destination and Journey: The Labyrinth— Tower = Departure From Home—the Ordinary World: threshold to new horizons Maze = Transformation The Special World: disorienting realm of trial and revelation  Lawn = The Threshold to the Return Heart of the Maze: outer and inner antagonisms defeated—powers revivified  Tower = Return To the Ordinary World: Reintegration—Home Reimagined · · · · · · · · · · · · · · "The passage of the mythological hero may be overground, incidentally; fundamentally it is inward— into depths where obscure resistances are overcome, and long lost, forgotten powers are revivified, to be made available for the transfiguration of the world." —Joseph Campbell,   The Hero with a Thousand Faces · · · · · · · · · · · · · · IN EVERY LABYRINTH R.U.N.— The journey appears outward—but unfolds inward. The Labyrinth represents not only the path we travel— but also the architecture of ourselves to which we awaken. The strange, mysterious realm of supernatural wonder and fabulous forces catalyzes our awakening. On wings of the alchemy of transformation— we find that the allies we seek—brains, guts, and heart— were there all along. Whether the special world we are challenged to navigate— is the Labyrinth of art or the Labyrinth of life. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · O r the Labyrinth where art meets life most profoundly: architecture. Enter   The Hero's Journey House | Daedalus 9: The Labyrintheum _______________________________________________________________________________________ "THE ARTIST  DEFAMILIARIZES  THE WORLD—MAKES THINGS STRANGE— AND WAKES US UP." —JEF7REY HILDNER,  DISTURBANCE View my books on   Blurb ,   Lulu , and   Amazon , including works by   M.A.R.S. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ MASTER LINKS | KEYS TO MY LEGACY LABYRINTH: The following Master Links will thread you through the labyrinth of my life's work—opening doors to major galleries, special worlds, and secret chambers . . . 01. Doorway to the Stars 02. Links HQ: Navigation | About 03. Buildings 04. Paintings 05. Books 06. Essays 07. Screenplays 08. Music 09. Cinematecture 10. Gallery B | Tower · Maze · Lawn 11. 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