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Mag’s Page
Sawasdee Pee Mai all - or however you spell it. Phonetically speaking you know what I mean! Another year gone, and an unbelievable 8 years since we all got stiff necks watching lanterns floating over HuaHin from the Hilton Hotel. If memory serves there should have been 2000 of them, probably reduced to a symbolic 200 for
the sake of the environment. The Sangsom cokes didn’t do much for the ability to count at the time. 2007 was a quite uneventful year in little old England apart,
of course, for the odd new Prime Minister, and the Spice Girls reunion. (And THEY only got back together to make TV ads for Tesco.)
Seriously though, the biggest event of the year had to be the floods. Many families spent Christmas still in their temporary caravans, while builders and assorted other
tradespeople continued to make a mint out of the disaster.
Some of the scams would make even the (previous) Thai government weep, but my own favourite stories started before the builders had even had chance to fill their hods.
Like the enterprising young man who caught stray koi carp which had overflowed from their garden ponds, and sold them back to their ‘owners’. Then there was the guy who
billed his Local Authority for a caravan which he already
owned - at an inflated price of course.
It was disappointing though that the normally stalwart Northerners around here didn’t quite get into the Christmas spirit by decorating their temporary ‘tin tents’ with santas,
reindeer and lights. Maybe by next Christmas they will be more settled and get around to it.
In fact, given todays extortionate house prices, caravan dwelling could be the way to go. At least there are finally mutterings about my own long held, if quite radical, belief
that elderly couples should be given incentives to move to smaller properties, thus freeing up the larger social housing stock for families.
Having given you food for thought over the Singha let’s get back to the real world, with a brief look at the all important January Sales.
I do actually remember when they started in January. That was in the bad old days when we had to stagger into work on January 1st and try to look busy. Then came the Boxing
Day start to the sales, with the traditional queues of idiots clutching thermos flasks and blankets outside Harrods. This Christmas though shoppers just didn’t shop enough, at least not enough for the shareholders of Debenhams and the like,
who slashed prices in early December. Rising house prices and debt were of course blamed, with Internet shopping thrown in for good measure. Whatever
the reason there were bargains to be had, and with the prospect of further reductions this month I live in hope of a pair of Jimmy Choos for a tenner. Well, a girl can dream.
At least it all gives the tabloids something to moan about.
Much of 2007’s newsprint was given over to healthy eating, fuelled no doubt by rising levels of obesity, NHS waiting lists, and the increasing number of celebrity chefs. Even the gardening pages got in on the act with tips on growing pak
choi during winter months.
But the star of 2007 has to be the cranberry. Once limited to an annual dollop on the turkey, it is now hailed as the wonder de-tox fruit guaranteed to maintain a healthy glow.
Its price of course reflects its new found status, although I do quite like the idea of cranberry juice with vodka. Very healthy.
Whatever happened to the ‘apple a day?’ Guaranteed to provide all our needs, especially if you left the skin on as well for roughage. Now we need 5 portions of fruit and
vegetables a day which, with a typical British diet, really isn’t that easy to achieve. Fortunately baked beans are included in the 5 but what about the humble potato? Is it OK mashed, but a no go area when turned into chips? And what about the end product of cocoa beans - or is that being a little too optimistic?
A friend really took the governments ‘5 a day’ edict to heart with literally 5 pieces of fruit as well as the usual vegetables. Her bowels have never been better, but her dentists’ bill is set to go off the Richter scale due to acid erosion. So be thankful for the papaya pop pop lady, and have a healthy New Year
Arts & Culture – Alvar Aalto
This month our fourth featured architect brings with him more than
his fair share of controversy – Frank Gehry.
Where other architects have sought to take into consideration the natural environment, Gehrys constructions attack the senses. This confrontational approach alienates
many critics but is equally adored by others. So what has led Gehry into
this style? Find out right here... Frank Owen Gehry (born Ephraim Owen Goldberg,
February 28, 1929) is a Pritzker Prize winning architect based in Los Angeles, California. Gehry was born into a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario and holds dual
citizenship. His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions. Many museums, companies, and cities seek Gehry’s services as a badge of distinction, beyond the product he delivers. His best known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Dancing House in Prague, Czech Republic, and his private residence in Santa Monica, California, which jump-started his career, lifting it from the status of “paper architecture”, a phenomenon which many famous architects have experienced in their formative decades through experimentation almost exclusively on paper before receiving their first major commission in later years.
