This week's LA Times' House & Garden main feature is a housetour, entitled "A brutal kind of beautiful." The Silver Lake home of Tim Cambell and Steve Machado is a study in contrasts. The outside is tranquil and happy, with the facade painted in a bright orange, but once inside, the couple have amassed a 40-plus piece collection of politically charged artwork. The article quotes Campbell as saying "I don't find it difficult to live with difficult art,... I would find it difficult to live with beautiful, pointless art."
Other highlights in this week's issue include:
•A litle history and background on the
popular sansevieria plant.
•An inspiring piece about choosing paint colors for your walls, profiling
Shelley Bennet, curator of the John Constable landscape show at the Huntington Library, and how she chose the colors that house the collection.
loving the Travis Sommerville art with the first pict. I don't think I could live with such art tension but it's really fantastic in their home
I remember this home from this year's CA Boom Silver Lake tour...the artwork was such a striking element of their interior, alongside the brutal interior architecture. I was impressed, despite the interior not being my personal aesthetic/feel...it was a powerful statement.
I believe the tension of these pieces adds to the beauty of this home, however, the rest of the home is very simple and austere. If that were not the case (for example if this home were cluttered) this art would not work and clearly their power would be stripped.
I am a lover of beauty, and I do find these paintings beautiful because they are courageous and strong and sincere, yet not patronizing. Sometimes I find high art lacks sincerity and I prefer folk art because it is more visionary. These owners have amassed high art that is visionary, not an easy task. And they have done this with a restrained hand. There is only one piece I'd love to see added and that would be a modern piece of Chinese Communist propaganda reinterpreted. (Does anyone reading this blog know where I might find such a piece?)
I love this home, it really inspired me to pontificate!