Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
The Cow (Robert Louis Stevenson)
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;
And blown by all thewinds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.
NOTES:
1. From AChild's Garden of Verses (1885)
2. Most days I drive from Berwyn toBryn Mawr along Darby-Paoli, turning left on Conestoga Road. On eitherside spread two large cow pastures, which are home to a single herd ofbeautiful black cows. The cows are either in one pasture or the other --never in both simultaneously. We have never been able to figure out howthey cross the road and no one has ever been able to explain this phenomenon tous. Either people are totally uninterested, they are all participating ina conspiracy against my family or, as I actually believe, these are magicalcows.
3. Link: ShirleyTemple recites The Cow in Dora's Dunking Donuts (1933)
4. Paintingsby Thomas Hewes Hinkley, 1869, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford,Pennsylvania.
5. Link: The Cow (PaulBowles)
1. From AChild's Garden of Verses (1885)
2. Most days I drive from Berwyn toBryn Mawr along Darby-Paoli, turning left on Conestoga Road. On eitherside spread two large cow pastures, which are home to a single herd ofbeautiful black cows. The cows are either in one pasture or the other --never in both simultaneously. We have never been able to figure out howthey cross the road and no one has ever been able to explain this phenomenon tous. Either people are totally uninterested, they are all participating ina conspiracy against my family or, as I actually believe, these are magicalcows.
3. Link: ShirleyTemple recites The Cow in Dora's Dunking Donuts (1933)
4. Paintingsby Thomas Hewes Hinkley, 1869, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford,Pennsylvania.
5. Link: The Cow (PaulBowles)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Blue Christmas; New Moon
Christmas cards we received this year contained many downbeat,almost despairing, notes and messages.
This caught us by surprise.
Not because we don’t read the polls -- we both have a pretty good idea of the national "measured” mood.
Not because we don’t read the polls -- we both have a pretty good idea of the national "measured” mood.
But at Christmas greeting time we've always found that themask, when there is one, usually remains firmly in place, miming,maintaining, mirth.
Queer and and dispiritingstuff, especially for a depressive like me.
However, at the moment chez nous, Jane is diligently practicing on her new altosaxophone, which is a much pleasanter “in-house” experience than we used to have with her trumpet. (In fact,it’s great.)
She's taking gorgeous, excellent photos with her new camera and the study she’s putting into learning about using it, reflecting her enthusiasm andpositive energy, is uplifting.
She's taking gorgeous, excellent photos with her new camera and the study she’s putting into learning about using it, reflecting her enthusiasm andpositive energy, is uplifting.
Last night, while we were walking Andy, who is recovering well from a slight (but scary)relapse last week, Caroline said to him:
“We made it to anothermoon.”
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Dégueulasse (Abel Ferrara Preps DSK Scandal Project)
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara Preps DSK Scandal Project;
Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Adjani To Star?
EXCLUSIVE: Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval has confirmed that Abel Ferrara and screenwriter Christ Zois are working on a feature script partly inspired by this summer’s sex scandal surrounding former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani have been rumored circling characters based on the scandal-plagued former IMF chief and his wife Anne Sinclair and have met with the director, but Maraval says the project is still a long way from active development.
The idea for a film came about on a lark when Ferrara was making 4:44 Last Day On Earth with Wild Bunch earlier this year. Per Maraval, it was suggested that the DSK sex scandal would be a good fit for Ferrara given the filmmaker’s penchant for themes of addiction. Maraval says Ferrara and sometime collaborator Zois are now writing a script which could include elements inspired by the lives of other politicians like Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi along with Strauss-Kahn. But, despite earlier reports in the French press, he stresses it’s too early to say anything definitively. “One thing we do know is that there’s a real common desire amongst Depardieu, Adjani and Ferrara to work together. But like every day in this business, we have to see if there’s a film there. Today, the only reality is that they are writing something inspired by Strauss-Kahn that will focus on addiction and politicians. It’s more that than the Strauss-Kahn scandal itself,” says Maraval noting, “If it becomes a serious thing, I’m not even sure it will be the same film with Adjani and Depardieu.” Finally, he adds, “If we feel there’s a movie, we’ll go further.”
Queried about the project in an interview published in France’s Le Journal Du Dimanche yesterday, Depardieu declined to comment on rumors but offered, “In general, I’m very good at playing characters that I don’t like or those that I don’t resemble.”
