Xenophobia

That was the word Vanessa Redgrave did answer James Lipton for the question "What is your least favorite word?" on the famous "Inside Actor's Studio". I admire this woman immensely. Julia is one of my favorites movies and she told how she came up producing and acting. She was on a theater and a cinema usher showed Lillian Hellman's book and as she didn't had read he lend it to her. She did read it in one night and decided to make the movie.

Xenophobia comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "someone with whom you are not acquainted", and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear". In the beginning of this century while the word globalization conveys a sympathetic image but covers the worst face of the capitalistic system, whose sole aim seems to be producing money and it's values are spreading all over the world, xenophobia is being manifested in many different ways. I would think twice spending one year in Paris while on the eighties I was received with great hospitality. Perhaps because I was around people linked to arts but I'm not sure. I was treated well by French people everywhere I went. I speak the language and it helps. But I'm not sure if it would be the same. I've received a six month visa in UK although I was just spending a week before returning home. But from the news I've been reading and talking to some English and French people it seems that things would be very different.

I hope that I am wrong but I witness strange things happening in social networkings and virtual worlds. Still nothing is being discussed.

Adapted from a post I did at justAna .

Dante Gabriel Rosseti illustrations of poetry

Rossetti illustrated poems and this is the frontispiece of her sister's book "Goblin Market and Other Poems" published in 1862. He also did projects for stained glasses but as soon as you look at one of his works as an illustrator, painter or in his drawings for the stained glasses the firts thing that comes to your mind is "Oh! A Rossetti." He was also a poet.

Going to California: Trying to find a woman who's never, never, never been born

As the month is ending and I confessed being a fan :), I want to share this music and I will not publish Led Zeppelin any longer. This music is inspired by Joni Mitchell's "California", you can listen to this song too, as Robert and Jimmy were fans of her. A very beautiful collection of images was done by francescadonna for this very sweet, thou sad, song: "Spend my days with a woman unkind Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine Made up my mind, make a new start Goin' to California with an achin' in my heart Someone told me there's a girl out there With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair Took my chances on a big jet-plane Never let 'em tell ya that they're aw-ooh-all the same Hoh, the sea was red and the sky was grey I wonder how tomorrow could ever follow today-hee Mountains and the canyons start to tremble and shake The children of the sun begin to awake Now Watch out It seems that the wrath of the gods got a punch on the nose And it's startin' to flow, I think I might be sinkin' Throw me a line, if I reach it in time Meet you up there where the path runs straight and high" Find a queen without a king They say she plays guitar and cries and sings, la-la-la-la Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born Standin' on a hill in the mountain of dreams Tellin' myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems."

A hug to my blog friends

It's been a long time I'm wanting to do it. I am not a good blog-friend because I don't visit people I admire and care about as much as I should. This is very strange that although we only know one another by blogs we have a kind of connection that is like a friendship and sometimes while doing any daily activity we remember a blog friend, promise next time online we will visit but we don't. I even tell people about some of you and it seems as if I'm talking about someone I saw yesterday. All I want to say is that although I don't visit blogs that often you are always next to me and are part of my emotional life. You are all very important to me. So this is a ((((((((((((((((HUG)))))))))))))))))) to all of you. Image by Alexis L.

Tim Curtis's animated photographies: waterfall with rainbow

Copyright All rights reserved by _Tim Curtis_ I just found Tim Curtis at Flickr and I'm amazed. There is another photo he did at the Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee of this moment here and you can see the reflexion of the rainbow. Great timing! The animation is an extra and you can take a tour at his site where he did some incredible animations that look like videos.

Dolphins in Crete: Now and Then

The ruins of Knossos palace, ancient Greece, were discovered in 1878 and among other frescoes there are these dolphins. The video was done in 2007.

Mermaid: spooky or funny?

I found this image and... I don't know.

James Joyce in the news; William Blake and... Hemingway?

"Deal with him Hemingway, deal with him." lol

The only reason that makes me doubt that something like that could appear on the news today is that writers are not celebrities and their lives are not a good source of gossip. I found it funny and I also want to take Joyce away from this difficult and unattainable place he is .

