Wallpaper

12 Dec.2011 - They may look like sketches of a madman with too much time on his hands, but this stunning landscape is in fact the labour of love of German artist Heike Weber who uses permanent marker pens to draw on acrylic floors and walls. The artist installation series, called Utopia, has transformed a dull and dreary apartment in Neumunster into a surreal landscape of visual depth and complexity. .

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072479/The-mesmerising-wallpaper-transform-home--created-just-permanent-marker-LOT-time.html#ixzz1gFI2bLs7

Cantagalo

29 May 2011 - High above Rio de Janeiro's beachside neighbourhoods is Cantagalo, one of the many favelas clinging to the city's hillsides.Cantagalo, along with the communities of Pavao and Pavaozinho, is a winding mass of concrete alleyways and stairwells that snake up the hill overlooking the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. Every day thousands of the favela's residents travel down the hill to work in the homes, shops, hotels and bars of their richer neighbours but the daily migration is one-sided. Many wealthier Rio residents have never set foot in Cantagalo but an ambitious new project in the hillside community is working to change that. Museu de Favela is trying to turn the shantytown, which is home to more than 20,000 people, into a popular destination. Like an art gallery that has exploded on to the streets, the Museu is made up of a series of huge murals covering 20 buildings, all commissioned by local artists. "Samba, capoiera, funk, everything that the elite of Rio de Janeiro enjoy comes from the favela," says Sidney "Tartaruga" Silva, vice-president of the Museu, as he guides visitors up the hill. The project's aim is to reflect the history of this urban community and give a voice to the people who live there.

Tut's Trumpet

18 April 2011 - Tutankhamun's trumpet was one of the rare artefacts stolen from the Cairo Museum during the recent uprising, adding poignancy to a story from the early days of BBC Radio and an attempt to recreate its original sound. Among the "wonderful things" Howard Carter described as he peered by candlelight into the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 were two trumpets, one silver and one bronze. For more than 3,000 years they had lain, muted, in the Valley of the Kings, close to the mummy of the boy king. Found in different parts of Tutankhamun's tomb, both were decorated with depictions of Egyptian gods identified with military campaigns. Both became exhibits at the Cairo museum, but when it was broken into during the recent uprising, the bronze instrument vanished. Luckily, the silver one was away on exhibition tour. Egyptologists were already reeling from the loss of many of the country's antiquities, and many found the theft of one of the oldest surviving musical instruments in the world particularly poignant. Many such objects would have been looted and melted down in ancient times, says Oxford Egyptologist Margaret Maitland. "There was a real lack of precious metal so there was systemic retrieval," said Ms Maitland. The trumpet was recently found - reportedly with other Tutankhamun artefacts in a bag on the Cairo Metro.

Letters from Chopin

2 April 2011 - Six letters written by Frederic Chopin, thought to be lost in 1939, have been found and donated to a Warsaw museum dedicated to the Polish composer. The letters, written by Chopin to his parents and sisters between 1845 and 1848, were believed lost after the outbreak of World War II. After it emerged in 2003 that they still existed in a private collection, moves were made to secure them. Chopin was born in Poland in 1810 but spent half of his life in France. According to museum curator Alicja Knast, the letters were last displayed in public in Poland in 1932 and were still confirmed as being in Warsaw in 1939. It is thought the letters went missing, like many other cultural artefacts, after the Nazis invaded Poland. The museum was assisted in their recovery by Marek Keller, a Polish art dealer now based in Mexico. He acquired them directly from their owners, who Knast said wished to remain anonymous. In the letters, written in Polish, Chopin describes daily life and his cello sonata in G minor, one of his few non-piano works.

The Thinker

4 Feb 2011 - Auguste Rodin's (1840-1917) statue "The Thinker" was four years ago stolen by a group of criminals from a museum in Holland. The thieves must have been amateurs as they left a map leading to one of their homes behind on the crime scene. The Thinker was found back after three days. However, the statue was severely damaged during the robbery. The statue has now been completely restored and is again on display in Dutch museum Singer in Laren. The Thinker is thinking about the heaviness of our existence. Rodin was inspired by the works of Dante when he made this statue. Some believe that The Thinker is actually Dante, thinking with every muscle in his body. Every muscle is tense, even the muscles in his toes. Others believe that The Thinker is actually a self-image of Rodin, who thinks about life. Rodin loved this statue, and often he was photographed in a similar pensive position. Dutch museum Singer has now opened an exhibition on Auguste Rodin and his beautiful works - and it comes highly recommended. The exhibition closes on May 28, 2011.

Lady Gaga - The Icon

10 Jan 2010 - The recently renovated Groninger Museum in the city of Groningen in the northern part of The Netherlands is considering a major exhibition on pop diva and fashion icon Lady Gaga. A spokesperson of the museum confirmed the news after the initiative came out through local media. The museum - with its outlandish  design an icon by itself - is known for its forward-thinking and trend-setting exhibitions. The spokesperson commented that Lady Gaga is a worldwide role model for fashion and style, for example when she recently appeared in a meat-dress during the MTV awards. Of course the museum hopes that the diva herself will attend the opening ceremony, but the media attention will no doubt benefit this small museum in one of the corners of the country (yet only 2 hours from Amsterdam). Bono visited the museum a few years ago to attend the onening of en exhibitiomn on the work of Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn. 

