Most travel books seek to shrink the known world in some way. Full of beautiful photos, history and expression of experience, they make a large planet seem smaller. Then there’s “Accidentally Wes Anderson,” which does that but through a very particular lens.
Wally Koval and his wife, Amanda, were enthusiastic travelers before they started an Instagram account with daily photos of places around the world that, well, looked like they might appear in the works of Anderson, a Houston-born filmmaker. Anderson’s nine films — the 10th has been delayed because of the pandemic — routinely display a certain visual aesthetic that is easy to identify when seen and difficult to pinpoint with words. Little attributes appear and reappear in his work: the use of pastels, repetition in miniature, symmetry. Sometimes, a grand but rundown building has a bit of Anderson flair. Other times, it’s a lonely water pump, brightly colored against a sparkling sea.
The book is more than just an assemblage of photos randomly submitted and published. The Kovals’ curatorial process is sharp, and the sites organized by continent. Also included is a bit of background on each locale, freeing it from a loose association to Anderson’s films.
“The history of these places is as important to us as the symmetry and the pastel palette,” Wally Koval says. “We wanted to provide some substance with the context. So, hopefully, people will learn something interesting along the way as opposed to seeing a random photo with no credit.”
If anything, “Accidentally Wes Anderson” underscores how some architectural trends extend far beyond the places we routinely see them in the United States: A building in Portugal looks like it might have a twin in Miami. And the book also finds that little cultural totems and necessities — post offices, water supply stations, lighthouses and such — are often global.
The end result of “Accidentally Wes Anderson” isn’t necessarily a punch list of places to see on a single trip but, rather, lovely little stations around the world all strangely united in some little way by their design or the feeling they convey accompanied by their surroundings. They’re sweet and striking little places that can spark a little melancholy or joy. Like a Wes Anderson film.
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November 08, 2020 at 01:00PM
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‘Accidentally Wes Anderson’ both sweet and striking - Houston Chronicle
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