Yes, he has a difficult and different way of writing but shouldn't be left only for scholars and few people who like it.

There are many books published about "how to read Ulysses" and I found this site here that is very simple, is very easy to understand and helps those who are not familiar with Joyce's universe.

As far as the scholars are concerned I found this study Elaine Mingus did about James Joyce and William Blake. What I liked about it is that she raises the complexity of both writers without closing the door using theories and insights that makes it more difficult to read their work:

JAMES JOYCE AND PALE BLAKE

By Elaine Mingus

Critics and scholars often do not agree on the writings of either Joyce or William Blake. This is because of their complexity, also inconsistencies especially in Blake, and it humbles us to try and understand their writings. Nor is there agreement about how and how much Joyce used the writings of Blake. I have tried to steer a middle course between two extremes. There are sources common to both, such as The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Some things were merely corroborated for Joyce in Blake. Whatever Joyce did take from anyone was reshaped, expanded, and fused into his own vision.

William Blake was an engraver by trade and had his own technique of illuminated printing. He embellished all of his writing beautifully in color and also with drawing, and was better known for his painting than for his writing.

Blake lived in London from 1757 to 1823, a very different time than Joyce’s time. It was an age that was very unsympathetic to any “open vision” or what seemed eccentric or heretical. But Blake was from a dissenting family with the belief that God might speak to one directly. He was self-taught and did not accept anything wholly but was inspired by Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg and others. He greatly benefited by his marriage to Catherine Boucher and she supported his efforts always.

“Imagination leads to wisdom and insight” said Blake, and “The harlot’s cry from street to street shall weave Old England’s winding sheet”. He had his own style and copied no one.

Blake believed in the divinity of man and in identification of body with soul. He was not seen as a mystic but a visionary artist and poet. He was once considered a madman, now revered as a major poet of English Literature, though still considered by many to be a genius who was half-mad. Blake once said, “The prophets Isaiah and Ezekial dined with me”, and he claimed that supernatural powers dictated to him. In his “Milton”, Milton reincarnates and enters the body of Blake.

William Blake was greatly influenced by the American and the French Revolutions which he and others thought heralded the Apocalypse, expected at any time. A social rebel with very radical beliefs, Blake was mainly ignored by the general public. He rebelled against prevailing Victorian morals. “Thou Shalt Nots”, and followed natural instincts rather than adhere to standards of society, and the same can be said of Joyce. Blake was a symbolist who invented his own symbols, like spectres and emanations.

“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s”, he said.

The British government was cracking down on radicals, and some of Blake’s friends were being jailed, which is partially the reason for some of the obscurity in his writing. As with Joyce, he had financial difficulties all his life in part because of the lack of getting published. (Keep reading)

Ulysses is one of the most important works of the last century and I will publish more about it.

British Library Online Gallery - Images and e-books extravaganza

© 2010 The British Library

Artist painting (Miniature only) Artist painting with nude models / Image taken from Roman de la Rose./ Originally published/produced in S. Netherlands (Bruges), circa 1490-1500.

Author: Lorris, Guillaume de; Meun, Jean de Illustrator: Master of the Prayerbooks of circa 1500 Shelfmark/Page: Harley 4425, f.142 Language: French

I just registered at the British Library. I heard a little of Alice in Wonderlands and searched for images. I felt like sharing this one because it was during Renascence that painters started to sign their work and be recognized as artists like we know today so for the first time an artist could depict himself in a painting.

I will go back to the library. :)

Allegra Lockstadt's simplicity

I never understood why drawings are not considered as important as paintings. I came across with the left drawing by Allegra Lockstadt at the blog Minutiae and I loved it. It takes a lot of work to achieve simplicity and it is amazing how many stories are told in this drawing since it's not precise who are the protagonists embracing each other. I tried to find more of her works but they are dispersed in many sites. I got the right one at this page. A touch of colour to stress subtle and powerful lines.