Dutch Utopia

24 Sep 2010 - The Dutch Singer Museum in Laren has opened an exhibition called 'Dutch Utopia". The exhibition focuses on the romantic image of Holland as portrayed by American painters like William Merritt Chase, John Singer Sargent, George Hitchcock and Gari Melchers. In the years between 1880 and 1914 these painters traveled with dozens of other American painters to the Dutch villages of Katwijk, Volendam and Laren looking for the idyllic image of tulips, wooden shoes and windmills. In those years the USA industrialized in rapid pace and the painters were looking for a"life that once was". Inspired by the Dutch School and 17th century Dutch Masters they hoped to find a reality of hard-working farmers, high skies, christian values and colorful fields of tulips. Although they did not always find what they were looking for, they painted a romantic image of Holland that remained a myth for decades to come. The exhibition in the Singer Museum how the painters used their creativity to paint images of Holland that were rapidly disappearing or not longer existed at all.

Corneille

6 Sep 2010 - Yesterday Dutch painter Corneille, co-founder of the avant-garde Cobra movement, died at the age of 88. Corneille, born as Cornelis Guillaume Beverloo, died in France where he lived and worked. The Cobra movement was founded after the second World War by artists from Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Brussels. The group preached freedom of color and form, and drew inspiration from children's drawings, primitive art works and the works by Joan Miro and Paul Klee. Corneille is considered one of the most important modern graphic artists of the last century. The group had great influence on Scandinavian art, and fellow Cobra member Karel Appel became world-famous. Corneille was also avant-garde in the sense that he commercialized his art at an early stage, by selling his prints to be used on t-shirts, pens and ties. His commercial instincts were not always appreciated in the art world. R.I.P.

Playing the Violin

5 Sep 2010 - A Taiwanese violinist borrows an antique violin from a Museum for a performance in Hong Kong. The concert is a great success and after the performance he takes the ferry to relax a bit and enjoy the view on Victoria Harbor. Unfortunately he falls asleep. An observant thief sees the opportunity and steals the violin, but he does not know that it is valued at more than HKD 2,5 mio. He takes the instrument home and puts it on top of the cupboard. The ever observant Hong Kong police catches the thief through their CCTV system and brings the violin back to the distressed violinist. It seems a happy ending, but the museum decides to lend the artist any musical instrument again. The violinist promises himself never to fall asleep on a ferry ever again.

Mak Fung

30 Aug 2010 - There is a great photo exhibition about our city's history going on. Late local photographer Mak Fung became famous in his later years for the treasure trove of photographic heritage he collected over his lifetime, showing in remarkable detail the transformation of Hong Kong. The Upper Station Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition "Hong Kong as it was" to showcase Mak's images of the city's history. Mak said "I was only trying to capture the street scenes with a few friends in the 1950s. It was relevant to our humble backgrounds, and we did not have much ambition beyond reflecting the lives of the common folks ... I thought photography should be about human life, just like literature, and I de-emphasized the aesthetic aspects". The Upper Station Gallery is at 22 Upper Station Street in Sheung Wan, and the exhibition runs til 17 October 2010. Highly recommended to everybody who wants to learn about Hong Kong.

Evelyn Waugh

7 Aug 2010 - One of my favorite books is Evelyn's Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and probably most people from my generation will remember the fabulous BBC TV series. But long before travel-writing descended into what seems the work of cynical comedians, Waugh already excelled in the genre. I enjoyed his book Labels, about a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea, but there are also other books like Remote People, 92 Days and Waugh in Abyssinia. Although Waugh was being accused of racism, it seems that he was forgiven because of his humor, satire and wit about his countries' doing in Africa. I read that some of Waugh travel-writing is now being re-published in the book When The Going was Good. The book is published by penguin, and hopefully available in the better bookshops in Hong Kong

Xu Bing

2 Aug 2010 - Yesterday I learned about the amazing work of Chinese artist Xu Bing. Born in Chongqing in 1955, Xu grew up in Beijing. At the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1975 he was sent to the countryside. Xu invented about 4,000 characters and hand carved them into wooden blocks. He then prints them on scrolls, creating an illusion of ancient Chinese art, but in fact using variations of the western alphabet. Please have a look at the attached work FEAR NOT and try to discover the words, and the signature of the artist on the right. Xu aims to demonstrate how the meaning of written text can easily be manipulated and challenges preconceptions of written art. Great artist!

An Eye on You

.23 July 2010 - American sculptor Tony Tasset has an eye for art. He constructed a sculpture of eye - his own eye - and put it on display in a park in Chicago. I am still mesmerizing the fantastic Hakone Open Air Museum, and this may fit well on site. Tasset put quite some time and effort in his work. After building the giant sphere from 24 pieces of fiber glass, he primed the peeper; coated it off with white paint; and added hundred of veins, a detailed blue iris and a black pupil. Tasset says he makes art for average Joes and art-loving "intellectuals", and he adds that art should be fun! I like that idea. Tasset''s eye will remain on display til 31 October. Gone in a blink.

