27 abril 2009

Scoop Canela: John Brack.


"What I paint most is what interests me most, that is, people; the human condition, in particular the effect on appearance of environment and behavior … a large part of the motive … is the desire to understand and if possible, to illuminate…"







John Brack (Melbourne, 1920-1999) was the painter of modern Australian life.

His work is characterized by a kind of caustic realism and a strong sense of sardonic humor.

In everything that he produced he tried to achieve a purity of style and a perfect synthesis of color, line and tone.





Opening on April 24th at the National Gallery of Victoria, is the first John Brack retrospective exhibition to be held in more than twenty years.

The exhibition will be on view until 9 August 09.

21 abril 2009

Extreme Beauty in Vogue.


(Erwin Blumenfeld, Jean Patchett, 1950)

The many faces of feminine beauty through the pages of Vogue is the theme of the exhibition Extreme Beauty in Vogue, an extraordinary exhibition on display from March 4 through May 10 at Milan's Palazzo della Ragione.



(Richard Avedon, Twiggy, 1968)

Created and curated by Anna Wintour, with design and art direction by Jean Nouvel, the exhibition investigates the role of beauty in our culture and how the female beauty has changed, with Vogue as a referee.

Anna Wintour and her team have selected 89 images for this exhibition from the archives of Vogue from its founding in 1892 until now.

18 abril 2009

Helen Lewitt. Crossing New York.



Helen Levitt (Nueva York, 1913-2009) es una fotógrafa clave en la Historia de la fotografía del siglo XX que forjó su carrera en los años 30 bajo la influencia de grandes genios de la fotografía como son Walker Evans, quien la inició en el uso del laboratorio, y Henri Cartier-Bresson, quien le “aconsejó” la compra de su eterna Leica 35 mm.


Retratista del Nueva York callejero, sus crudos retratos de la pobreza y vida urbana en la década de los treinta dieron la vuelta al mundo.



Inventiva y creativa, sus instantáneas, que recogen gestos simples, son un rico testimonio social y visual sobre la vida de principios del siglo XX.

En ellas inmortaliza a niños jugando en las calles, amas de casa, ancianos y desamparados de los barrios neoyorquinos de Harlem, Yorkville y Lower East Side.





En los cuarenta influenciada por Luis Buñuel tuvo contacto con el cine y el documental y en los años sesenta abandonó el blanco y negro para experimentar con el color, al cual renunció definitivamente en la década de los noventa porque no podía controlar las tonalidades.


(Via El País)

11 abril 2009

Another way to be sitting...

A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Innovation, experimentation of the materials and forms, these pieces of furniture do not stop to surprise us.

Very astonishing, these graceful design integrate materials with structures and furnish your interiors with originality and character.

The Lobster chair by Lund&Paarmann (50s).
Materials: wood, leather and chrome-plated steel.


The Butterfly chair by Sori Yanagi(1954).
Executed using the pressed plywood molding technique invented by Charles and Ray Eames, this graceful stool marries ancient Japanese forms with modern Western materials.


The Swivel chair (1958) in chromed-alumminum, one of the most famous Charles Eames's designs.


The Ball chair by Eero Aarnio (1963).
Materials: white Fibreglass, metal and red fabric.





The GJ chair designed by Grete Jalk (1963).
Materials: black stained ash wood, Oregon and Teak pine.



The Joe Chair by Gionatan De Pas, Donato D'Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi (1970).
Named after the baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, this gigantic glove chair was inspired by the oversized and out of context sculptures of Claes Oldenburg.



The Cross Check chair by Frank Gehry (1991).
Materials: metal and wood.


The Empress chair by Julian Mayor (2003).
Materials: wood.



The MT3 chair by Ron Arad (2005).
Materials: completely realized in polyethylene molded by rotation.





The Paparazzi chair by Bram Boo (2007).
Material: plywood, aluminum, steel.




The Cloud chair designed by Richard Hutten for Gallery Ormond in Geneva, limited edition (2008).
Materials: aluminum cast and nickel-plated.





The Cloud paper chair by Tokujin Yoshioka (2008) for Moroso.
Materials: the prototype on display is made of paper but the design will later be developed for production using fabrics.





The Slow White chair by Bo Reudler (2008).
Materials: elegant chair with high back constructed from a frame of intertwining branches as if holding hands.




The Blobulous chairs by Karim Rashid (2008).
Materials: made of fiberglass with automotive chrome paint, upholstered foam seat.


05 abril 2009

Duane Michals: un poeta, un filósofo, un fotógrafo.


"La realidad no me interesa en absoluto. Prefiero vivir en un mundo irreal, me parece más estimulante. Nunca me ha interesado la calle, no creo que ahí afuera ocurra nada interesante. Al contrario que otros colegas, yo no me he paseado jamás con la cámara a cuestas para captar una instantánea. A mí, sobre todo, me interesan las emociones y los sueños. Lo que pasa en la calle actualmente es demasiado estúpido como para prestarle atención".

Duane Michals (Pensilvania, Estados Unidos, 1932), de formación autodidacta, es uno de los fotógrafos más influyentes de la segunda mitad del siglo XX y uno de los principales representantes de la fotografía conceptual y filosófica.


Irónico y literario e influenciado por surrealistas como Magritte y Balthus
su fotografía destacó en los años setenta por sus secuencias (sucesión de fotografías como forma de contar historias)
y por la incorporación de pequeños textos manuscritos que reforzaban el significado de las fotografías.




Premio Photo España 2001, ha trabajado en diferentes campos de la fotografía comercial colaborando con revistas, como Esquire, Vogue y Mademoiselle.

También ha trabajado en la edición del trabajo gráfico de algunos discos musicales, por ejemplo la portada del disco Synchronicity de The Police .


Sus obras se encuentran en las colecciones permanentes de varios museos, entre ellos el Metropolitan y el MOMA de Nueva York.

A poet, a philosopher, and a photographer, Michals has managed to merge his three muses into a single output for a highly distinct and original body of work. Poems and short stories are paired with his images, and photos are grouped together into a story-telling series.