As observers and manipulators of reality, photographers often choose themes that are dear to their hungry eyes. People are one of the ever-so-interesting and commonest eye-catching subjects.
In the history of the visual arts, the female body has been very often used for the purpose of portraying the human soul. It has been said to exhaustion that women have a more harmonic – and thus more beautiful – body. Fortunately, many photographers beg to differ.
Among those, the work of Stuart Standford outstands. With a special regard for male beauty charged with sexuality, the British photographer has over the years used pictures to break the sexist stereotype that only women are worth portraying:
When it comes to the arts, everyone has their predilections. Apart from music, which is hors concours for me, the form of art which is closest to my heart is photography. The biased way in which it translates reality fooling the viewer with the illusion of truthfulness really appeals to me.
Over the years, I have been keeping track of some contemporary photographers whom I think bring a different perspective into the world of image capturing. Here’s a list of those whom I admire in a special way.
Wolfgang Tillmans, for his observational skills and sensitive use of light and choice of themes.
Thomas Ruff, for the path he’s chosen of a highly technical approach to questioning photography and its techniques.
Hiroshi Sugimoto, a true master in the sense that he knows exactly how to achieve an image through using the basic component of photography: light.
If I was writing this a couple of years ago, I might have added the name of David Lachapelle, who was a pioneer in bringing back bright colors to pictures, as well as making art as pop as it could get. But he has disappointed me.
Here’s a little something for my Scandinavian friends faced with what seems to be a particularly cold winter.
Winter fun, illustration by Camilla Engman
Winter shouldn’t be the worst time of the year, especially because it is the longest season for you. Enjoy it, but do it accordingly. Can you remember your grandparents’ stories about how lovely it was to gather around a fire, sipping hot cocoa and telling stories? That’s what your cold season should be about: meeting people, staying together, sharing things. Summer is only a two-month (in some places up there a one-month) period of the year, much too short for you to live your lives longing for it.
Nordic grandparents are a good key to learning to have fun during winter because they were born before tv was here, long before the internet and ages before the comfort of easy traveling. They mostly had no warmer place to go, they had to stay in the North and cope with the cold. And they did it in a much more graceful way too.
My point here is basically: deal with what is available. Join your klubber/klubbor/klúbbar, go skiing, take long hikes, go ice-skating, just anything can suffice.
Just do not forget that you don’t live in Southern Spain. Enjoy what you have.
It’s quite late at night and I’m really tired from a long day of work. Still, I’m pretty satisfied with how things went today.
Out of nowhere, a wave of good mood hit me and made my journey a lighter one. I’m impressed with how well I did at work too – it’s really amazing. It’s like it all fit so well together. I’d like to see it happen more often.
To crown the conquest of a more stable kind of mood, I hereby recommend the loungy music of American band Nite Jewel. A very good choice for that evening drink or relaxing meeting with friends.
Everyone knows I have a thing for Scandinavian artists and music. Although technically Finland is not in Scandinavia, the cultural similarities draw it closer to its sister-countries in musical quality.
Le Corps Mince de Françoise is a finnish group composed of three girls who really know how to create songs that make you want to dance and just have fun.
What’s best about this song is this one line: the mistakes that we make will create something golden.
I long to believe in that, especially after the weekend.
Whether one is religious or not, the Bible is an element of culture which is overwhelmingly present in Western Society. It has been the source of inspiration for artists through the millenia and, although we are living in an increasingly non-religious world, its influence is still very much felt in the world of the arts.
The famous book is present not only in the way we think or behave (religious teachings are the basis for western morals) but too often in the arts as well. Literature, theater, films (even sci-fi ones), music – biblical stories are everywhere. Thus, given its importance in our society, the emergence of new ways to interpret it becomes more and more important from a historical point of view, as we loose touch with the source in our daily lives.
The cover of the Brazilian edition
Robert Crumb’s cartoon-like depiction of The Book of Genesis is a milestone in that aspect, for it makes some of the world’s oldest stories accessible to biblical skeptics. In detail-full images, Crumbs illustrations are very revealing in the sense that they help us see what is behind this often overused theme.
I have become quite interested in the Bible for sociologic and historic reasons. This reading exercize has made me realize a couple of things (revelations, one might say): the first one is that it has come to a point of extreme overuse as a theme for art; the second one is that one really has to read it in order to understand the basis of many beliefs one doesn’t even know were religion-based.
Just as sex is irritantingly overused as a subject for the arts, so have become biblical stories. Nonetheless, it is still important to know what came from where, so as to be able to judge the newness of any piece of art.
