Monday, June 29, 2009

Antonio Lopez Interview Part 2

Antonio Lopez Interview Part 1



"The basic is in all human beings. Through art you can understand something created 4 thousand years ago by people you don´t know their names of, of a religion unknown to you and a language you don´t speak or understand. You get the idea of what these people of that time wanted and what that expresses. Well, that´s art, and that´s the greatness of art, that language of the feelings."

"The streets used to be a marvellous place to be in and they have turned into a very unpleasant space."

"Velázquez painted in Madrid, but he didn´t paint Madrid, instead he painted the people of Madrid. he didn´t consider important to paint the city as a theme.
Thanks to Velázquez´s paintings we can look back in history and see what people were like and what they looked like."
"Spain can´t be painted."

"When an idea persist on your mind for years, there´s no doubt that you must doi it, you are commited to do it."

"We must try to exercize our personal aspects. I think a lot of people remain stucked about their values and their contemporaries. This is terrible. This type of people that are communists, faszist, or anything just because their father was one.
It seems that reality doesn´t cause any effect on them. We mustn´t forget, but we must have our own view of things, and see what impression we get out of it." (Antonio López translated)

The Venus Project





"The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. There are many people today who are concerned with the serious problems that face our modern society: unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in the Earth's ecosystems.

As you will see, The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions. Through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium."(The Venus Project)
http://www.thevenusproject.com/

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Vincent - Tim.Burton. Short.Animation.1982



Fantastic.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas


"Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop motion fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town".

The genesis of The Nightmare Before Christmas started with a poem by Tim Burton as a Disney animator in the early-1980s. With the success of Vincent in 1982, Disney started to consider The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short subject or 30-minute television special. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and in 1990, Burton and Disney made a development deal. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco. Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought Nightmare would be "too dark and scary for kids".(wikipedia)

"Jaulito"

HASTA LOS HUESOS - René Castillo

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Frida (2002) trailer



I watched Frida three days ago. Although it doesn´t include much of the process of painting (like most of the films about painters that i have seen) I thought it was a great film as it portrays very well Frida Khalo´s unforgetable life.

Diego Rivera



"World-famous Mexican painterinfluenced by Cézzane, an active communist and a husband of Frida Khalo, died in 1957, Rivera´s large wall works in fresco established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with works by Orozco, Siqueiros and others." (wikipedia.org)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson.


Amazing installation by Olafur Eliasson at Tate Modern, London.

Art Now -- Episode 1 Olafur Eliasson in Conversation



"The danger with entertainment is of course detaching time and refering to space as if it is a picture."
"How does one actually put time back into space?"
"There´s this play about where do you actually create the space or does the space extendidly create you?"
"The museums are not just standing stills as kind of objetive autonomous shells. They are involved in a kind of more or less market based ecconomy of experiences."
"How does one actually within that frame succeed comunicating art in a way that accelerates serious questions?"
"That´s always my fear: to end up entertaining and to become affirmative and sort of re-institutionalize the already very rigid and conservative and static idea of time and space, that museums to a greater extend are still doing". (Olafur Eliasson)

An interview with Danish artist Olafur Eliasson by Adrian Searle, art critic of The Guardian, 60 min.

Art Now -- Episode 1 Olafur Eliasson



"Art Documentary / 30 min / 2005
A portrait of the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. The film introduces Eliasson's work and aesthetic theories as it documents one of his largest exhibitions ever, Notion Motion, at the Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
Directed by Jan Schmidt-Garre
Produced by PARS MEDIA
Co-Produced by ZDF/3sat
Supported by Media+
WWW.PARSMEDIA.COM" (Parsemedia)

Monday, June 22, 2009

Dan Perjovschi, WHAT HAPPENED TO US?, at MoMA



"In his first solo museum show in the United States, contemporary artist Dan Perjovschi creates site-specific wall drawings at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Perjovschi, who lives and works in Bucharest, Romania, makes witty and incisive social and political images in response to current events. His work has been featured in Biennials from Venice to Istanbul to Moscow.

Projects 85: Dan Perjovschi, WHAT HAPPENED TO US?, is on view at The Museum of Modern Art from May 2 through August 27, 2007.
" (MOMA)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Triplets of Belleville (2003)



This is a fantastic animation by Silvian Chomet. I felt in love with this film; it´s simply great. Have a nice day!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Corona Save the Beach Party London 08 Iker Garcia Barrenetxea



