Category: art

Bab’Aziz – The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (2007): A visual poem of incomparable beauty, this masterpiece from director Nacer Khemir (Searchers of the Desert) begins with the story of a blind dervish named Bab’Aziz and his spirited granddaughter, Ishtar. Together they wander the desert in search of a great reunion of dervishes that takes place just once every thirty years. With faith as their only guide, the two journey for days through the expansive, barren landscape. To keep Ishtar entertained, Bab’Aziz relays the ancient tale of a prince who relinquished his realm in order to remain next to a small pool in the desert, staring into its depths while contemplating his soul. As the tale of the prince unfolds, the two encounter other travelers with stories of their own–including Osman, who longs for the beautiful woman he met at the bottom of a well, and Zaid, who searches for the ravishing young woman who fled from him after being seduced by his songs. Filled with breathtaking images and wonderful music, Nacir Khemir has created a fairytale-like story of longing and belonging, filmed in the enchanting and ever-shifting sandscapes of Tunisia and Iran. (From YouTube)

and talking of blind willie mctell – not johnson…

“From 1927. Johnson was blinded by his stepmother when he was 7. He grew up to be a preacher and musician. He was one of the greatest bottleneck guitarists as well as one of the most revered figures of depression-era gospel music. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly voice. In 1945, his home burned to the ground and with nowhere else to go, he lived in the burned ruins of his home sleeping on a wet bed. He lived like this until he contracted pneumonia and died. So 18 years after this song, he got his wish. His troubles were finally over. What a wonderful song this is – the misery of povery making death something to look forward to. I have no idea who the young girl is who harmonises with him, but she has the voice of an angel and makes the song.” (from YouTube)

The author of The Catcher in the Rye died of natural causes, his literary representative has said. Salinger was famously reclusive, and his fans hoped for decades that stores of unpublished fiction might be stashed in his New Hampshire home. Click here for more.

Gabriel Orozco. Installation view of Mobile Matrix (2006) at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Graphite on gray whale skeleton. 6’ 5 3/16” x 35’ 8 ¾” x 8’ 8 ¾” (196 x 1089 x 266 cm).
the installation’s shape, form and aerial suspension are as interesting as the shadows it produces.

Gabriel Orozco. La DS, 1993. Modified Citroen DS, MOMA, NY
orozco cut a citroen DS into three parts, lengthwise, then appended the car’s exterior elements to the middle section. the end result exaggerates the car’s aerodynamic qualities.

“Dormition of the Virgin, Syros” by El Greco, The Onassis Cultural Center, NY

A ravishing gathering of fifty religious paintings is really two shows in one. The first follows the blossoming of an Old Master, the painter El Greco (1541-1614), born Domenikos Theotokopoulos on the island of Crete. The second traces an East-West mashup in Greek icon painting, in which the stately flatness of the Byzantine style met the more naturalistic perspective of the Italian Renaissance, influenced by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian (in whose workshop El Greco is thought to have apprenticed). — The New Yorker

“The Coronation of the Virgin” by El Greco, The Onassis Cultural Center, NY

The show’s grand finale is the oil study “The Coronation of the Virgin” (c. 1603), painted as if El Greco were gazing into a concave mirror reflecting the vault of heaven. — The New Yorker

Anish Kapoor. Memory (2008), Guggenheim, NY

Memory is a site-specific work that was conceived to engage two different exhibition locations at the Guggenheim museums in Berlin and New York. Utilizing Cor-Ten steel for the first time, the sculpture represents a milestone in Kapoor’s career. Memory’s thin steel skin, only eight millimeters thick, suggests a form that is ephemeral and unmonumental. The sculpture appears to defy gravity as it gently glances against the periphery of the gallery walls and ceiling. However, as a 24-ton volume, Memory is also raw, industrial, and foreboding. Positioned tightly within the gallery, Memory is never fully visible; instead the work fractures and divides the gallery into several distinct viewing areas.

The division compels visitors to navigate the museum, searching for vantage points that offer only glimpses of the sculpture. This processional method of viewing Memory is an intrinsic aspect of the work. Visitors are asked to contemplate the ensuing fragmentation by attempting to piece together images retained in their minds, exerting effort in the act of seeing—a process Kapoor describes as creating a “mental sculpture.”

[Third viewing area]

most breathtaking. from afar we perceive a two-dimensional black canvas. i was a bit disappointed that this was the third part of the installation. however, i was intrigued by the lushness of the black. was the canvas wrapped in velvet? as u approach the canvas, u suddenly realize that this is a three-dimensional opening, with immense depth. this is in fact the cavernous interior of the sculpture. as it is covered by light-absorbing black tiles it gives the impression of rich color and two-dimensionality. the installation beckons constantly. i had the urge to crawl into spaces around it, to discover it, feel it, see it as one complete structure. the third viewing area was most inviting. there was a line on the floor beyond which we could not venture. it was hard not to pop one’s head into the dark opening. kapoor explains that it’s more than just curiosity which compels us to do so. the darkness that exists within each and everyone of us, attracts us inexorably to the darkness inside the sculpture. love it!

Mon rêve familier

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et pénétrant
D’une femme inconnue, et que j’aime, et qui m’aime,
Et qui n’est, chaque fois, ni tout à fait la même
Ni tout à fait une autre, et m’aime et me comprend.

Car elle me comprend, et mon coeur transparent
Pour elle seule, hélas! cesse d’être un problème
Pour elle seule, et les moiteurs de mon front blême,
Elle seule les sait rafraîchir, en pleurant.

Est-elle brune, blonde ou rousse? Je l’ignore.
Son nom? Je me souviens qu’il est doux et sonore,
Comme ceux des aimés que la vie exila.

Son regard est pareil au regard des statues,
Et, pour sa voix, lointaine, et calme, et grave, elle a
L’inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tues.

Paul Verlaine (Poèmes saturniens)

My familiar dream

I often have this strange, engrossing dream
of an unknown woman, whom I love and who loves me,
and who, each time, is never quite the same
nor completely another, and who loves and understands.

For she understands me; my heart, an open book
to her alone (alas), is no longer a problem,
at least not to her; and when my pale brow is clammy
she alone knows how to refresh it, with her tears.

Is she brunette, blonde or redheaded? I don’t know.
Her name? I recall that it’s sweet and sonorous
like the names of lovers whom Life sent into exile.

Her gaze is like the gaze of a statue,
and her voice – her distant, calm deep voice –
has the inflection of beloved voices that have fallen silent

(Translation from French to English by Peter Low)

Saw Anish Kapoor’s site-specific sculpture, titled “Memory”. It is a 24 ton Cor-Ten steel tank, that sits tightly within the Guggenheim’s gallery space. Thus, the viewer has two distinct views of the work. In addition to that, a staircase leading down from the Guggenheim’s store offers a view into Memory’s dark, cavernous interior through a two-meter square aperture window. By this, the viewer has three perspectives he has to put together again in his memory.

Anish Kapoor was born in 1954 in Mumbai, India. He lives and works in London. The exhibition has been curated by Sandhini Poddar. The show will travel to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York at a date to be announced.

This video contains statements by the curator of the exhibition, Sandhini Poddar, and an interview with Anish Kapoor.

BRILLIANT!

click here to listen, then play.

seems from such a long time ago.