It was just a few days ago I came across the work of Bodys Isek Kingelez, and I regret discovering it so late. He was a model builder of fantastic vision and impressive creativity. If that wasn't enough, these quotes of his seal the deal in my mind:
Without a model, you are nowhere. A nation that can’t make models is a nation that doesn’t understand things, a nation that doesn’t live.
and
If you succeed in building a model you visualize what is living inside you so the outside world can adapt it, study it, discover it, see it.
The following video gives a good overview of the 2018 MOMA Kingelez exhibit. I found the camera work a little annoying, but you'll see a decent selection of models.
Also, make sure you check out the images of the MOMA exhibit of his work. I'm impressed with how his work was displayed, and there's lots of lessons there for modellers of all sorts.
And all that was done with paper, cardboard, cast-off commercial packaging, push-pins, straws, scissors, glue, Gillette razor blades, and other odds-and-ends.
One last video. This one is an interview with Sarah Suzuki, the MOMA curator of the 2018 Kingelez exhibit. Superficially this might look like a dry, talking-heads type of thing, but around the 4 minute mark things start to get interesting when she begins talking about Kingelez's beginnings, how he started building these models, and his discovery by the mainstream art world in 1989. Suzuki is an interesting speaker, and the video is pretty much cant and jargon free.
Around the 10 minute mark there's an interesting exchange where they try to classify and slot Kingelez's work. Was he an architect, sculptor, etc? Model maker of the miniature building folk art heritage sort doesn't get mentioned, but his work, origin story, and practice has all the hallmarks. It is something of the human experience, independent of place or time of origin. I need to think some more about this.
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