Sunny

I love the winter in Belo Horizonte as much as Scandinavians love their summer.

The sun is always shining, the sky is always blue and temperatures are most agreeable. Do you see why I get so happy this time of year?

So to share my love of our winter with the lovers of summer, here’s a song that reminds me of happy moods under nice weather, Happy House, by the Belgian trio Shindu.

Dream away.

Like Art at Home

When creativity meets attitude the world is almost always certain to change. Three years ago, artist friends Angelina Camelo and Clara Valente were looking for a place to work in Belo Horizonte.

They were able to find a nice little shop close to the cultural center of the city in the lovely Savassi area but when they saw it they soon felt like the room was meant for a different purpose: housing an art gallery.

So Minigaleria was born. A small gallery showing one artist at a time, this wonderfully refreshing art space has been home to several international and local artist exhibitions.

Focusing on one artist at time, works by the likes of Fefe Talavera and Stephan Doitschinoff have been shown on Minigaleria’s walls.

Having just reopened, the gallery has had a major impact in the city’s cultural life. Fostering and nurturing young artists from all over, it has become a space where you can enjoy an art piece almost as if you were at home.

Friend and artist Patrícia Caetano works at Mini

Good ideas deserve to be shared.

Friends, fun & Lovefoxxx

Last weekend was so000 enjoyable I’m very inclined to use the phrase ‘crazy fun’ to talk about it.

Tomorrow is Brazil’s National Day and so we (the lucky ones who don’t have to work today) got a long weekend to do as we please. To be honest, I had originally planned to do nothing and relax for 96 hours straight, but then two dear friends from São Paulo decided to come to Belo Horizonte for a change of air. Lucky me, they are two of the most exciting and fun-loving people on the planet.

On Friday, Lovefoxxx from CSS did her DJ set in one of the new clubs and everyone was there. Nice music, good friends and great drinks. F-U-N.

I’ve always loved CSS ever since they started playing in small clubs around the country (I remember for I was there). What I love most about them is their carefree, relaxed attitude to everything, which becomes quite transparent in their songs. While they don’t release the new album (on the making), I thought I could post a video of one of my all-time favorite CSS songs:

Can’t wait to see what the new record will sound like.

Gotta go, my friend’s just woken up.

Elementary magnetism

Naïve are those who think their lives are not inextricably connected to the place they come from. Whether you love it, hate it or simply feel a part of it, the region where you grow up will always influence you, even when you don’t expect it to.

It wasn’t without wonder that I discovered how much I need mountains to feel at home in a city. Flat lands can be fun, fabulous or even fantastic, but they’ll always feel foreign to me.

In a place where mountains mean mines, I also feel a strange connection to everything metal, especially iron. It is quite weird, but I do tend to like art that manifests itself through the means of metal.

When I first saw Lézart, a sculpture piece by Brazilian contemporary artist Tunga, I immediately felt connected to it:

Lézart, 1989

Using magnets, iron and copper, this piece creates a wonderful illusion of gigantic combs with metal hair hanging from them. It is like the crude value of the material can only be refined into beauty by the hands and hair of humans.

The tittle, Lézart (‘lizard’ in French) makes me think of how nature can still crawl onto us, reminding us of where we came from and the fact that there is no escape from that. It is as if we our origins are sticky or magnetic.

As for my interpretations, they are a clear proof that places of emotion can affect one’s judgement. I almost feel a poem coming.

Well, false alarm.

To have me

Illustrations always have a way to my heart. I appreciate their simplicity as a refined tool for their straight-forwardness.

If done using fine lines and a touch of color, they really have me.

Talking about illustrators who speak to my heart, it is impossible not to mention Patricia Caetano, another Belo Horizonte-based talent.

A tribute to luxurious drawings

With a taste for girlie things from a mature point of view, Patricia knows how to use lines and paper in favor of a happier and funnier existence.

No fear of color

One of the most characteristic features of Brazilian art and design is its unafraid use of colors. People in Brazil thrive best in colorful surroundings and some people do it really, really well.

A young talent who’s been making wakes in the illustration, web design and fashion worlds is Belo Horizonte-born Albino Papa. Talented as he is resourceful, his latest works for the fashion industry have got him a lot of attention and lots of interested and interesting clients.

For the São Paulo Fashion Week website

A true virtuoso.

Unexpected beauty

Beauty is on the eye of the beholder.

That is especially true to dwellers of large cities around the world. An exhibition by Alex Fischer, a German artist who copies the patterns of manholes around the globe has made me see that in an even clearer way.

When we think about manholes, the last thing that comes to mind is appearance. Yet, for one reason or the other, many of them have incredibly beautiful patterns on which most people step without even looking.

By copying these patterns onto large pieces of paper and exhibiting them together on large walls, the artist raises questions about where our perspectives lie in our heavily industrialized cities.

Manhole Cover is a fascinating project that enlightens us as to the importance of looking carefully around our worlds.

We just have to realize where we should behold.

Contrasting

I haven’t been very keen on writing about the arts lately, but I know I should. The only one that has been taking my time is literature, but of the scientific type. Soon I’ll be free to explore this world a little more.

For the moment I can only recommend attention to the work of two young Brazilian artists, rare painters in this sculpture-loving land:

João Maciel and Rodrigo Mogiz.

Maciel's and Mogiz's work side by side

While the first one is deeply concerned with street art and graffiti-like representations of urban life and violence, the second chooses the female form and color subtleties as his main subjects. A truly great contrast.

The colorfulness of João Maciel‘s expressive views of modern life move me far more than Mogiz‘s, but by combining the both one gets a truthful glimpse of what Brazilian city life can be, with all its extremes.

If you are in Belo Horizonte, checking their exhibition at Belizário Art Gallery is a must.

Renewal with Rubin Steiner

Last Saturday I attended a surprisingly nice concert I feel should tell everyone about.

In a restored old fabric factory, the lovely French group Rubin Steiner performed energetically, yet gracefully, in the refreshing electronic music festival Eletronika here in Belo Horizonte.

When I first knew them, they were this really cool and hype group who used samples from old songs mixing them with electronic beats and vocal interventions. Years later, when I had almost forgotten about them and in a time when everybody is doing what they did, the come here again and impress me.

Here’s a little taste, but know that the live performance is incredibly better: