Private life of Richard Meier which he’s not ashamed to exhibit

There is an exhibition of Richard Meier’s collages taking place in Saint Petersburg's Stroganov Palace. I couldn’t miss such an opportunity to see “the dark side” of a master. Meier is an illustrious architect honored with the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In the course of his 50 years career Meier has been making collages and he proclaims they are tighten closely to his design process. I expected his works were looking like architecture sketches made in mixed media, but reality has surprised me.

"Meier has an eye, and a mind to use it. He doesn't create all those collages at night at home for nothing.  The collage making is his midnight boxing ring.  It keeps the hand and the eye trained."

John Hedjuk

Around 40 collages are exposed on the exhibition alternating with soviet posters which are used a lot in Meiers works.

Collages contain many personal artefacts: tickets, boarding passes, visit cards, photographs. Almost every piece has a nude image in canvas. This adds to collages a strong sense of intimacy, like we have a chance to peep at Meiers daily routine - where he goes, what he sees, whom he meets. Meier itself admitted once in an interview: "It's a private thing that I do [collages]. My architecture is public. This is private."

But it seems this part of his privacy he can easily share with public. Probably talking about public-private things he means the point of purpose. Architecture is created to be used by other people, while collages work only for his inner process of design.

But let’s switch to collages themselves. First of all they are nonrepresentational. They do not communicate in a straight way, there is no storytelling or narrative in every single work. Food, sex, politics, events, advertising, animals, soviet posters – all is mixed and shaken up. Sometimes you can see some hidden messages but it mostly depends on your imagination.

Generally I would say that his collages are dedicated to colors and composition. In both lines the correlation with his architecture becomes apparent.

Firstly, the color. Meier is obsessed with white. If we look at his architecture – always white. The same in collages there is a lot of air, white paper, free space. And calm, reserved colors of used materials.

The second, composition. Square with a grid – such a modernistic approach to collage making. Composition looks very well-thought, not ruled by expression but deeply organized in every small detail, even (and especially) in disorders of the grid. On a first glance works reminded me a sketchbook more than an art pieces. So they are.   

“I have been producing collages ‘for nearly fifty five years, many of the early ones were done during long flights or in the waiting areas at airports. Despite their inherent uniqueness layered compositions of “found” papers, shapes and colors – these collages are very much of a piece with my architecture. As a presentation drawing is no substitute for the physical experience of architecture, visual power of the collages derives from ‘the suggestion of “space” that we do not see: small fragments of letters and pictures with their own histories, former uses and meanings”, – says Richard Meier

Some people can claim that that’s impossible to understand anything or the exhibition is simply boring. But they probably do not have any deal with architecture. As for me exhibits were instructive in terms of understanding Meiers design approach through his more personal works than just photos of his buildings.

Olga Lyatifova, IAD Level 5