Category Archives: Art and design

Your face as face mask art

Posted on April 22, 2020 by David Brussat

Years ago, I urged Providence artists to create murals designed to look like the buildings on which they were painted. A façade with no windows could be painted to look like the rest of the building. Humans could be leaning … Continue reading →

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A deliriously lovely chapter

Posted on March 24, 2020 by David Brussat

One of the most beautiful passages in contemporary literary history will surely be, when it is published on May 5, chapter 20, “Sunlight on the Furniture,” in Villa of Delirium, by the French author Adrien Goetz. Its English translation by … Continue reading →

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A resurgence of murals

Posted on December 12, 2019 by David Brussat

Unlike modern architecture’s rejection of art as integral to building design, classical architecture welcomes painting and sculpture as part and parcel of a building’s beauty. Murals have embellished the world’s greatest buildings for centuries, but with modern architecture in control … Continue reading →

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Gorham silver show @ RISD

Posted on October 10, 2019 by David Brussat

Once you are inside RISD’s Moneo monstrosity of an addition (2008) to its Art Museum you find that the interior is almost as tedious, but unlike the exterior it is, on occasion, graced with art so beautiful that you wonder … Continue reading →

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Renoir’s “problem nudes”

Posted on August 22, 2019 by David Brussat

I have not seen “Renoir: The Body, The Senses,” an exhibition at the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, but an online correspondent sent me a titillating review of it by Peter Schjeldahl of The New Yorker, which is entitled … Continue reading →

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Vid cities in ‘Fortnite’ game

Posted on March 29, 2019 by David Brussat

I’ve written several posts on the Assassin’s Creed video games, which take place in cities like Venice, Florence and London long ago. Recently, the 13-year-old son of a member of the Pro-Urb online discussion group published on his blog a … Continue reading →

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Assassin’s Creed does Athens

Posted on March 21, 2019 by David Brussat

Here is an eight-minute video on the reconstruction of ancient Athens by game-maker Ubisoft for the latest episode (if that’s what it’s called) of Assassin’s Creed. Previous episodes have invited us into highly realistic reconstructions of Renaissance Venice and Florence … Continue reading →

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Review: Ruggles on beauty

Posted on February 25, 2019 by David Brussat

Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture, by Denver architect Donald Ruggles, reflects the ancient desire to find the key to the puzzle, in this case the puzzle of architecture. Why are some buildings beautiful and others not? Find the answer and bottle … Continue reading →

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SpongeBob HouseFancy

Posted on December 9, 2018 by David Brussat

The other day my son Billy replayed for me an episode he had just watched of “SpongeBob SquarePants” (a cartoon that takes place at the bottom of the ocean). Billy, who is 9, thought I would like it, and he … Continue reading →

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Humanities in Providence

Posted on October 3, 2018 by David Brussat

Two of my favorite buildings will host humanities events on Thursday and Friday of this week. If you are attending the silent auction sponsored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities tomorrow, you will see the Masonic Temple, now … Continue reading →

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