Gérard Depardieu
Anne Sinclair and Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Isabelle Adjani looking somewhat Anne Sinclair-like
NOTE: I was taught the evocative French word "dégueulasse," or "disgusting," a lifetime ago by an old girlfriend who had a French mother. My friend told me that once, while swimming in the Mediterranean in some unpleasant waters, she overheard another mother speaking the word to her child. Her own mother translated and the word (and the way it was said -- intonation and meaning matching perfectly) stuck.
For more DS-K, please see here: Idiots (link)
Arnulf Rainer: Trazos, impulsos y abstracción.
Arnulf Rainer, pintor austriaco, (Baden, Austria, 8 de Diciembre de 1929). Formado en el Instituto nacional de política de Traiskirchen durante los primeros años de la década de los cuarenta. Tiene su primer contacto directo con el mundo del arte al visitar en 1947, la exposición de arte contemporáneo internacional del British Council en Klagernfurt. Lugar donde entra en contacto con la obra de Francis Bacon o Henry Moore, entre otros. Figuras clave para su evolución pictórica posterior.Por petición familiar, ingresa en la Escuela Industrial del Estado en Villach donde cursa estudios hasta 1949. Posteriormente, admitido en la Universidad de Bellas Artes de Viena, decide abandonarla tan sólo un día después debido a una polémica surgida con el artista asistente Korunka. En seguida, se incorpora a la Academia de Bellas Artes de Viena, donde de igual manera, pero esta vez por ser consideradas sus obras como degeneradas, deja las clases tres días después de aprobar el examen de acceso a la misma.
Imbuido e influido por las corrientes surrealistas, al inicio de los años cincuenta, junto con Lehmden Anton, Arik Brauer, Wolfgang Hollegham, Mikl Josef y Prachensky Marcos constituye el denominado grupo de perros (Hundsgruppe), el cual expone en 1951( por única vez) en las instalaciones de la sociedad vienesa de la ciencia y el arte. Finalizada la muestra, aparca su interés por el surrealismo fantástico y comienza a experimentar con el tratamiento de las microestructuras y la destrucción de la forma (en gran medida consecuencia de su predilección por la abstracción gestual de Jason Pollock, Georges Mathie o Wols) con repintes y máscaras sobre fotografías e ilustraciones, pinturas recubiertas así las llamaban algunos. Dando como resultado su serie: "Imágenes de la destrucción".
 |
| Rainer por Marko Lipus. |
Como curiosidad apuntar que la Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, expuso las series que Rainer entre 1983 y 2005 centró en la figura y legado de Francisco de Goya, como se plasma en este enlace.
Braids, (1966).
Christus, (1969).
Algunas de las obras de la Serie: Farce Faces, (1969-1975).
Body Language, (1976).
Junto a Dieter Roth.
En compañía de Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Le Morte Arthur (lines 728-759)
And then one day theKing set forth
To hunt with all hisknights;
They rode to the forestfor the chase,
The sport and its delights.
But Lancelot planned tosee the Queen
And so lay long in bed,
They went to meet herin her room,
And gracious greetingsaid.
First he kissed hercourteously,
That lady full ofgrace,
And then her maidswhose joy ran down
In tears on every face.
‘Ah, Lancelot,’ said the Queen, ‘that ever
Iset myeyes on you!
Alas that it is gonefor ever,
The love that we onceknew!
‘Alas, Sir Lancelot duLake,
Who have my heart inhold,
That you have taken theEarl’s daughter,
Of Ascolot as I’m told!
Now for her sake youcease to be
A warrior daring-bold,
And I must wake andweep in woe
Till clay shall claspme cold.
‘But Lancelot, I beg younow,
Since it must needs beso,
Never to tell a singlesoul
Of the love we used toknow,
And never to let yourlove for her
Enfeeble your knightlyfame,
For though my fate iswoe, I wish
To hear you winacclaim.
Illustrations:
1. AlexKatz, Blue Umbrella, 1979-80.
2. AlexKatz, Self-Portrait at Cheat Lake, 1969.
3. AlexKatz, Pas de Deux,Vicki Hudspeth and Wally Turbeville, 1994.
4. AlexKatz, Pas de Deux, Red Grooms and Lizzy Ross, 1994.
5. Alex Katz, Black Scarf, 1996.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