Wu Guanzhong

27 June 2010 - I have admired the work of Wu Guanzhong before I knew his name. A few years ago I saw his work for the first time in the Hong Kong Museum of Art. I remember how I loved seeing his originality, his skill and his ability to give traditional themes and style a nowadays twist. It was only later that I learned more about this Chinese painter - one of the most famous of his generation - and his amazing life. After being born in Jiangsu province in 1919, he won a scholarship for the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1946. Wu returned  to China and endured the hardship of the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent to labor camp. He only held his first solo exhibition at the age of 59 and shot to fame. He was the first living Chinese artist to exhibit at the British Museum. Wu Guanzhong died earlier this week. One of his last acts was donating his last works to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Sugar Artist

26 June 2010 - Ask a child what he wants to become, and he will answer fireman, pilot or doctor. But how about becoming a sugar artist? Sugar artistry began in France and was at the height of its popularity during the reign of Louis XVI. Sugar artists use blown and pulled sugar. Practice and patience are the keys to mastering this art form. I saw a documentary about a young Chinese man who made sugar artistry his profession. He will probably not get very rich, but he seemed very fulfilled and happy. Children told him their Chinese star sign, and a few moments later our Chinese hero had blown and pulled a dragon, monkey or tiger. The children responded like they had just seen the most magical trick on earth. They were rudely brought back into reality by their somewhat intimidating and loud parents, demanding a discount from the hard-working artist. One day these parents will see that the happiness of their child is priceless.

Street Art

21 June 2010 - I always like to think of Hong Kong as a good place for Street Art, but unfortunately there are not many places where it can be enjoyed. Street Art is different from Graffiti, because the latter would merely spray paint and pay much attention to text and typeface. Street artists have different styles of working, and the nature of the work is less temporary. The streets are used to create art in a different way - although sometimes still illegal, which adds to the attraction. Space is limited in Hong Kong, but in the small gaps on the walls Hong Kong artists display their quirky sense of humor or their modern twist to traditional patterns. Probably most Hong Kong people will frown upon street art as "pollution of the walls", but I feel it should be stimulated to lighten the place up. Street art can be enjoyed in the city, but one has to go to the galleries in and around Hollywood road to see. And pay high price for it.

Art Sells

16 June 2010 - Lehman Brothers, the collapsed investment bank, aims to receive more than USD 10 million from an art sale at Sotheby's later this year. Lehman's collection once numbered more than 3,500 pieces, but many less valuable works have already been auctioned off. This year about 400 additional pieces will be sold in a single-owner sale. Expectations are particularly high for a Julie Mehretu painting - titled oddly Untitled 1 - of an estimated value of USD 800,000. Mehretu who has a show at New York Guggenheim Museum, recently completed a mural for Lehman's competitors Goldman Sachs' New York office. Lehman acquired the painting in 2001 for USD 21,728. It is a bit cynical that the bank seemed to have a good eye for investment in arts, but failed otherwise.

Campbell's Soup

12 June 2010 - It happened almost unnoticed, but a few weeks actor, director, artist and rebel Dennis Hopper died in the United States. Hopper started his remarkable life as a 15-years old drug addict, and later became one of the most prominent ant-Vietnam-war activists. There is also a story that at a certain moment he was found naked and hallucinating in a street in small town Mexico trying to raise funds & recruit men for an army to fight the third world war. Most of all, Hopper became known as a great art collector, although he lost most of his collection in various nasty divorces. He paid only USD 75 for the first Campbell's Soup painting by Andy Warhol. Although it is still a high price to pay for a silly painting of a tin of soup, its probably one of the best investments ever.

Disco Bay

27 May 2010 - OK, here we go. One of the weirdest places in Hong Kong is Discovery Bay (or DB or Disco Bay). It is this artificial haven of tranquility on Lantau island, where people drive around in golf course buggies and the first morning sherry is consumed before 10h30 am. It is like The Truman Show (remember that movie?), but then worse. So, to be clear: I dont like Disco Bay. However, coming Sunday Disco Bay will host the city's biggest independent arts-and-crafts market to date. The more than 50 vendors will come from Hong Kong's creative community selling fine jewelry, ceramics, eco-friendly stationary, artwork, vintage collectables, organic jams and more. I will miss the feast, but those of you interested to break the lazy Sunday, please visit www.handmadehongkong.com for details.

White Girls

8 May 2010 - Arts lovers in Hong Kong better hurry to Korkos Gallery in Mid-Levels today, because the Hong Kong police has moved in after receiving a complaint that the works on display are obscene. The exhibition of 67 works by Jonathan Thomson is titled "White Girls". The artist said he wanted to celebrate the beauty of women and that there is nothing obscene or indecent about that. Government body Tela will now have to rule if the exhibition violates the Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. Maybe the Tela members should have a look at (art) history, because Mr. Thomson rightfully pointed out that people were already painting naked figures on cave walls. I also recommend them to visit the MTR where (almost) naked women smile at us from posters all around.