Newness, novelty, innovation, inspiration, please. A modern prophet might say.
After all, we need to get our heads off of our sins.
The way I see it, art should always bring about feelings and emotions. It is great when it happens and even better when you can identify at once exactly what you felt.
Such a thing happened to me recently, at the first time I looked at Tatiana Blass‘ work. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she is a sculptor, a painter, an illustrator and a writer who has just quite newly begun showing her art. Soft colors, mixture of shapes and the presence of rupture are a constant presence in the wonderful pieces she creates.
Cão cego #1("Blind Dog #1"), brass and paraffin, 2009
When looking at Cão cego #1, I was immediately struck by feelings of pity and compassion but at the same time touched by the sensibility with which it was created.
There is quite an established tradition for sculpture in Brazil and it’s really exciting to see what this praxis is being continued by someone as skillful and as multitalented as young Tatiana.
I had a plan to write all about language learning today but my mood has got swings that probably only a pregnant woman with peaks of hormones has. My goodness.
From starting the day with a lovely breakfast with dear friends to an evening full of anxiety it was just a step. I don’t know why I so often feel this way. Then again, 10 whole years of weekly therapy have had an effect, for I today at least try to do things that I know will help me cheer up. The best and most effective way for me has always been my favorite kind of art: music.
I’ve recently found out about this band that has got me all hooked up on their sound: Vampire Weekend.
There are some discrete touches of folk, a bit of Alex Turner and lots of cleverly written songs and funky rhythms.
Music, besides making people come together, keeps Prozac away.
It is quite interesting to see the amount of attention Brazil is getting from the foreign press these days. For decades, the only thing that was available for readers around the globe were news pieces about either carnaval/soccer extravaganzas or poverty-connected events. It was one cliché after the other. Then came the internet. Then came easier and cheaper traveling opportunities. And most importantly, then came economic progress and the discovery of unimaginably immense oil reserves off the coast of Brazil.
Let us not be naive and think that all this interest sprang from a sudden curiosity about Brazilian cultural life. It has been the same or maybe even more original since way before President Lula’s shiny leadership. Of course this is a special time and we should be opmistic about it. People’s lives are improving, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich – things are better. I’m actually quite glad to notice that this is a good time for the country to grow. Why? Nowadays development plans are carried out in a much more conscious way than ever before. Europeans often criticize Brazil and other countries for their growing strategies but let us not forget than the whole of Europe (or parts of the US or Japan for that matter) was once covered by forestland. What is left of it? Virtually nothing. Positive criticism is always welcome, but let us do it without cynicism – it’s better taken.
Times are changing and I’m part of it. When I come to think about, I wonder if maybe just 15 years ago my voice would have been heard.
It’s not going to be released until March-April, but it’s possible to listen to parts of it recorded on radio shows, especially this one (please be so kind as to ignore the presentor’s stupid questions).
Something tells me that it’s going to have a strong folk character but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Be whatever it may be, his voice is just amazing.
If there’s one thing Brazilians do really well is to absorb cultural elements from a multitude of sources and transform it into something completely new and often surprising.
This might be due to the fact that for decades the only access to international culture we had here was rather late and often obsolete. Then came the 21st century and mass rapid internet connections. It is the age of the remix.
The Twelves, a musically gifted duo from Rio do it better and faster than one’s head can take. They are excellent.
In a very Brazilian way, they take songs from great artists around the globe and add their own twist of musicality to the original beat, creating something which is as good to dance to as it is to appreciate at home.
Reinvention is my word du jour.
PS: FYI, they do create their own music, though not as often as one would wish.
I was recently faced with a difficult choice between work and a weekend full of fun/culture. One of Brazil’s most fun low-key film festivals is about to start in the lovely Baroque town of Tiradentes (from which part of my family roots spring). The festival is a lovely opportunity to meet friends, go to parties and check out what’s happening in the Brazilian movie scene.
For one time I chose responsibility over amusement. I must finish this project I’ve been developing together with an artist friend and we set the final deadline for February. In a very unlike-me decision, I made up my mind to stay here and finish the work.
I suddenly remembered a video that exudes fun by CSS, one of my favorite national acts of all time:
A perfect depiction of a fun-filled trip that will have to wait a little longer to become true in my life.
I was listening to music today and almost completely by chance, I heard a song that says a lot about being a child in a world that doesn’t understand her/him.
The wish expressed in the lyrics, the one of wanting to get rid of feelings of helplessness that define childhood is something I can easily relate to.
It’s relieving to see that there are other points of view. Antony is a sage, I always say.
