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An Evening with Xavier Veilhan's new exhibition "Architectones"

"I am feeling very warm right now
Please don't disappear
I am spacing out with you..
Well it's very hard for me to say these things in your presence
So how does it make you feel? " (here)

all photos by David John

Last night, Xavier Veilhan kindly showed us his latest works from the "Architectones" series that are currently installed at the Sheats-Goldstein Residence. (Read about his preview work at Neutra's VDL here). I arrived early, shuttling up the hill, walking solo down the dense jungle driveway, passing the sci-fi mailbox to the home. The night was strangely gray and cold. On my last visit to this home, I spent hours inside the James Turrell skypsace, watching the colors drip from the warm enveloping LA sky as if I was in a melting hologram. (Thank you Duncan!)

But tonight, we were here for Xavier Veilhan.

Two of Veilhan's works are based on photographs that were taken during construction of the home. He has brought memories of the home to life in a bronze table work (complete with a dog) and a green-painted aluminum sculpture that casually rests, staring into the vastness of a mesmerizing and confusing city that many of us call home, Los Angeles. Many of the works are based on the form of the triangle, an ode to Lautner.

A City of the Future: Though Veilhan's works appear to gaze into history's eyes and its famous dweller, James Goldstein, they also appear to be presenting a gift to the home, and to us onlookers. Over the pool, white cords are carefully stretching, creating a new triangular form, a further nod to Lautner. As I left the installation, driving down into manic Beverly Hills, I thought to myself about the positive energy this home has created over the years, drawing "light" visionaries, fueled poets, rocking musicians, and even supermodels to visit and celebrate.

Veilhan's work are unexpectedly sentimental when you are in their presence, and when you take the time to stand next to them on the edge with the doors opens, the air still, gazing into the grey night speckled with city lights. You can almost feel John Lautner over your shoulder, whispering about the city below, all that is to become.

And you believe. And you feel. And you even know. - David John

"Don't be light.
Fabricating a new abandon
We don't see the master' hand
We bang on gold tamourines "