On December 2008 I did my first life painting performance at the Corona Save the Beach launge party in London amongst 700 guests.
That was possible thanks to Sr. Golwind Events and Entertainment but specially to Maxi Recio who suggested me to them as the artist for such event. It was a great experience to be painting under that kind of healthy pressure. I guess that working at your studio or painting life is very different. I can see the beneffits of both, having that own energy bubble when alone and all the time for yourself; time has a different shape when there´s no deadline. Besides, at a life painting performance you just don´t stop and you have the energy of the people around you. I´m sure that this wount be the last time that I do something like this as I ejoyed it very much and i can see myself learning through it, wich is quite exciting.
This video was possible thanks to Beatriz Fenandez who´s being very supportive filming and editing some of my events. Also, for the second time Rico Casazza has delivered great music.
Thanks to both.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

"Noches sin dormir. La Laguna" 2003. By Yapci Ramos

"Sueños Dorados" by Yapci Ramos


"Sueños Dorados" by Yapci Ramos. I met this artist at Taller Caminal, Barcelona. This studio was demolished due to urban planning and a lot of artists struggled to find their way.
Yapci is a photographer and also works in partnership with Samuel Cabrera bringing a project called noquiet.

“I always empathize with photographers due to some type of intrinsic connection or attraction. In the moment of taking a photograph, photographers engender a dynamic relation between various elements: those of an unconscious nature, that which reveals the intimate landscape of each person. Their habits, their familiar objects and their particular manner of laying them out are documented. I am engaged in what happens when I am with them as a photographer and the things that unexpectedly happen.I take a lot of photographs, all happen so suddenly that I cannot see all the elements that fuse together to make the whole until later. I discover my own images."(Yapci Ramos)

http://www.yapciramos.com/


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Basquiat: a look

Basquiat (the trailer) by Julian Schnabel



This is a great film by Julian Schnabel about Jean Michelle Basquiat. Jean-Michelle Basquiat (1960-88) was a Haitian American artist. He gained popularity first as a graffity artist in New York City, and then as a successful 1980s-era as a Neo-expressionist artist.

"Basquiat" was the first commercial feature film about a painter made by a painter. The director said:

“I know what it's like to be attacked as an artist. I know what it's like to be judged as an artist. I know what it's like to arrive as an artist and have fame and notoriety. I know what it's like to be accused of things that you never said or did. I know what it's like to be described as a piece of hype. I know what it's like to be appreciated as well as degraded.”

Julian Schnabel.



Julian Schnabel was born in 1951 in New York . In addition to his work as an artist, Schnabel has written and directed three films: Basquiat, a biopic on the painter Jean Michelle Basquiat (1996), Before Night Falls (2000), an adaptation of Reinaldo Arenas autobiographical novel, which he also produced, andDiving Bell and the Butterfly The (2007), an adaptation of a French memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

"You need to appreciate what your life is and make something out of it".
"I think making a work of art is an act of peace. It´s a life affirming act, weather you are making a fim weather you are making a drawing".

Schnabel lives in New York, maintaining studios in New York City and in Montauk on the eastern end of Long Island with a house in San Sebastian in Spain.

Karel Appel

Dutch Abstract Expressionist Painter (1921-2006)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)


Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract-expresinism movement.

"I want to paint my feelings rather than illustrate them" (Jackson Pollock)




Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave


"This exhibition of the work of the acclaimed painter Marlene Dumas, the first of its scale to be mounted in the United States, is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in association with The Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition includes approximately seventy paintings and thirty-five drawings, providing a comprehensive examination of the work of one of the most thought-provoking and fascinating artists working today.
"(MOMA)

http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/34

"An exhibition not so much about figurative painting; an exhibition about pàinting and the figure."
"Sometimes my best paintings are like drawings and my best drawings are like paintings".
"I like the paintings that goes very fast, because the speed is quite important, and you will also see in the gestures that you will make your own decissions and is over and is done". (Marlem Dumas)

Marlem Dumas


http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/marlene_dumas.htm

Saturday, June 6, 2009

An extract of "Le Mystère Picasso"

I remember when I joined Fine Art, siting for a long time observing the process of a painting or a drawing when someone was working. Sometimes the process was more interesting than the actual result. There´s definetly something quite hypnotic about it. You wonder how mind and hand are conected and what decissions are being taken to continue or to stop. To create and not to reproduce...I love this videos of Picasso.

An extract of "Le Mystère Picasso"

"Imaginary Soundtracks". Arbol and Onionlab.



Project devised by the musician Miguel Marín aka Árbol and Onionlab, Imaginary Soundtracks is an audiovisual and music performance of 90 min. long where music and image are combined to offer the audience a travel through audiovisual landscapes of experimental kind.

