Art Deco

This New Year's eve will be a nice quiet one (other than the children running around later at my uncle's house). I started the day by rearranging my bookshelf on this beautiful Saturday morning. Okay, I was initially gonna skate, but I woke up late and had a heavy breakfast of Jwee Kuay (some oily flour cakes topped with salty veggies is the best way to describe it for you non-local folks), so there was no way I could skate till later. Anyways, why would I want to rearrange my bookshelf? Well, I wanted to find out more about Art Deco, but my book on architecture (yes, I do have a book on architecture, and one on art too, despite the nerdy engineer that I am...) was quite inaccessible, and I guess it's about time to make way for my recent purchases, and upcoming purchases. Why do I suddenly go shopping for books at this time of the year? That's because the Economist is taking a break from printing and there's suddenly a dearth of material to read; but still there's so much for me to learn, and since I'm shopping, and there's a big xmas sale at Times and MPH (20% off xmas catalog items!), I'm just stocking up on all kinds of reads.

So what's the big deal about Art Deco? Well, as previously mentioned in my blog, I visited the lovely wine place at Parkview Square recently, and enjoyed the atmosphere while sipping a 2000 Chablis Dom Simmonet. I didn't even realise the design was called Art Deco (shame on me!) till I read it in RT's blog. After going through my book on architecture, I realised why this form of architecture never really caught my attention: Art Deco is almost an aberration. (Wah, I'm using complicated cheem words now huh?)

Art Deco grew out of the era called Modernism, which lasted approximately from 1900-1965. This era saw buildings that were "spare and square", with free form (abstract, geometric shapes), free plan (less boundaries for better interior flow) and free facade (no ornamentations, unpainted), yet inspired by the age of science (revolutionary materials and techniques). We do see some elements of this at Parkview Square, especially the free form, free plan (wine bar on the ground floor is "columnless"), unpainted exterior, and the numerous statues paying tribute to Darwin, Freud, Dali etc. However, Art Deco is an aberration to Modernist architecture because it champions the use of ornaments protruding from the facade, which gives it an eerie, almost Gothic feeling. In fact, some people mistakenly consider Parkview Square Gothic. How can it be true Gothic without the spires, pointed arches and flying buttresses? A classic example of Art Deco is the Chrysler building in Manhattan: sleek modern skyscraper with its aluminium spire and protruding gargoyles. Perhaps the "Gotham City" look may sound like "Gothic" to the uninformed, which would explain their mistaken belief that Parkview Square is Gothic...