In 1947 Gehry moved to California, got a job driving a delivery truck, and
studied at Los Angeles City College, eventually to graduate from the University
of Southern California’s School of Architecture.
He lives in Santa Monica, California, continuing to practice out of Los Angeles.
The Gehry Residence is Frank Gehry’s own house. It was originally an extension,
designed by Gehry built around an existing house. It makes use of unconventional
materials, such as chain link fence and corrugated steel. It is sometimes considered
one of the earliest deconstructivist buildings, although Gehry himself denies that
it was deconstructivism.
The Gehry Residence is located in Santa Monica, California. In 1977 Frank and
Berta Gehry bought a pink Dutch colonial that was originally built in 1920. Gehry
wanted to explore with the materials he was already using: metal, plywood, chain
link fencing, and wood framing. He chose to wrap the outside of the house with
a new exterior while still leaving the old exterior visible.
Many of Gehry’s neighbours were not happy at the unusual building being built in
their neighbourhood. It’s rumoured that one neighbour used to regularly bring his
dog to defecate on Gehry’s lawn, in protest.
The warped forms of Frank Gehry’s structures are classified sometimes as being of
the deconstructivist, or “DeCon” school of postmodernist architecture, whether
or not he consciously holds such inclinations. Gehry himself disavows any
association with the movement and claims no formal alliance to any particular
architectural movement in general.
The DeCon movement stems from a series of discussions between French
philosopher Jaques Derrida and architect Peter Eisenman.
DeCon structures are not required to reflect specific social or universal ideas, such
as speed or universality of form, and they do not reflect a belief that form follows
function. Gehry’s own Santa Monica residence is a commonly cited example of
deconstructivist architecture as it was so drastically divorced from its original
context, and in such a manner, as to subvert its original spatial intention.
Gehry is sometimes associated with what is known as the “Los Angeles School”, or the “Santa Monica
School” of architecture.
Gehry spent many years working in traditional architecture; he worked for the firms Pereira and
Luckman, Victor Gruen Associates, and Andre Remondet. In 1967, he created his own firm, Frank O.
Gehry and Associates.
He experienced financial difficulties during much of his firm’s early days. He expressed creativity in
his own home, the Gehry Residence, which he used as a creative launch pad, playing with shapes and
textures. Gehry had an epiphany when a guest at his house asked why he was so creative with his home,
but so reserved and traditional in the execution of his work. Gehry decided to take his work in a new
direction.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao work is perceived to be Gehry’s most iconic and representative
work, and was a culmination of Gehry’s new directions and experimentation with surfaces and shapes.
With the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Gehry gained a reputation for building on time and budget in a
business where delays and cost overruns are common. Ironically, his Walt Disney Concert Hall is often
regarded as a “copy” of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, despite the fact that it was actually designed
years before the Guggenheim Bilbao was.
Gehry explained three things he does to keep his projects on time and budget. First, he ensures that
what he calls the “organization of the artist” will prevail during construction, in order to prevent political and business interests from interfering with design and thus achieve a result as close as possible to the original design drawings. Secondly, he makes sure he has a detailed and realistic cost estimate before proceeding with a building.
Thirdly, he maintains a close relationship with area builders to ensure projected costs are met. His privately developed Gehry Technologies adapts and employs CATIA, a parametric modelling and analysis software originally designed for the aerospace and auto industries by Dassault Systems of France. CATIA streamlines not only the engineering aspects of architecture, but also broader project management to drastically reduce the costs associated with the traditional top-down organizational approach, while enabling the architect to create heretofore physically unconceivable structural frameworks. Frank Gehry also designed a wristwatch, marketed by Fossil. Instead of a standard clock face, Gehry’s watch displays a digital text of the way a person might speak the time aloud. For instance, if the time were 1:54 P.M., it would read “6 ‘til
2”; or at 12:30 A.M., it would read “half-past midnight”. In 2004, Gehry designed a bottle for Wyborowa Vodka.
Gehry has, in recent works, made an attempt to move away from titanium surfaces, and admirers and critics alike are waiting to see whether Gehry is able to produce equally compelling forms in a different idiom. Gehry is working with different textures and lighting, incorporating these into the framework of his usual approach. He is incorporating these ideas in new projects, including a small office complex on the West Side of Manhattan.
