Yesterday I was walking along Sherbrooke Street in Montreal which is the Beaux Arts “ribbon” of the city. Buildings such as the north side of the Museum of Fine Arts (the original museum which has since been given an enormous new southern complex with a Frank Gehry-designed facade), the Mason’s Temple, and many other fine examples of Beaux Arts architecture can be found all along the street between Parc Avenue through to Mies van der Rohe’s Westmount Square complex in the borough of Westmount. With the dramatic bright sun and its particular angle at around 1:30pm yesterday, I couldn’t help but be struck how similar it looked to something Piranesi (1720-1778) would have drawn. Needless to say, yesterday I bathed all afternoon in Piranesi dreams (Piranesi was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric “prison” series). The man is one of my all-time biggest heroes and someone who has had an enormous impact on my artistic and creative life (you can see for yourself by visiting my website HERE). Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day, Piranesi. In case I’ve never told you before, “I love you.”
