a visit to the museum and so long, frank lloyd wright

the other day, i went to the museum of the decorative arts in madrid.

 i originally went there to see an exhibit about the works of gianni versace, which was fantastic albeit a little short. there were valentino, chanel, ysl and of course, versace clothes on display, along with decorative objects like porcelain jars, silver candleholders and so on, following the theme of each room of the exhibition. after walking through all the rooms twice, in a state of both awe and admiration at the delicate craftmanship of the items that surrounded me, i decided to see the rest of the museum since i didn't have any plans that afternoon. plus, it was free.

opposite to the versace exhibit, a sign pointed to the entrance of an exhibit about the evolution of design throughout the ninteenth and twentieth centuries that caught my eye, so i walked in.

the exhibit was definitely aimed at a more specialised public than the versace one, with a lot of technical terms explaining every detail in the small signs next to the objects in display, which varied greatly from each other in size and appearance. all of them were typical household items: cups, plates, chairs, and tables abounded, some prettier than others, but all of them on elevated pedestals, given the same reverence and space that would be offered to a picasso painting. 

in a room off to the right, with an entrance so poorly lit i almost skipped it entirely, there was a window pane, designed by non other than frank lloyd wright. 

of course, my first thought wasn't "wow, i can't believe this window was designed by the american architect frank lloyd wright!" it was "oh, it's that guy from the simon and garfunkel song." which is a separate but equally nerdy statement. i took a picture of the sign next to it. not only because i thought it was kinda funny but also because "so long, frank lloyd wright" is one of, if not my absolute favourite simon and garfunkel song of all time.

as i stated previously, frank lloyd wright was an american architect born in 1867 who revolutionized design and architecture with his unique vision. he created the term organic architecture to describe a philosophy of architecture that promotes the harmony between man-made creations and nature, partly inspired by elements of japanese architecture. 

this is best exemplified by his most well known work: the kaufmann residence, also known as fallingwater. the house is built right above a waterfall, in the middle of a forest in pennsylvania. he also was responsible for the creation of other important buildings, like the guggenheim museum in new york.

a reddit post i made in 2020

hi.

i found this at 3am while scrubbing my old reddit account clean on a whim and decided to archive it here. its poorly written and not really much of a story. but i don't care because it meant something to 2020 me, and it still means something to me now.

so, here it is, unedited.

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i know no ones gonna see this. but here are some things i learned about my grandad today

my grandad died before i was born. he was an avid smoker, and died of lung cancer because of this. i never met him. most of the things written here i already knew, but i didnt dare to interrupt my mom while she said them.

it was late when i woke up, but i made no effort to stand from where i was on my bed. my mom came into my room and raised the blinds. she looked at the unfinished drawing on my desk, and told my dad, who also came in to see it as well. it wasn't impressive. im not the best artist. my dad said "theres the artist your dad wanted". and my mom, nostalgic as ever, starts to tell me about him.

he was studying odontology before dropping out and becoming a professor. since his parents didn't want to pay for those studies he abandoned, he started to sell books.

he was good with languages and loved literature. he knew french, english and german. he wrote a lot of stories, some of which were transcribed into a blog my aunt made. he often took his students on field trips to a nearby river. when he retired, he joined a theatre club. he always told anecdotes to my mother and her siblings.

what really motivated me to tell this whole thing to random people on the internet though, was what my mom said next.

"he always wanted us to be creative. artists. he would be proud of you."

i think

i want him to be proud of me.

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i still want him to be proud of me.