Mirrors of Paradise: The Gardens of Fernando Caruncho

Rating:
Summary: A Study Of Landscape As A Facet Of The Imagination
Review: Mirrors of Paradise is a truly inspired presentation of a diverse sampling of Fernando Caruncho's architectural genius writ large on the landscape. A highly imaginative gardener by disposition, Caruncho possesses an idiosyncratic eye for wrinkles in the formal geometry of what is usually mundane. And the capacity to ingeniously comment on what he observes through design innovations which exhibit both wit and poignancy. To take but one example of this phenomena, in the Ollauri Garden which was designed in the mid nineteen-eighties, where a traditional water jet might be placed in the middle of numerous individual fountains making up a large flat reflecting pool, Caruncho plants single tall cypress trees in stone troughs. What a revelation this transformation of the ordinary creates! Such touches of imaginative whimsy permeate this man's work. But it is not caprice for its own sake. Every action is deliberate and conveys meaning. Every formal element tells a story. Mirrors Of Paradise is exceptionally well-designed, well-written, and contains a wealth of photographic images that do great justice to a man's work which is visually stunning, intellectually sophisticated and imaginatively pure.