One must imagine Sisyphus happy - Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus

I found this .gif animation at a very interesting site I came across. I have already posted about the Myth of Sisyphus here. Just a reminder. Click at the link below the image to read Camus's text.

Joan Miró's Guernica

click to enlarge

Still Life with Old Shoe was painted during the Spanish civil war and was consider by Joan Miró himself as one of his most important works. His biographer Jacques Dupin called the painting "Mirós's Guernica" thou there is no influence whatsoever of Picasso's work that is also dated 1937. This is a good comparison of the two that I found at this site:

"The Spanish Civil War broke out in July, 1936, and by November of that year, Miro was in France, where he would live in exile with his family until 1940. Initially without a studio, he stopped planning large groups of paintings in advance, as though reluctant to pursue any projects requiring long-term stability. (However, he had left a large number of unfinished works behind in Barcelona.) In January, 1937, he decided to move in a completely new direction and began work on a painting, "Still Life with Old Shoe, " often called his " Guernica" (in reference to Pablo Picasso's famous painting protesting the bombing of that Basque town). Although "Still Life with Old Shoe" manifests Miro's new need to grapple with material reality--for the first time in years, he worked from a model, a still life set up on a table before him--it is far from the historical and political reality of Picasso's painting. Where Picasso was concerned with a specific time and place, Miro's "Still Life with Old Shoe," and indeed all of his work, is pointedly ahistorical. Through the psychedelic colors and ominous forms of this painting, Miro found the universal aspect of the particular, creating a haunting landscape of devastation from the humble components of a still-life arrangement." (emphasis mine)

Reflexions at soap bubbles by Mila Zinkova

I have been searching for soap bubbles today and found so many amazing things that it was difficult to decide what to post. I just came across with this page that has a lot of amazing soap bubbles images and took these two photographies of Mila Zinkova that captures the reflections of the Golden Gate Bridge, right picture, and a cloud at the left one. No photoshop!

1984 -the other side of the coin according to Shepard Faery

I just came across with this silkscreen on metal by Shepard Faery at this site and it caught my attention because it is a reverse of George Orwell's "Big Brother is Watching you".
Peace and Love are Watching Over You
(Click the image to enlarge)


Update: May, 01, 1011
I was aware that Shepard was being accused of plagiarism but I didn't pay attention.
I just found a great article here by Jason explaining everything. Not only plagiarism but appropriation of images that are part of the culture, those who are in public domain.
I will write a post about it. But visit the Justtheseeds by Jason if you want to be informed now.  

Long Distance Information by Bill Woodrow

In 1983 the British Council exhibited "Transformations - New Sculpture from Britain" at the São Paulo Biennal showing the sculptures of six artists. Bill Woodrow was chosen and "Long Distance Information, 1983" was one of his works. He has a diverse oeuvre and you can search at this site his many periods even though the photographies online sometimes are not very good. In the eighties he did several works by cutting the shape of an object from a metal structure and transforming the two-dimensional projection into three dimensional objects. Long Distance Information was the title of a popular song by Chuck Berry which celebrated the possibility of talking to a child by telephone across a continent and Woodrow draw from an old car bonnet the shapes of a photographic camera, walkie-talkies and a bullet. What these objects have in common are speed if you will - even the bullet which is faster than a knife for instance if you intend to kill. It is very difficult and sometimes unfair to attribute meaning to the work of some artists. But I cannot help thinking that Woodrow predicted cell phones. :) I am sorry Bill. But what really strikes me the most in the work of this period is this ability to make the illusion that the object was taken from the metal shape. I think it is amazing.

Funny Italian accent misunderstandings

I have stop blogging for a while but I will come back. I hope you have some fun watching this video.

Who are the Barbarians? - Tzvetan Todorov

When I was at college I learned from Tzvetan Todorov some important aspects of the fantastic reading his book: "The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre".

By that time two of my favorites writers, Julio Cortázar and Jorge Luis Borges, were classified as fantastic and Gabriel Garcia Marques was translated to many languages.

But it is not about his work as literary theorist that I want to share with you. It is about his work as a deeply concerned man that is writing books to try to make some sense in the way the world is being conducted.
He has published "Fear of the Barbarians: beyond the clash of civilizations" that will be released in English next month. These are some of the subjects he approaches:

"But who are these barbarians? Tzvetan Todorov questions Claude Levi-Strauss’ definition of the barbarian as “the man who believes in barbarism” and suggests: “It is someone who believes that a population or an individual is not fully human and therefore merits treatment that he would resolutely refuse to apply to himself.” In his recent The Fear of Barbarians (10), Todorov develops an argument he presented in earlier works such as On Human Diversity (a thought-provoking book that deserves to be far more widely read). “The fear of barbarians,” he writes now, “is what is in danger of turning us into barbarians. And the evil that we do will far exceed what we initially fear.”
Only the individual who fully recognizes the humanity of others can be called civilized." (emphasis mine)

Keep reading.

"These conceptual tools enable him to shed fresh light on the current struggle against terrorism and the tensions between communities within Western countries. He invites us to overcome our fears - for fear is a dangerous motive and risks producing an evil that is worse than the evil we initially feared.
Richly illustrated with examples ranging from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to the murder of Theo Van Gogh and the Danish cartoons, this powerful plea for civilized values will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the key challenges facing the world today." (emphasis mine)

And this is a translation from a video at Youtube:

"... culturally a nation is never something perfectly homogeneous. It's made by women and men, young and old people, rich and poor, people of profiles totally differents.
You and me during a day we change languages three or four times. We speak differently to our neighbors, to children's at schools, in front of our students, in the television... without any problem. We have to stop living in the illusion that culture have to be the same for everybody. (emphasis mine)


In reality there is no religious war. Wars have always political reasons. Combats for power, for wealth, demographic reasons, because of the country's resource, but religion is only the mask that we give to these combats because it mobilizes deep strengths of each and everybody."

I did the translation from French of these two excerpts. He speaks English and I don't understand why there is not a single video in English.

"It's through fear that the most unacceptable actions are carried out"

Tzvetan Todorov

Failure?

Picture by: mk7410

"Smoking is like being tobacco’s slave" - fanaticism has no limits

This is a French anti smoking prevention campaign by the "Rights of Non Smokers" (Les Droits des Non-Fumeurs). The photographies are by Thomas Geffrier and the text "Fumer c’est etre l’esclave du tabac" translated in English means “Smoking is like being tobacco’s slave”. I wonder where the rights of adolescents and even women's rights campaigners are. It is quite shocking that such images are being used to indoctrinate people about the harms of smoking. I also would like to have the scientific evidences of all the diseases they claim that smoking and passive smoking are responsible.

50.000 visitors!

I want to thank all of those who came to this site and I cannot even believe that this number was achieved.

Image by María at Flickr.

Bambi in real life - Tanja Askani

I received an e-mail from Herrad with these pictures. She sends amazing pictures by e-mail and I thought this collection deservesAskani to be seen. These are photographies by Tanja Askani who takes pictures depicting tenderness among animals. You can see more photographs by her here. Thank you Herrad! Have a great and tender weekend!

Gustave Courbet - The Beautiful Irish Woman

The Beautiful Irish Woman, 1866, Courbet

This was the painting I was looking for when I came across with the work of the post below. I have a tiny copy at my desk among other tiny copies that are part of my... private collection!

Courbet, lesbianism, voyeurism, friendship, Barbies and Christian censorship

Sleepers by Gustave Courbet is one of the themes that artists depicted that is stitl causing scandal nowadays.

I was searching for another of his paintings and came across with Kristine Milde's "Sleepers after Courbet" at this site dedicated to Barbie in many way. I also found at this site Courbet's painting with Christ's tags covering breasts and pubic parts.

I am a little bit astonished that someone can do such a thing with a painting especially using as tag using a medieval painting of the Christ.

It is quite ironic.

The "Two Friends" was part of the 19 century's iconography as you can see in the Klimt's and Lautrec's painting.

I think that it has to do with the eyes of the beholder.

I think it is very interesting recreating Courbet's work with Barbies.

Matisse - Painting, rules, time... "Notes of a painter", 1908

Henri Matisse and his model 1939

You can download the .pdf file of Matisse's "Notes of a Painter", 1908 here. I think that at this paragraph, the last one, he approaches some important issues that are still being discussed nowadays:

"Rules have no existence outside of individuals: otherwise a good professor would be as great a genius as Racine. Any one of us is capable of repeating fine maxims, but few can also penetrate their meaning. I am ready to admit that from a study of the works of Raphael or Titian a more complete set of rules can be drawn than from the works of Manet or Renoir, but the rules followed by Manet and Renoir were those which suited their temperaments and I prefer the most minor of the their paintings to all the work of those who are content to imitate the Venus of Urbino or the Madonna of the Goldfinch. These latter are of no value to anyone, for whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, its feelings, even its delusions. All artists bear the imprint of their time, but the great artists are those in whom this is most profoundly marked. Our epoch for instance is better represented by Courbet than by Flandrin, by Rodin better than by Frémiet. Whether we like it or not, however insistently we call ourselves exiles, between our period and ourselves an indissoluble bond is established, and M. Péladan himself cannot escape it. The aestheticians of the future may perhaps use his books as evidence if they get it in their heads to prove that no one of our time understood anything about the art of Leonardo da Vinci."