The show has been staged in Sonar 06 (Barcelona), Audiovisiva (Milán), Avmotional (Bucharest), La Pedrera (Barcelona), CAAC (Sevilla), La Casa Encendida (Madrid). Imaginary Soundtracks gained a nomination as best audiovisual performance in LAUS 06.

http://www.onionlab.com/work.html


http://www.miguel-marin.com/

"Night Night" by Arbol (Miguel Marín)



Video for the song 'Night Night' of ARBOL (Miguel Marin) Video by TESTPHASE Media Distortion Consortium (Christian Schärmer)

www.myspace.com/arbolmmarin

www.myspace.com/testphase www.testphase.org

Having collaborated with such a great musician is great. I love Miguel Marin´s music but I´d specially mention his life performances, simply magical. This week he has played in Manchester and Sweeden. I highly reccomend to go to one of his concerts if you have a chance.


Arbol (Miguel Marín) in concert.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

"Atormentado" "2003. Acrylic on canvas. By Iker García Barrenetxea.


I painted "Atormentado" in 2003. It´s been exhibited at my first show in London, then at The Mall Galleries, Utupi in Barcelona and Noventa Grados in San Sebastian. In 2005 I met a great artist: music composer Miguel Marin (Arbol). After he saw this painting we started a collaboration between music and painting. We called the serie of music and paintings "Inside Out. Lines as a device to exteriorize the rhythms guided by emotions".

I like to challenge myself to express with a very few lines when I draw.

"Lighting the streets" 2005. Oil on canvas by Iker García Barrenetxea


This is one of many street scenes that I have painted of London´s East End.

"Retro" by Iker García Barrenetxea

"Cerraron con Gris
volvieron con ganas.
Marrón y Amarillo
amigos en lluvia.

Pegaron con suerte
lo viejo y lo nuevo.
Ahora el Naranja
se oxida contento."

Well, this is my debut showing something like this... I don´t normally wright but I managed to put some sentences together three weeks ago. For my surprise it came as poetry.

After the text of Vittorio Storaro I have dared to put mine, that it also talks about colour.
I hope you guys like it. I will post more in the future

http://www.myartspace.com/ikergarciabarrenetxea/

Vittorio Storaro


"If it is true that
BLACK is the colour of Conception
RED is the colour of Birth
ORANGE is the colour of Growth
GREY is the colour of Waiting
GREEN is the colour of Knowledge
BLUE is the colour of Intelligence
INDIGO is the colour of Consciusness
VIOLET is the colour of Maturity
the sum of these colours is WHITE, the color of LIFE." (Vittorio Storaro)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

"Kika" by Gaia Cambiaggi


This specific portrait by Gaia Cambiaggi remained me "Writing with light", an exhibition I visited in San Sebastian at Kursaal Congress Centre, an amazing architectural work by Rafael Moneo.

This exhibition was a retrospective of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and his work was divided in three books that reflected a project of a lifetime. This book is a vocabulary of vision. It is based on wich philosophers, scientists and painters around the world have always researched: the mistery of vision.

"Images are the language of cinema. They are formed by the embrace and the conflict of LIGHT and SHADOW, orchestrated on the screen by one of the co-authors of the film: the author of cinematography.

It doesn´t matter in wich part of the world the screen is. Through this screen we are able to express ourselfs, our culture, our sentiments and our emotions.Through this screen we are able to learn and to teach each other.

Through this screen we are able to grow up together."(Vittorio Storaro)
http://www.storarovittorio.com/

http://www.gaiacambiaggi.net/

Passer/8 by Cesar Pesquera

Passer/8 from Cesar Pesquera on Vimeo.

Passer/8 is an experimental project about two real people, a girl that works in a tollbooth and a guy that owns a carrousel. These people develope their activity at what the anthropologist Marc Augé calls Non-Places. These are "places without history that affect our representations of space, our relation with reality and the others", he says. "The identity is built on the individual level through the experiences and the relations with the other."

Therefore Passer/8 deals with the relation between the space and the identity, being also the ideas of constant movement and stillness an important factor in the definition of that relation.

I can´t get tyred of watching this short film. I met Cesar Pesquera in Barcelona in 2005. He´s now working on Círculo Uno, his next new short film, that I believe it will be ready for next summer. I have seen the footage and I can´t wait to see it.
Check this links to find out more about this great artist:

http://www.passer8.net/

http://www.reformcomm.org/

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

big (bjarke ingeles group), mtn, copenhagen. By Gaia Cambiaggi



Gaia Cambiaggi is one of the first photgraphers I met in London, in 2002. I still remember coming along to see her degree show at London College of Comunication. She now lives in New York. Check her work that includes architecture, portrait and documentary at:

http://www.gaiacambiaggi.net/

"Transformación" by Roger Olmos



Also check Roger´s blog:

http://www.rogerolmos.blogspot.com/

"Espaguetis a la boloñesa" by Roger Olmos.


Roger Olmos is a great illustrator that I met in 2005 in Barcelona. We used to share a big studio in Poble Nou, Barcelona, that unfortunatly was demolished like many more big studios in the area due to an urbanistic plan that changed a whole area. Check his website and dive into his world:

http://www.rogerolmos.com/