Thursday, January 12, 2012

pictures you take...



"The portrait of the corpse also had its “pictorial” stage, in line with a general trend of fin-de-siècle photography, considered by Roland Barthes as an exaggeration of a prejudice that photography had about itself. And over time, the portrait of the deceased has virtually disappeared with the spreading of photography, since we all store abundant pictures of our living relatives."

This is true...and curious.

I found it here :
http://riowang.blogspot.com/2012/01/dead-bodies-frozen-light.html

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Art is difficult

"Art is difficult," says the 66-year-old firmly. "It's not entertainment. There are only a few people who can say something about art – it's very restricted. When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not. Buying art is not understanding art."
Anselm Kiefer talking to The Guardian

a burguesia, sim senhor


Adoro a burguesia e não me via a afirmar isto publicamente nos meus heróicos e idos anos 70...aliás até esse século já se foi, como não haveria eu de ser outro ?!
Voltando à afirmação inicial : adoro a burguesia, a das luzes, a que participou na grande revolução francesa, aquela que quer queiramos quer não, ajudou a criar a Europa tal como a idealizamos, mesmo a América dos nossos sonhos…
Como andamos hoje tão longe destes valores e desta presença de espirito. Voltaremos algum dia à Terra ou continuaremos nesta vida virtual onde nos mantém ?

between heaven and hell




"Basohli Paintings evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries as a distinctive style of painting fusing Hindu mythology, Mughal miniature techniques, and the folk art of the local hills. The painting style derives its name from the place of its origin—the hill town of Basohli. . . in the state of Jammu & Kashmir."
Vinayak Razdan

I found those here :
http://50watts.com/2300847/Fourteen-Basohli-Paintings

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A secret bowl of silence

A secret bowl of silence



a word you left unsaid

a kiss you decided not to give

this you kept


a gentle pang in your chest

keeps you company through the nights

this you have


a dwindling light

this you are.


CLASSIFIEDS






CLASSIFIEDS

WHOEVER'S found out what location
compassion (heart's imagination)
can be contacted at these days,
is herewith urged to name the place;
and sing about it in full voice,
and dance like crazy and rejoice
beneath the frail birch that appears
to be upon the verge of tears.

I TEACH silence
in all languages
through intensive examination of:
the starry sky,
the Sinanthropus' jaws,
a grasshopper's hop,
an infant's fingernails,
plankton,
a snowflake.

I RESTORE lost love.
Act now! Special offer!
You lie on last year's grass
bathed in sunlight to the chin
while winds of summers past
caress your hair and seem
to lead you in a dance.
For further details, write: "Dream."

WANTED: someone to mourn
the elderly who die
alone in old folks' homes.
Applicants, don't send forms
or birth certificates.
All papers will be torn,
no receipts will be issued
at this or later dates.

FOR PROMISES made by my spouse,
who's tricked so many with his sweet
colors and fragrances and sounds -
dogs barking, guitars in the streets -
into believing that they still
might conquer loneliness and fright,
I cannot be responsible.
Mr. Day's widow, Mrs. Night.

~ Wislawa Szymborska ~


(Poems New and Collected 1957-1997,
trans. by S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh)

a life in the shadow


the whole story here :
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-2011/Vivian-Maier-Street-Photographer/





Monday, January 9, 2012

to find perfection


to find perfection you don't need to go far...just pay atention to all that's around you.