Attenti al Lupo - Lucio Dalla "Living together"

Unfortunately I can't find a translation for this Italian song that is simple and beautiful. It is a popular song and a little old and maybe not very interesting for Italians but it's very cute for those who know little of the Italian language. I will dedicate this post to an Italian blogger that I like Tommaso Evagelista at Emgrammi.
His blog has numerous amazing post about art. Hope he likes this song.

C'e' una casetta piccola cosi'
con tante finestrelle colorate
E una donnina piccola cosi'
Con due occhi grandi per guardare

E c'e' un omino piccolo cosi'
che torna sempre tardi da lavorare
E ha un cappello piccolo cosi'
con dentro un sogno da realizzare
E piu' ci pensa, piu' non sa aspettare

Amore mio non devi stare in pena
questa vita e' una catena
qualche volta fa un po' male
Guarda come son tranquilla io
anche se attraverso il bosco
con l'aiuto del buon Dio
stando sempre attenta al lupo,
attenti al lupo attenti al lupo...

living together living together...

Laggiu' c'e' un prato piccolo cosi'
con un gran rumore di cicale
e un profumo dolce e piccolo cosi'
Amore mio e' arrivata l'estate Amore mio e' arrivata l'estate
E noi due qui distesi a far l'amore
in mezzo a questo mare di cicale
questo amore piccolo cosi' ma tanto grande che mi sembra di volare
E piu' ci penso piu' non so aspettare

Amore mio non devi stare in pena
questa vita e' una catena
qualche volta fa un po' male
Guarda come son tranquilla io
anche se attraverso il bosco
con l'aiuto del buon Dio
stando sempre attenta al lupo
Attenti al lupo attenti al lupo

Living together... Living together...

Update:

A very nice person left a comment with a translation into English. Thank you very much!

Here it is:

There is a small little house with,

many small, colored windows,

And there is a little woman with,

two big eyes made for watching,

and there is a little man,

that always come back late from his work,

and he has a small hat,

and in it he has a dream to accomplish,

and more he thinks on it, less he wants to wait

My sweet love, don't worry,

life is a chain

sometimes it hurts a bit

Look how calm I am

Even when I cross the woods

Sure good is behind me

But I am always watch out the wolf

Watch out! the wolf!

Living together. Living together

Downstairs there is small lawn field,

where the cicadas make a lot of sounds,

And a sweet and delicate smell surround us,

My love, the Summer arrived

And we lay down and we make love

On the middle of this cicada sea

This delicate little love,

It is so big that I can fly

More I think, less I can wait

My sweet love, don't worry,

life is a chain

sometimes it hurts a bit

Look how calm I am

Even when I cross through the woods,

with the help of the good Lord,

I will always beware of the wolf

Watch out! the wolf!

Living together. Living together.

The Luncheon on the Grass by Manet and Picasso's version

The Luncheon on the Grass (left) is one of the most Manet's painting. When first exhibited it was a scandal just like Olympia. Although it has references to old masters:

"The Lunch on the Grass is a painting with several overlaid themes:

- the reference to the old masters, Manet having taken his inspiration from Titian's Concert champêtre in the Musée du Louvre, and from The Judgement of Paris, an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi, after Raphael.

- the issue of the nude, "It seems I'll have to paint a nude. Very well then, I'll paint a nude for them", Manet had declared to Antonin Proust.

- the question of the subject, the reason for all the uproar surrounding it. "We cannot regard as chaste a work in which a woman, seated in the woods, surrounded by students in berets and coats, is clothed only in the shadows of the leaves" (Ernest Chesneau, quoted by Françoise Cachin in Manet, RMN, 1983).

- finally, the issue of the outdoor setting: the real open air, according to Emile Zola,

"In this painting, what one must see […] is the entire landscape, full of atmosphere, this corner of nature rendered with a simplicity so accurate…". "In this painting, what one must see […] is the entire landscape, full of atmosphere, this corner of nature rendered with a simplicity so accurate...""

The sight of these contemporary people, especially a naked woman, being exhibited next to nudes that was mythological thus very far from touch was outrageous.