Fun: Social networking functions

I am there, you are there, we are there but these are some odd aspects of social networking that Unreality Magazine published.

Don't forget to share it!

Introducing Led Zeppelin

As I already declared here that I'm a fan I will share this video where 40 years ago Robert Plant, not yet with the unbuttoned shirt and the certainty he will show in the future, introduces the band. Two minutes and you will understand why young people today are rediscovering Led Zeppelin. It is a combination of four great musicians that complete each other something rare now. I especially dedicate this post to Bob Fiddaman.

Street Art: Wooster Collective and Vinchen works

I just came across with the site The Wooster Collective.

woo·ster (noun) A street in the Soho section of New York City col·lec·tive (noun) Of, relating to, characteristic of, or made by a number of people acting as a group: a collective decision. The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.

From many amazing works today I did chose Vinchen that has a site for with great pictures of each work in wide screen making it possible to have a glimpse of the real work.

Take a look and experience it.

Pentimento: revealing the background of "Portrait of Pope Julius II" by Raphael

As I said yesterday this post is about pentimento in a painting. I did chose this example that is at the National Gallery site:

"Many artists change their minds while painting. X-ray examination has revealed that Raphael planned quite a different background for his portrait of Julius II."

"Although artists drew their compositions on a prepared panel or canvas, they sometimes changed their mind during the process of painting. Traces of previous work in the paint layers are often called pentimenti. The term derives from the Italian ‘pentirsi’, meaning to repent."

Due to the increasing transparency that certain paints acquire with age, some alterations become visible to the naked eye.

Other pentimenti can be revealed by x-radiography. The best-known use of x-radiographs is in medical imaging. It is also valuable in the examination of paintings. This is principally because lead white, the most important white pigment used before the 20th century, absorbs x-rays forming an image on film.

‘Pentimenti’ in Raphael’s work

When Raphael’s portrait of Julius II entered the National Gallery in 1824 it was regarded to be the original. But it soon came to be judged as an early copy of another version, now in the Uffizi in Florence. This was due to the fact that the painting was obscured by discoloured varnish and repainting.

In 1969, an investigation of the National Gallery picture with x-rays revealed numerous changes, including a radical revision of the background. The painting was then cleaned, confirming that it was Raphael’s original version. This also revealed some of the pentimenti now partly visible to the naked eye.

Before Raphael applied the final green colour, the background behind the pope consisted of a pattern of teardrop-shaped fields.

These fields contained heraldic symbols arranged in diagonal rows, representing alternately the papal tiara, crossed keys and another symbol, which was most likely the Della Rovere oak tree (Della Rovere being the Pope Julius II’s family name).

A number of paint samples from the background were investigated as cross-sections allowing a diagrammatic colour reconstruction of the first brightly coloured blue and yellow patterned background."

Creative process is very complex and does not follow any receipt. It is natural that the artists changes his mind while working. I don't even know if it can be considered repenting. But it is a nice way to explain it.

Pentimento by Lillian Hellman and the movie Julia

This is how Lillian Hellman starts her novel Pentimento, that was inspiration for the movie "Julia", 1977:

"Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimws becomes trasparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child manes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter "repented," changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again.

That is all I mean about the people in this book. The paint has aged now and I wanted to see what was there for once, what is there for now."

The movie starts with this words being said by Jane Fond who is Lillian. I like it very much. I will publish an example of pentimento on a canvas tomorrow.

Funny Sunday

Have a great Sunday!

Claes Oldenburg's objects

I think that many people look at the left Oldenburg's sculpture and asks themselves if it's a creation of the artist because it doesn't look like any familiar object in a large scale that characterizes the artist work.

It is a typewriter eraser. The round part was made of rubber, the eraser and at the other end the brush that took away the dust after erasing.

At the left side a stamp made of rubber that is seldom seen nowadays with the word "Free".

This is what Claes tells about his objects:

"We do invest religious emotion in our objects. Look at how beautifully objects are depicted in ads on Sunday newspapers. It's all very emotional. Objects are body images, after all, created by humans, filled with human emotion, objects of worship."*

Enchantment is the word that comes to my mind when I watch Oldenburg's work. There are many of his objects and I plan to publish some others.