Gehry is currently working on the Barclays Centre, the new NBA arena for the
New Jersey Nets. Located in Brooklyn, New York, it is planned to open by 2010.
It will seat about 18,000 people.
As mentioned Gehry has his critics, the Los Angeles Times said, The Disney
Centre in downtown Los Angeles has “roasted the sidewalk to 140 degrees
Fahrenheit, enough to melt plastic and cause serious sunburn to people standing
on the street”.
“GARDEN OF THE POWER”
An exhibition by Eriko Ishikawa, 8-30 January 2008.
“Garden of the Power” is Bangkok based Japanese artist Eriko Ishikawa first solo exhibition in Thailand. This exhibition follows two successful solo exhibitions
in Japan. Eriko will be showing a range of small and large scale collage style oil
paintings using a variety of techniques. Her work is characterised by her beautiful
dreamlike flowers and pastel colour pallet. Eriko’s use of light and strong strokes
make the flowers come to life front of you. Since Eriko’s move to Thailand in 2005
she has been experimenting with different techniques. In the majority of her paintings
her backgrounds have been built up with bus tickets, newspapers and special fabrics
to express her life style in Thailand. The collage backgrounds give the paintings a
semi-abstract feel and help the visitor to focus on the beauty of the flowers. Eriko was born in Yokohama, Japan, and received her undergraduate and master degree of Art and Design at the Yokohama collage of art. In Japan she exhibited frequently and her talent and work was recognised and awarded by several institutions such as the Shoutou Art Museum. She received the Grand Prize of Fine Arts for Flowers by Kasai-Shi in 2004. In 2005 Eriko moved to Thailand to Broaden her experience and work in significantly different environment than her home country Japan. Currently she is teaching art at the Japanese International School.
“WINDS OF PERSIA”
An exhibition by Japanese photographer Hirokazu Yuasa, 3-30 January 2008.
‘Winds of Persia” is Bangkok based Japanese photographer Hirokazu Yuasa’s
first solo exhibition in Thailand. In this exhibition he will show his beautiful picture
series about Iran. Hirokazu has been fascinated with Iran for tens of years and
he is determined to show the visitor what an incredible country it really is.
The artist says: “...There is lots of terrible news about Iran but as a Japanese proverb
says ‘listen 100 times is not as much as see it one times yourself’. If you see it you
would have a totally different impression...” The artist invites you to come and see Iran through his eyes. Hirokazu has studied Iran since he was a high school student. In 1985, while studying at the University of Tokyo, he made his first ever overseas trip to Iran. Since university he has been back several times, often not shunting war zones to get to places of his personal interest. His last trip was in 2007. Most of the photos on show were made during this trip. The Rotunda Gallery & the Garden Galleries
are at the Neilson Hays Library, 195 Surawong Road, Bangkok (Tel. 02-233 1731) and it’s opening hours are: Tuesday-Sunday 9.30 am - 5.00 pm
Useful Telephone Numbers for Hua Hin
Railway station
032-512 770, 032-511 073
Bus station of Hua Hin
032-511 654, 032-512 543
Bus station of Prachuabkirikhan
032-601 901
Bus station of Pranburi
032-621 443
Hua Hin Hospital
032-520 401
Dog Rescue Center
0-1981 4406
Wild life Rescue Center (Tayang)
032-458 135
Department of Land Cha-am office:
032- 430 846-7
Department of Land Hua Hin office:
032-536 164, 032-512 407
Department of Land Prachuabkirikhan:
032-611 211
Department of Land Pranburi
032-622 199
Local Government (Hua Hin)
032-521 340, 532 471
Local water supply
032-511 677
The Power Board of Hua Hin
032-512 215, 032 513 165
Observer office:
032-531 078
Red Cross.
032-512 567
San Paolo Hospital
032-532 576-85
Polyclinic International
032-516 424, 032-516 425
Shell Cooking Gas
032-511 144, 032- 515 620
The Communication Authority of Thailand
(Hua Hin)
032-511 351
Rotary Club of Hua Hin
0-1916 6637
Meeting every Thursday 8.pm
at Hua Hin Grand Hotel & Plaza
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