Dancing about Architecture

BIG OOPS! Forgot about the JFC discussion starting tonight.
Look for the discussion to start tomorrow. Thanks guys! 6:06EST

They say that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, but I think that talking about art can fall into the same category.

But what about writing philosophy using architecture ? Are you dancing in pairs then?

And what the hell does it have to do with Austin Fridays?

Well it leads us to the Austin's SoGoprah book club pick of The Fountainhead.

Austin says introducing the book says that it's about "Idealism and the price of compromise." And in one sentence. Austin wrote a whole book about dancing about architecture or the story of Hollywood.

The Fountainhead is the story of Howard Roark, an idealistic young architect who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision. The book follows his battle to practice modern architecture, which he believes to be superior, despite an established practices.

Why architecture? The reason Rand used architecture is because it unlike other professions it combines art and science. Were the main character Howard Roark an artist of another sort (canvas painter, illustrator, author, etc.), any study he did of materials and any knowledge he had of cutting expenses without compromising durability, would be inconsequential to the price customers pay for the artist's product. However, shelter being vital to human survival and comfort, and it being the most expensive financial outlay for the majority of people, Roark's ingenuity has repercussions for all of society. Roark's need to feel aesthetic satisfaction toward his work synthesizes his art with his knowledge of science, and with it, unifies art and science as such in the book, and so too merges Roark's character with the two key aspects of his profession.

Austin is no different. As an actor/artist he needs to feel aesthetic satisfaction toward his work, synthesizing his art with his knowledge of the science of success in Hollywood. Because it is a science, there is a formula, there is a method, there are outcomes. Do you compromise your art for success or do you not follow the method/system for your art? A rock and a hard place.

But here's the deal, it's obvious that he's reading it (most likely again), you can tell from recent pictures he's almost half way through it.

But why is he letting others know he's reading it? What is he trying to tell people? Is it about himself? Is he letting fans who are unsuspecting that there is a system to Hollywood? Is trying to say something else about Hollywood? (To those who have read it think the character Gail Wynand and his tabloid, The Banner)

Or is he saying that he is trying to find his balance and doing to so he can have both on his own terms? Trying to impart some wisdom other, that all of us do the same, trying to find the balance.

An Austin Friday about architecture, or art, or Hollywood, or finding the balance in life, or maybe just dancing.



Photos: Austin Nichols Journal, OTH forums, RileyCat12 Thanks bunches!