* (C. Oldenburg, quoted in M. Rosenthal, "Unbridled Monuments; or, How Claes Oldenburg Set Out to Change the World," Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology, New York, 1995, p. 259)

"Keep calm and carry on" WWII poster history and variations

The poster "Keep Calm and carry on" that was created by the British Government during the WWII to boost the morale of the British people in case of a Nazi's invasion. The poster was never used and was destroyed. In 1945 a bookseller found a few of them and there are copies at the National Archive. It was at the beginning of this century that it was bring to the public by private companies and is being used to decorate mugs, t-Shirts and whatever the industry sells. You can read more here. There are many funny recreations, parodies and subversions of the poster and these are some of them to be added to the one I have already posted. You can create or own version if you go here. I did my version and I will publish it next week.

Anna Politkovskaya an homage and seven great women

This is not the first time I publish about Anna Politikovskaya. August, 30 would be her birthday and... I don't think I have to explain. I took pictures at my virtual garden in front of the fence where I hanged some posters. At the left side is Vanessa Redgrave in the movie Julia. We are talking about five great women since Lilian Hellman, who wrote the book that was adapted for the movie, has Jane Fonda as Lilian .

Now I'm remembering Natasha Richardson Vanessa's Redgrave daughter who did the movie Nell with Jodie Foster. The only man is Rimbaud who is designed in white graffiti at the fence. R.I.P. Anna Politkovskaya R.I.P. Natasha Richardson

(click the images to enlarge)

Led Zeppelin- Kashmir and homage to John Paul Jones

 I am a Led Zeppelin fan as I have already confessed here but I never published any of their musics and thought I would not do so.

But today I feel like doing it and I did chose Kashmir because it is a music that has a kind of intensity that astonish many people and there is the orchestra with the violins that goes in a crescendo the reminds Ravel and a kind of magical or spiritual appeal. I am also dedicating this post to John Paul Jones the bass player because I think that his work is not well recognized. He is quite a musician and you can click at his photo to learn a little bit more about him. Led Zeppelin is a combination of four great musicians and it is rare.

Two Bauhaus icons: Wassily and Barcelona chairs

At the post I showed my house at virtual world I'm at the garden at the gathering place. There are two Barcelona chairs that is a furniture that the architect Mies van der Rohe has designed in 1929 for the Barcelona Pavillion that was also one of his creations. This chair became a worldwide icon and is sold in many countries. The Wassily chair was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 for the painter Wassily Kandinsky that was a teacher at Bauhaus where der Rohem and Breuer were also working. It's amazing how innovative and futuristic these creations are and it is hard to classify them as a classic, but that is what they are. I am sat at a chair inspired in the Bubble chair designed by Eero Aarnio in 1968 but I will talk about this one in another post. I realized that I didn't write anything about Bauhaus and it is about time. I have a Barcelona chair in my real house. That is why I did chose it.

Ansel Adams moonrise and leaf

"I hope that my work will encourage self expression in others and stimulate the search for beauty and creative excitement in the great world around us."

- Ansel Adams

At the site The Ansel Adams Gallery there are more of his art as well as other black and white photographers. There are also many other artists that use different techniques. Quite inspiring and following Ansel Adam's wish.

Right: Leaf, Glacier Bay, 1948. Left: Moonrise, Hernandez, 1941.

England: possible sign

England in postcards - Joe Cornish photos 1985

I bought this postcard in 1985 and when I was at the post-office to send it I don't know why after putting the stamp, the image of the queen, I looked at the image and didn't send it.

Funny because I have already searched the Web and cannot find it so I decided to scan it.

It keeps puzzling me. Putting at the same level a punk and a guard just because the hair, or the hat, are vertical is interesting and at the same time it makes no sense for me. The photos are by Joe Cornish but I don't know if it was him who did the postcard because the copyright is WPL - Whiteway Publications Ltda - the company that published it. It is still here sign, sealed and not delivered.

