Wherever we travel in the world we find cities building and rebuilding themselves. From Pyongyang in North Korea to Seattle on the west coast of the US and also back at home in London, there is no dearth of modern architecture to love or loathe.
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Our world is full of geometrical shapes, many of them created by ourselves. Doors and windows, roofs, walls and fences, containers, art of all kinds … You will find geometry wherever you look in the manmade environment. But what about nature?
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It is said that an early explorer in the region we now call Death Valley led his mule to a spring-fed pool to drink. The mule refused as the water was briny despite being miles from the sea. From this simple event Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, earned its name.
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When the Spanish invaded and conquered much of the American south west, one of their first acts was to build missions. They claimed they were saving the souls of the indigenous ‘heathens’ but they had a much more worldly agenda. Their motivation was to subdue, control and in due course employ the local population to exploit the resources of their newly acquired territory.
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Islamic art shuns the depiction of living figures, whether human or animal, partly to avoid any suggestion of idolatry and partly because it is believed that the creation of living forms is Allah’s prerogative. Instead the emphasis is on geometric forms as well as calligraphy and abstract floral motifs.
