CURTAIN

"Solve unto me the enigma that I then beheld, interpret for me the vision of the loneliest one."
Zarathustra

SMO©2012

Self Portrait

'The most eloquent testimony....may come from

those most reluctant to give.'(Geoff Dyer)

SMO©2012

where do you see yourself ten years from now?

A RECTANGULAR SHODOW LESS THAN A FOOT WIDE CROSSSED THE WHITE DUST OF THE ROAD . It lay at a slight angle from the perpendicular without quite reaching the opposite side: its rounded -almost flat-extremity did not protrude beyond the middle of the road , of which the left side remained unshaded. Between this extremity and the close -cropped weeds bordering the road had been crushed the corpse of a little frog, its legs open, its arms crossed, forming slightly darker gray spot  on the dust of the road. The creature's body had lost all thickness, as if nothing but skin were left-hard dessicated, and henceforth invulnerable-clinging to the ground as closly as the shadow of animal about to leap, limbs extended-but somehow immobillized in air. To the right the real shodaw, which was much darker, gradually became paler, disappearing altogether after a few seconds.

Mathias lifted his head toward the sky. *

**the Voyeur/Alain Robbe-Grillet

CORNER

"What makes your house a home is the artificial order you establish."

Gianni Vattimo

After the death of God

SMO©2011

TENT OF TOMORROW -NEW YORK- 1964- 2012

 SMO©2012

Remains of " Tent of Tomorrow " 1964 New York  World fair unanimously sits in the midst of Corona  Meadows  Park. Riders of the number 7 Subway can have panoramic view of the park as well as

a distant view  to Towers of New York State pavilion, along with few forgotten artifacts, Apollo and Mercury spacecrafts and the Port Authority Heliport building. If you driving along Grand Central Parkway, one can have a closer look to towers and Tent of Tomorrow. After years of distant watching

recently I found myself driving along the service road lead into the entrance of parking lot of Queens Public Theater.  The building also was build as part of NYS pavilion, after forgotten quite some time recently went through major renovation and open to Public. There, standing in front of pile of of concrete and steel ruins I impressed with the shear size and volume of these structures.Their aged materiality was increasing  the sense of drama. Rusted steel beams, layers of striped cables all floating in the air, perhaps trying to tell a story, a story about past yet their voice lost in the vastness of history.

Central torsion ring, reminiscence of an alien ship comes out of 60's cartoon magazines hold by series 

of double layered steel cables. Original roof contained 1, 500 translucent panels was hung between 

the cables. The size of the roof has been said was bigger than the football field, largest suspended roof at the time of the Fair. Today these structures offers ghastly, more so a pessimistic look which is still questions the original intent of it's main advocator.

" The basic purpose of the Fair is Peace through Understanding, that is education of the peoples of the world as to the interdependence of nations to insure lasting peace.."*

*Robert Moses

The four horseman of the Apocalypse

SMO©2010

CONQUEST, WAR, FAMINE, & DEATH

VOLTRI VII

B. Human beings are so unhappy  that tey would be bored even if they have no reason for boredom, simple because of their nature. They are so vain that with thousands of legitimate reasons for boredom the slightest thing like tapping a billiard ball with a cue is enough to distract them.

Blaise Pascal
Pensees and Other Writings

     Photography :SMO©2008

VOLTRI -VII

David Smith

For a while I thought I lost these pictures,  it must  be few years past since   I took 

them. I remember  it was  summer of 2008.   Couple friends from Argentina were 

in town for a short stay. One day before their  departure we  decided to take a day 

trip to Washington DC, the plan was to see the National Galery and come back at 

same day. After few hours drive from New York, we  arrived DC early afternoon. 

I park the car as close as I can get to  East Galery, I didn't  want to waste any time,

the outside the hot air mixed with high  humidity made our short  walking difficult.

Atrium of the East Galery felt cool and refreshing. Angular stone walls of Atrium

covered with playfull reflections of light coming through skylight  above. Quickly 

we head up to second floor. There I saw the Voltri first time. It had a true presence 

It was a sizeable sculpture,   about 10  feet  long and may be seven feet high, built 

from Iron, yet it seemed weightless. Later, I found out this was one of the twenty-

seven  sculpture David Smith  produced   amazingly short  period of time; during 

the thirty day stay in Spoleto, Italy in 1962.

Below chronological information provided by David Smith Estate

1962-63

Smith is invited by the Italian government to make two sculptures for exhibition in Spoleto during the Fourth Festival of Two Worlds in June 1962. He is offered as his studio a decommissioned Italsider steel factory in Voltri outside Spoleto and provided with a team of steel workers as his assistants. With these resources, Smith makes twenty-seven sculptures in thirty days, using the tools, machines, objects, and materials he found in the Italsider factory. Before returning to Bolton Landing, Smith arranges to have material from the factory shipped to New York. Upon his return, he begins his Voltri-Bolton series (twenty-five sculptures, 1962 to 1963).

DOLMABAHCE SARAYI

CEILING SHOTS

One may ask-
 "What part of the palace is this?'
-it is the most utillitarian part
I would have replied-
you give me a confused look.
"It's the part that you get yourself
relieved from the all biological pressures."
I may add.

SMO©2012