A compilation of Rudy Ricciotti's opinion pieces about 59 artists and personalities.
If his world famous architectural creations made Rudy Ricciotti's fame, his outspokeness is just as mythical. This publication is yet another example. The architect lists his considerations, sometimes biting, sometimes admiring, but always punchy, about fifty-nine personalities from
Andy Warhol to
Ettore Sottsass through
Pierre Soulages, Francis Bacon or
Claude Viallat. Thus,
Malevitch sees himself described as a "murderer", while Oscar Niemeyer finds himself “at the right hand of God” but “is living in Hell because of the cement mixer”, while
Beuys is reduced to a “poor pilot, coyote tamer and reporter for the
Wall Street Journal.”
French
architect and engineer of Italian origin, Rudy Ricciotti (born in 1952 in Kouba, Algeria, lives and works in Bandol in the Var region), recipient of the Grand Prix National de l'Architecture in 2006, is notably the architect of the
Mucem in Marseille. Ricciotti spent his childhood in Camargue after his family left Algier. He learned about the world of construction by accompanying his father, a bricklayer, to building sites, but he also quickly discovered the emotional and formative power of the works of great artists, writers, filmmakers and others, which would secretly nourish his work as an architect. The author of numerous books on architecture, he is now also a recognised thinker on the ethical and aesthetic issues that should motivate contemporary architecture.
