Eastern Birds
New painted ceiling for an apartment at the Carlyle Hotel - New York.
A stylized coffered ceiling, with indigenous Eastern U.S birds. A collaboration with William Cullum at JDS, NY.
"Eastern Birds" was executed at the Amsterdam studio.
Pintail duck
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Eastern birds
Lay-out for a Carlyle ceiling
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Waxwings
"Cycling or walking on late winter nights through the centre of the city, I sometimes hear the sound of wild geese crossing over, through the darkness high above me.
Like sounds from a parallel universe. .
It's a deeply cherished phenomenon for me."
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One "carré"
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The Carlyle seen from Central Park
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All these birds here in the center of Manhattan would consider the Hudson and East River shores and woodlands as their natural habitat.
Yellow Billed Cuckoo
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Pintail duck
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Some years ago I designed and executed "Aerial insectivores", a ceiling painting on a grand scale for the boardroom of a Cees Dam designed office building in the Netherlands, done in the architect’s modernist, Scarpa influenced style .
Graphically stylized and almost abstract yet executed in subtle limestone hues, to give it all a “life” touch and warm light.
The inner squares like islands of detail and colour ; sky, birds and ornaments, set like gems in a vast grid structure .
It was the great insight of William that a similar idea might also function on a smaller scale, in this sophisticated Carlyle apartment..
And it does .. brilliantly so..
On his invitation we developed a conversion of the design, with subtle adjustments and different ornamentation, but first and foremost with a company of wild indigenous East coast birds added.
Making it all feel comfortably at home.
Graphically stylized and almost abstract yet executed in subtle limestone hues, to give it all a “life” touch and warm light.
The inner squares like islands of detail and colour ; sky, birds and ornaments, set like gems in a vast grid structure .
It was the great insight of William that a similar idea might also function on a smaller scale, in this sophisticated Carlyle apartment..
And it does .. brilliantly so..
On his invitation we developed a conversion of the design, with subtle adjustments and different ornamentation, but first and foremost with a company of wild indigenous East coast birds added.
Making it all feel comfortably at home.
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American Kestrel
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Eastern Bluebird
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The coffers differ stongly in size
some are open, some are closed
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Ceiling Overview inmpression
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Eastern Phoebe
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"W..
. . . I do think using indigenous U.S birds might be a good idea, as there is such a simple and elegant sense of logic to it.
Amsterdam 17th c. bird ceilings – a genre of which I’m currently installing a new interpretation in a 1670's canalhouse monument - would often show a mix of tropical and local birds, thereby reflecting a sense of wealth, international orientation and the far reaching influence of Dutch military and colonial power. . . Later that would shift to an early scientific Natural History approach .
Today, when almost everybody is a cosmopolitan in some sort of way, I think using a specific selection of native birds has (re)gained a different meaning. From the perspective of preservation. . but also as a sense of “belonging” and "locality". .
"Cycling or walking through the centre of Amsterdam on late winter nights, I sometimes hear the sound of wild geese crossing over through the darkness high above the city. Like sounds from a parallel universe. .
Such a deeply cherished phenomenon for me. ...."
P
. . . I do think using indigenous U.S birds might be a good idea, as there is such a simple and elegant sense of logic to it.
Amsterdam 17th c. bird ceilings – a genre of which I’m currently installing a new interpretation in a 1670's canalhouse monument - would often show a mix of tropical and local birds, thereby reflecting a sense of wealth, international orientation and the far reaching influence of Dutch military and colonial power. . . Later that would shift to an early scientific Natural History approach .
Today, when almost everybody is a cosmopolitan in some sort of way, I think using a specific selection of native birds has (re)gained a different meaning. From the perspective of preservation. . but also as a sense of “belonging” and "locality". .
"Cycling or walking through the centre of Amsterdam on late winter nights, I sometimes hear the sound of wild geese crossing over through the darkness high above the city. Like sounds from a parallel universe. .
Such a deeply cherished phenomenon for me. ...."
P
Waxwings
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Common Grackles
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The coffers differ in size and colour
some are open, some are closed
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Eurasian Starlings
First Iphone pictures of the installed ceiling.
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Blue Heron
First Iphone pictures of the installed ceiling
Walls by Pierre Finkelstein
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The entrance on 76 st
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Madison Ave and 76 st
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The iconic Art Deco silhouette
of the Carlyle tower at nightfall.
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