Tag: Art
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Witness from Baghdad
Witness from Baghdad The heads of the women are blurred and their faces hidden in veils. But their eyes see. We see eyes that see. Eyes that have seen. And now the eyes have directed their penetrating look at us, confronting us onlookers. Remember last week’s photo? REMEMBER? We shall remember, Halim Al Karim! Photos…
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Remember
Remember REMEMBER: written in capital letters on a wall on a hill in Amman, Jordan. I saw it from the hill opposite whilst visiting two modern art galleries located there. REMEMBER: is it an artistic statement; is it connected to the artworks in the gallery spaces and buildings? That could well be the case. As…
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Ganesha in Venice
Ganesha in Venice The Italian artist Felipe Cardena called this work of his ‘The last crisis of this crazy, crazy world’. The Hindu gods are well represented in it. Apart from the popular Ganesha, there is Vishnu and also a small Shiva. They are in the company of some iconic figures – political, religious, revolutionary,…
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Painter’s palette
Painter’s palette Aboriginal artists from Arnhem Land in the north of Australia don’t really use a palette. Most of the time they work while sitting on the floor and the space around them gradually gets more and more stained with the clay paint they use for their barks. On the photo we see a worktable…
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Clay art
Clay art Unlike the marvellous creations of the termite or the crab, which we have been able to admire in the posts over the past two weeks, human creations can sometimes be called art. This is due to humanity’s ability to think, to reflect on itself and the world. Human creative works are, to a…
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Crab art
Crab art Whilst the termites in last week’s post impressed us with their magnificent architecture, here it is the pattern created by tiny crabs on the beach that appeals to our aesthetic sensibilities. A sensibility that is probably alien to the dog that walked right through it, although his or her footprints do complement the…
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Ant art
Ant art Ant hills can be impressive, but these termite mounds in the north of Arnhem Land are nothing short of astonishing works of art. Many a bird’s nest can fill us with equal awe because of its ingenuity, but it is above all the sheer size of these termite mounds that is so astonishing.…
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Floating fish
Floating fish The fish in this ‘aquarium’ without water aren’t floating, just like the birds in last week’s post weren’t flying. They are artificial, man-made and suspended in the air. While the birds were flying through the world of advertising, the fish are floating in the world of art. The two worlds have in common that…
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Tibet café
Tibet café In this simple Tibetan café, we see a not necessarily hostile mix of people and their cultural expressions from China and Tibet. The large thermos flasks and at least one of the guests are clearly Chinese, whilst the lady with the impressive silver buckle is a typical, traditionally dressed Tibetan woman. The thermos…
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Bathing in paint
Bathing in paint We’re back at the Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2011. In an earlier post I had called it a sort of junk art shop. The larger than life portraits of a man and a woman bathing are impressive. Look how true-to-life the water is flowing in plenty over their heads! The…
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