Kindness according to Stephen Fry - interview for SplashLife

Stephen Fry's interview published at the post below is for SplashLife, a new activist international group to empower youth I discovered today after watching the last two minutes when he talks about kindness:

“I suppose the thing I’d most would have like to have known or be reassured about is that in the world is what counts more than talent, what counts more than energy or concentration or commitment or anything else is kindness. And the more in the world you encounter kindness, and cheerfulness (which is kind of its amiable uncle or aunt), just the better the world always is – and all the big words: virtue, justice, truth, are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness."

This is quite a statement specially when destinate to young people. I will take a look at SplashLife this week and post about it.

Kindness sounds like a bad word nowadays of something very far from our reality.

In doubt? Ask the magic ball

I'm sleepy and I don't know what to publish. ByyeeeZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz zzzzZzzzzzzzzz

"We are all citizen-journalists by blogging", Stephen Fry

STEPHEN FRY: WHAT I WISH I'D KNOWN WHEN I WAS 18 from Peter Samuelson on Vimeo.

I know, I know. Half an hour watching a video?

Yes. I can assure you that you are going to have an echo for some of your thoughts or you will listen to something interesting you never thought before.

Stephen Fry talks about many issues so I did transcript some phrases so that you can have an idea of what is being said and also to make you curious because they are out of context and can be understood in many ways.

You have to check to see what he is really saying. Or you can go from one page to another for and end up with sixteen windows open without anything good. :)

"...chasing technique, chasing an answer is fatal..."

"...the worse thing you can ever do in life is set yourself goals..."

"...work is more fun than fun..."

"...what uncusseful people have in common is that they talk about themselves all the time"

"...American television is fillled of people sitting in talkshows "I need... I need.. " whining. ..."

"... travelling and reading to me is such a pleasure, I don't concieve life without them. ..."

"...to admire is enourmesly helpful..."

"... if you wish to learn the guitar... you are learning with friend, together..."

"... learning is all about other people.."

"....I would say that probably one of the most wonderful things you can be given in life is the ability to give..."

"... is knowledge the same thing as truth?..."

"...authority comes from the validity of information, being repeatable, being open, being free, and not coming with a threat... 'this is the case you must believe it or you die'..."

"...we know that order is a dangerous word..."

"... we are all citizen-journalists by blogging..."

"...that is the beauty of internet, there are lots of guardians for us out there. We do make a fuss when liberty is threaten. ..."

".. the world, and the history of the world, is full of people who feel out of place either from their family or from the community..."

" ...you want to be a part of the tribe and you want to be apart from the tribe..."

This is the last topic and I hope you liked it as I did.

Rudy Burckhardt and his use of photographies

Right: Eagle Barbershop, 1938.

Left: Coca-Cola Goddess, 1947.

Rudolph Burckhardt was not only a photographer and he mixed all kind of disciplines. These photos are not to document what they are portraying. Take a look at the titles and you will have a glimpse of Rudy's intention.

Deborah Garwood wrote a good introductory text about his work, a pop artist avant la lettre, at Artcritical and this are some excerpts:

"Rudy Burckhardt’s career dates from 1935 to 1999. Working in the mediums of photography, art films, and collaborative dance and theatre experiments while continuing his own, less well known realist painting, his work has found an important if underground niche in American 20th century modernism. The mix of disciplines was not a good gestalt in this era; by temperament he eluded definition; yet he became something of a cult figure during the heyday of the New York School. The value of his versatility and its relationship to cross-disciplinary practices by later artists remains to be measured more fully.

"Burckhardt reputedly got more out of the live moments of shooting than darkroom work. Titles like Haircut 20 cents, Waffles, and Sidewalk IV convey a burlesque routine of eating, reading, walking, and riding not unlike life today except for the props."

Read the entire article.

Mr. Been, Been Laden

Rowan Atkinson

Academical way of humor

I found it at this amazing site that has some academic jokes so you will never laugh without having to think a little or search for some clues about what they are really talking about.