Picasso repeated the scandal with his versions of Manet's painting. I truly believe that one of thousands art's functions is to change the way we see things and it is funny to see that these paintings today are considered part of cultural heritage and we can even think that Manet's nude woman is a little bit overweighted.

V-J day in Times Squares Alfred Eisenstaedt photography and J. Seward Johnson sculpture

V–J day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in Life in 1945 with the caption, In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers.

Unconditional Surrender by J. Seward Johnson often compared to the photograph V–J day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Have a great weekend.

An American in Paris - some scenes to remember

I have already published the love scene of the ballet of The American in Paris movie. These are some scenes for those who also like the movie or for those who have not seen it. Have a great February!!!

Music, painting and photography - music power

I am learning to play guitar from the first lesson. The tip of the left fingers aches and you have to exercise to create callus and it is strange to start losing sensibility and the muscles of the left hand have to adjust itself to make the chords. It is a little bit boring at the beginning since you have to learn to change from one chord to another quickly and do it as faster as possible. But if you keep thinking in the future when this phase is over and you will finally be able to have the music in your mind and the positions of your hands at the guitar together you keep going. I was thinking about putting some paintings of guitar players showing different kinds of feeling portrayed by the artist that makes me think about the different emotions music can trigger but came across with this photograph by James O'Donnell and though that it was a great combination of three arts. I remembered of what Picasso used to say about the geniality and inspiration myth:

"Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working." "There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun."

And the famous Thomas Edison quotation:

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

I will go back to practice. Maybe next year I will be able to play something easy of one of many musicians I like. An amazing fact about people who play an instrument is that it is the last memory a person who suffers Alzheimer lose. They forget their parents but for a long period can play. This is something special about the musical language. Music unites people. This is a great achievement.

A post from my other blog - February 7 - International Day in Memory of SSRI Victims

I don't like to mix my other blog with this one but this subject is too important and I have to share it. The images will probably be changed but please take a moment to read it because it is about your health or the health of people next to you since antidepressants SSRIs are being prescribed not only for those who are diagnosed with major depression but also for headache or even to quit smoking:

This is Traci Johnson a 19 years-old healthy volunteer for Cymbalta clinical trial for urinary incontinence in 2003. She hanged herself at Eli-Lylli's clinic in Indianapolis in February, 7, 2004. According to Wikipedia:

"A suicide of 19-year-old Traci Johnson, a healthy volunteer in a duloxetine clinical pharmacology study, was highly publicized. For about a month she had been given high doses of duloxetine, and then she was switched to placebo. Four days after the switch, she hanged herself with her scarf from a shower rod in the bathroom of Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research.^[65][66] The New York Times article mentioned a withdrawal syndrome as a possible reason for this suicide."

I always thought about changing the avatar but whenever I looked at this bright smile it gave me courage to keep going for it is not easy to deal with this subject and most of the friends I met because of this blog that are dealing with psych-drugs harms feel the same. I wish I did not know about it all but I cannot stop trying to raise awareness because these drugs are destroying lives.

 Last year I did a post in February in Tracy Johnson's memory and I have already scheduled this year post but today morning I thought that it was not enough. So I though about dedicating this day to all those people who have their lives changed because of SSRI harm. I wrote an e-mail to some of my friends and this is the outcome of my idea with their inputs: February 7 - International Day in Memory of SSRI Fatalities   SSRI fatalities are those who have died violently due to homicide of suicide induced by SSRIs and now there are newborns that suffer heart malformations or any other teratogenic disturbance.

I would also like to remember people that have their quality of life changed because of the use of SSRI as a teenager. Those who are not aware of these facts may be asking themselves why is it happening or even if it is true that a drug that has killed during clinical trial can be at the market. You just got your answer: "market".

We are talking about money and corruption is causing too much harm. I will change my picture next 7th February and leave Tracy Johnson in peace. I want to thank her for all these months she was here by my side. R.I.P. Tracy Johnson I want to thank my blog friends that helped me and encouraged me to keep going: Bob Fiddaman at Seroxat Sufferers Mark p.s. 2 at Psychiatric Survivor Matthew at It's quite an experience Susan at If you're going through hell keep going Needles to say that without them I would not be able to do it. 


This is the Awareness Ribbon for the International Day in Memory of SSRI Fatalities created by Aloisio Congrejo, an italian Second Life artist that was kind enough to do it when I asked him. You can see some of his works at Flickr. Thank you very much Aloisio! Update: I just did an event at Bloggers Unite and I am waiting if they will accept it.