Through a selection of work spanning over the past five decades, Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Professor and Painter/Architect Tony Candido presents his visionary idea of the interplay between humanity and the contemporary environment and what the future of architecture could be in the exhibition The Great White Whale Is Black. After studying under Mies van der Rohe and working with I.M. Pei, Candido decided in 1957 to work independently in his painting studio, where he continues today. The exhibition focuses on Candido’s calligraphic brush and ink paintings and drawings, which have been an important part of his output since1967. The Great White Whale Is Black, a bold expression of one man’s life vision, illustrates Candido’s commitment to art and architecture, and includes the following works selected by Candido:

Cable Cities- visionary paintings and drawings of broad sweeping structures which he views as part of the geography, and through which we can regain our landscape;

Asahikawa Heads- large calligraphic brush and ink heads, which will be on view for the first time in the U.S. (previously shown: International Design Forum, Japan in 1988);

Abstract Brush Strokes- for Candido, the brush stroke is the concrete formative element through which a reality far greater than the apparent is realized;

Double Images- paintings and drawings motivated by Candido’s sense of what he sees as the duality in man’s mind of nature and the abstract.

A selection of student designs for the Urban Farm, a project which Candido conceived and introduced at The Cooper Union in 1998, will be part of the exhibition.

Tony Candido received his Bachelor of Architecture from IIT under the directorship of Mies van der Rohe and training in City Planning under the directorship of Ludwig Hilberseimer. He made the first design for Konrad Wachsmann’s Air Force Hangar’s longitudinal elevation under Wachsmann’s supervision. He was an Architectural Designer with I.M. Pei from 1954-57 and amongst other projects, designed a single support 180-foot diameter steel and glass structure – a first. Candido also made a major contribution to the design of the U.S. Pavilion for Expo ‘70 by Davis and Brody Architects and went to Japan in 1969 to supervise its design and construction.