Yesterday's lecture and books signing by Mr John Saladino was all and more that I expected. That he would show slides of his latest book Villa was predictable. (I overheard someone in the queue for the signing exclaim that the contents of the book were the same as the slide show.) But I must tell you these slides – although whoever had digitized them for Mr Saladino should be ashamed of letting them out of the door – were accompanied by photos of other work, equally impressive, as driven by profound knowledge of architectural principles and as masterly decorative as might be expected from this man – a man for whom the whole room stood and applauded on his entrance. Mr Saladino warned his audience that the lecture would take about an hour, but because of his photos, his knowledge, his humor, his enthusiasm, his self-deprecation and wit, it seemed by the end too short a time.
Below a photo of the elevator shaft I mentioned in yesterday's post - not green or verdigris, as in my memory, but stone. It was the archway that had been treated to resemble oxidized bronze.
The title A reward? Mr Saladino mentioned a number of times axes at the end of which were visual rewards, eye-catchers.
Photo of elevator hallway by René Stoeltie from Style by Saladino, The Monacelli Press, 2000.
Photo of Yummy Scrumptious and Mr Saladino courtesy of my iPhone and my lack of reading glasses.
