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Corea; a cada época, su traje
Será por la lejanía, tanto física como cultural, que Asia siempre fascina. Y si eso pasa ahora que internet hace que cualquier lugar del mundo esté a la vuelta de la esquina, no puedo ni imaginar en la Edad Media o el Renacimiento, cuando la única manera era coger un barco, o un caballo, y tirar millas esquivando ladrones, guerras, temporales y demás aventuras que se pusieran en tu camino. Pero claro, luego lees a Marco Polo y entiendes que la gente se arriesgara. También está el hecho de que estos países tardaran tanto en abrir sus fronteras al comercio y visitantes extranjeros (muchos de ellos todavía son muy restrictivos…
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I’m not crazy; my mother had me tested.
Arguably, most forms of art worth lengthy discussion have a bit of madness behind them, whether it is a painting, film, or novel. Personally, I find that my creative work suffers a bit when everything in my life feels completely balanced. Think about the mental states of various actors, painters, and authors. Off of the top of my head, I can come up with Tilda Swinson, Tom Cruise, Charlie Sheen, Hemingway, Tolstoy, Poe, Wolfe, Caravaggio, (cough) Hitler… I could list tons and tons, but I’d much rather hear from you. But madness is rather subjective, isn’t it?
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Líneas españolas
Cuando uno hace un rápido repaso mental a sus obras de arte favoritas, es posible que haya más de un dibujo en la lista. Hoy somos capaces de mirar un dibujo con el mismo interés que una pintura, pero conviene recordar que esta es una actitud propia de nuestra sensibilidad moderna y, por tanto, muy reciente. Antes del siglo XIX, antes de la aparición del espíritu romántico, los dibujos cumplían un papel estrictamente secundario. No eran más que bocetos para futuros cuadros o, en el mejor de los casos, arrebatos de libertad del artista. De ninguna manera, sin embargo, estos dibujos podían competir con un cuadro. Cierto que hay excepciones…
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Role Models
The Role Model Essay. Yep, I can hear the groans now. Remember that wonderful paper that you had to write in high school, which perhaps even swayed the college acceptance letter towards a yes or a no? Well, that’s the subject I’m going to be pontificating about today. I can smugly sit here and say that I never had to write such an essay. However, that does not mean that I never thought about it. Please, with all of the American teen drama shows/films/series, there is no escaping that one second of seeing the angst of ‘Who do I write about’ and wondering about it for yourself! (Possible references here…
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Mastering Monochrome
The saying goes that “it” (the world/life/politics/beliefs/love and so on and so forth) is not black and white. But what if it was? Surely life would be a lot easier. Rules and expectations would be clear-cut and to the point. If the choice of colour was not an option, all decisions would be a lot easier, right? If we look at old films, photographs, TV, and documentaries which were shot in black and white, we hark back to what appears to be a graceful and elegant world. Simple, classy, well-organised and put together: even the music that accompanies the films/TV shows/documentaries evokes a simpler and more innocent time. I know…
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Chicago and Picasso
I have to admit, I’ve had a bit of a crush on Chicago for a long time. Not because it’s cold or windy, or for any of its sports teams. I’m not a fan of deep dish pizza; hot dogs gross me out for the most part. Al Capone is pretty big to speak of, I suppose, but mob ‘outfits’ strike me as excessive and silly. One positive note thus far: I’ve heard amazing things about O’Hare International. Oh, and since the Chicago Fire of 1871, the city rightfully boasts superior urban planning. So what is it that has me perpetually itching to check out this mid-western city for an…
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Beaux-Arts, fromage, guillotines, and other French concepts
I started learning French about ten months ago. It was an idea that I toyed with for the ridiculously large span of one to thirteen years prior (when it was offered in middle school and my dearest mother thought Spanish would prove more useful in my future and made me study it instead – I will neither agree or disagree with that point all of these years later). Initially this venture, ten months ago, started out of spite – I was surrounded by French speakers and could never get a word in edgewise because I never knew what the hell they were talking about. I planned to learn it the…
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Musings… and Matisse
How does one gain immortality these days? No, this is actually a serious question! For the Ancient Egyptians, they took the important person’s corpse, removed the intestines and the other major decomposable parts (excepting the heart of course… every rookie embalmer knows that!), dried the body out with natron*, stuffed it with sawdust, wrapped it in linen, placed it in a couple of coffins, and then put it inside a large sarcophagus**. Easy. Then, they left the now-mummified body, erected a gigantic marking stone (obviously why the pyramids were built), and voila: today practically everybody and their grandmother knows the name of Tutankhamen. Not bad for a 5,000 year-old mummy!…
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Mein Haus, mein Auto, mein Boot – Der erste Eindruck zählt!
Brauchen wir heutzutage eigentlich noch die Porträtkunst, wo doch eigentlich jeder eine oder sogar mehrere Digitalkameras besitzt? Und wo doch jeder, der seine Kamera mal zu Hause vergessen hat, unterwegs Schnappschüsse mit seiner Handykamera machen kann? Was unterscheidet die Fotografie und die Porträtmalerei? Und wer nutzt diese heute noch? Das Fotografieren gehört heute zum Alltag. Fotografiert wird alles und jeder: die Geburtstagsfeier mit Freunden, die Geburtstagspost, die Geschenke, der Hund der Gastgeberin, die einzelnen Schritte vom Teig zum fertigen Schokoladenkuchen – alles, einfach alles wird klitzeklein dokumentiert und stolz bei Facebook oder anderen sozialen Netzwerken der Welt präsentiert. Die persönlichen Informationen, die Anzahl der Freunde und die von Freunden geposteten…
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The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships
It was Christopher Marlowe who coined the infamous line regarding Helen of Troy; ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’. I have to say, I do feel sorry for Helen! Put in a position where she was, effectively, responsible for a ten-year war, loss of lives, and the sacking of a city. I ask: was it even her choice to leave Menelaus? Sure, the story goes that she and Paris fell in love and escaped Sparta and her husband by fleeing to Troy. But, really, what if this wasn’t the true story? What if she was actually in love with Menelaus, and was just kidnapped by Paris? Admittedly, if Paris…
This is an interactive art blog in multi languages, you will find new articles on artists, art history, exhibitions, etc. Contributions welcome.
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