Featured in the viewer above: Design research & development of a house . . . based on the
Form & Story themes of my work.
The Hero's Journey House is about the epic archetypal journey of Daedalus. In ancient Greek mythology, Daedalus was the legendary architect who invented, designed, and built the world's first Labyrinth, which I believe to be not only a metaphor for the floor plan of the human condition but also the conceptual Floor Plan of the Architecture of the World.
(I know, I'm just catching up with the insights of the ancient Greeks!)
The twin themes of Daedalus and the Labyrinth thread through my work. I named one of my books Daedalus 9. I weave the themes through my paintings, featured in my book HENRY TRUCKS \u2014 PAINTER : ancient myths meet modern landscapes | 1995-2010, titling many of them variations of Deadalus, Labyrinth, Hero's Journey, and The Hero's Journey House\u2014or Crete, where Daedalus built the Labyrinth. I wrote about Daedalus and his Labyrinth for Peter Waldman's book
Connective Tissues, m
y essay serving as the book's Epilogue: "
Labyrinth R.U.N."
In that essay, I propose that the Labyrinth comprises three unified parts: Tower, Maze, and Lawn, which I convey in many ways in "Labyrinth R.U.N."\u2014for example, through my painting Labyrinth ii.
The Hero's Journey House is Part 1 of a trilogy that I call The Daedalus Project, which will "book" through buildings, so to speak, Deadalus's journey. The house, well as LIVE B.R.A.V.E. | The Middleton Memorial, will give architectural expression to this tapestry of themes.
The Hero's Journey House is a metaphor. A metaphor for life.
Life is a labyrinth. We thread our way through as best we can, continually crossing one threshold after another, stepping out of our ordinary world into a special world, called to a brave adventure, an endless brave adventure of work and love, health and endeavor, treading a tortured path of twists and turns, dodging danger, confronting adversity, making bad choices, good choices, dizzy and disoriented, going this way instead of that way . . . getting lost. But eventually, we hope, finding our way to the clearing: the victory Lawn.
Time after time.
The Hero's Journey House is a metaphor. A metaphor for the universal saga, the universal Story, a journey-cycle simultaneously inner and outer: Departure, Transformation, and Return.
\u201cA hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.\u201d
\u2014Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
ARCHITECTURE IS A METAPHOR FOR THE FORM & STORY OF THE WORLD
THE WORLD IS A LABYRINTH
THE HERO'S JOURNEY HOUSE GIVES PERSONAL ARTISTIC EXPRESSION TO OUR LABYRINTH R.U.N.
METAPHORICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY, IF NOT ALSO FORMALLY AND SPATIALLY, ARCHITECTURE REPRESENTS THE HERO'S JOURNEY\u2015THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE LABYRINTH: TOWER, MAZE, AND LAWN
ARCHITECTURE IS A HERO'S JOURNEY
Part 2: Flight Master
Part 3: Daedalus's Return
ARCHITECTURE IS THE STAGE SET FOR THE DRAMA OF LIFE\u2015THE DRAMA OF LIFE AND DEATH
ARCHITECTURE IS A STORY TOLD THROUGH A BUILDING
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Follow these links to explore my Legacy Labyrinth . . .
work that I hope will inspire you the way other people's work inspires me:
Henry Trucks | Madison Gray | Metaphysical Warrior | The Architect Painter
The Hero's Journey House | The Architect Painter Press
\u265e|7 In addition to the 11 main galleries in my Legacy Labyrinth\u2014indicated by the 11 "Master Links" listed above\u2014the following Internet Archive galleries display other aspects of my work:
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\u201cA hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.\u201d
\u2014Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
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Actively involved in architectural education since 1989\u2014his first gig was as a visiting critic for a graduate design studio at The University of Texas at Arlington\u2014Hildner received, in 1993, while teaching full-time at New Jersey Institute of Technology, a "New Faculty Award" from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture for excellence in teaching. He has variously lectured, conducted seminars on architectural theory, and led design studios at many universities\u2014including University of Tennessee, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Pratt Institute, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design | The New School, and Syracuse University Florence, where he participated in the spring 2016 symposium on Formalism (code name: "The F Word"). His symposium presentation, "Visual Ef9ects," as well as his Syracuse University Florence follow-up lecture, "The House of the Human Face," form the basis for his book Visual Ef9ects.
A Ventures Foundation, New York City, awarded Hildner a generous grant in 2012 to support his endeavor as a painter. His artwork Ithaca Collage (40 x 40 in.) was displayed at The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, New Jersey, in their 2010 juried International "Art in Architecture" Exhibition. In 2012, he created the commissioned giclee-on-canvas Ithaca g aka Chess Lawn (1 x 1.85 m), a digital remix of his oil on canvas Ithaca (16 x 20 in.), for the offices of the Fujitsu Corporation in Hamburg, Germany. His project Dante\u200a|\u200aTelescope House won the 1995 New Jersey Chapter of The American Institute of Architects \u201cBlue Ribbon Award for Excellence in Design.\u201d
Write Brave.
Paint Brave.
Architect Brave.
