Art Zuid - Amsterdam

Every two years the International Sculpture Route better known as Art Zuid opens up in front of my apartment. Really!  I wake up, look out the window and the whole street is transformed. All of sudden my street is lively with people walking by and taking pictures. 

This is a street where every day feels like it is a sunday. So to be able to take our daily walks surrounded by amazing art, well that is just very, very lucky! 

This ones below are my favorites from this year. In my opinion I think the sculptures from 2011 were much grander, and colorful, which made the route much more interesting. This year there are many pieces that don't stand out, therefore loosing the whole point. Then again, my sister really loved it this year, so I guess it is about personal tastes as well.

Jems Robert Koko Bi

Wilhelm Mundt

Joep van Lieshout

Erwin Wurm

El Anatsui

This one by Atta Kwami is from 2011, when we had just moved here. My favorite piece right in front of my building!!!

I hope you've liked the little tour around my neighborhood. Which was your favorite piece?

Have a colorful day!
Giova

Visiting Museo Rayo

A 3 hour road trip from Cali (which is where I'm at) and you're in Roldanillo. A beautiful town, best known for artist Omar Rayo. His amazing museum is located there; built like mexican pyramids, so all three (maybe more like 6) galleries are octagons and get lovely daylight. There is a stage and classrooms, and it is surrounded by palm trees, sculptures and other greeneries. His extensive work is admirable! He truly was an out of this world artist. Here are a few images of this lovely place!

This are the latest paintings and probably the ones that people recognize him for.

 His works on paper are amazing!!! And the museum's collection is wonderful!

This are my favorite! They are from the 60's when it was only the beginning. 

The beautiful stage!

one of his trees...

I feel totally grateful that my friend (more than my friend really: she is an incredible artist and she takes me under her wing whenever I'm in Cali- she is my mom's friend first!) took me to this magical place! I had an eye-opening experience- and who doesn't love those? I hope you get the chance to visit one day!

Have a good day!
Giannina.

Felt Art by Akiko Kumazawa

I've had the chance to visit some very interesting exhibitions here in Cali. One that has stand out by far from everything I've had the opportunity to see here is by artist Akiko Kumazawa. She is a Japanese artist that two years ago came to Colombia for an artist-in-residence program and decided to stay. She works mostly with felt and hair, and to tell you the truth makes the most amazing 'objects' out of this wonderful materials (my first encounter with felt was thanks to my sister). This exhibition left me so satisfied and completely happy that someone could create such things with this very fragile, flexible material, and show it in such a spectacular way.

It was funny how the hair pieces reminded me of how many of my own hair I've thrown away. Such a waste! haha.  It was such an inspiration! And entirely motivational really, because now I want to make lots and lots of things! And hopefully my sister will teach me about felt!

Have a great day!
Giannina.

"Electric Tree"

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is all the lights and decorations, remember this post? So now that we've had to say goodbye to all that it is very comforting and inspiring to find such a beautiful tree here in Miami! The artist Mark Handforth made it as part of his 2011 exhibition show at MOCA and he has left it there to become part of everyone's life. The grandness of the tree lined by the magical lights just makes me so happy inside.

During the day it is easy to enjoy the company of a tree but during the night its another story, so it is actually a "tree with a function," as said by the artist. Needless to say it: I love it! Wish there were more trees like this to illuminate our dark nights!

Have a wonderful "Blue Monday"!
Giannina.

Art Basel Miami Beach

I have decided to go on thursday all day because I'm pretty sure is gonna get unbearable during the weekend. I was looking forward to seeing inspiring things and the always provoking pieces. Art Basel is having all the good galleries (and the not so good ones too) under the same roof, so it is quite refreshing for Miami. Here are some of the things I really liked!

 After walking around all day and seeing so much art, you're just mentally exhausted (and my feet hurt!!!)  but if you are ever in Miami at this time of the year, Art Basel is really something to explore and see!

Have an inspiring, relaxing, energizing weekend!

Giannina.

Art in Miami

In Miami, December arrives with Art Basel Miami Beach. Every year the first week and weekend in December is about art, parties and all related events. It is no longer about what goes on in Miami Beach, but what goes on in the Design District, Wynwood etc etc. So to start the show nothing better than a Vanity Fair opening party with the artist Bill Viola at the MoCa in North Miami. He does video art and even though there was a lot of people and it was very hard to appreciate the pieces, if you took the time with just one it was definitely worth it! It was like watching a slow motion opera, the characters move so slowly it becomes incredibly dramatic...but in the most subtle way, beautiful!

the artist!

*magazines to take with you; full party with "Paradise" by Jack Pierson.

Looking forward to all things ART this week! 

Have a great day!

Giannina.

PS.  Bernardo, thank you for inviting me to a great party.  

dOCUMENTA 13 - the finale

I hope you've enjoyed a little bit of dOCUMENTA via pictures. I can't emphasize enough in how wonderful it would be to give you the sense of it all with some sort of magic technology. I guess this will have to suffice for now. My final selection consists of the installations at Karlsaue Park; Weinbergterrassen; Orangerie; and the North Wing at Hauptbahnhof. These are the art pieces I keep thinking about, they raised a lot of questions for many reasons. I really liked some of them, but mostly they just pushed the imaginary boundaries I sometimes built without noticing.

*top right: George Bures Miller and Janet Cardiff's sound installation in the middle of the forest was incredible!!!

*bottom left: "Reflection Room" by Marcos Lutyens- we had a hypnosis session with him!

*bottom left: the one and only William Kentridge with his astounding "The Refusal of Time" sound/video installation.

I think as soon as you encounter something your immediate reaction is the one that counts the most, but I've also learned with (a lot) of time that sometimes you need to look at things and allow that immediate reaction to be a little more flexible... One of the things I appreciated most about dOCUMENTA was that there was room for everything! And everything: the more you looked at it, stayed with it, understood it, or thought about it made sense. Not the normal sense but sense as in getting the idea without having to read too much about it!

dOCUMENTA: see you in 5 years! It was inspiring, amazing and totally worth it meeting you!

Enjoy!
Giannina.

Art Show in Berlin

Just as the Berlin program was starting, I shared with you the painting I was going to be working on. I also had several others in mind. All this work happened way before we get there because its only six weeks and that is not enough time to be working and producing and thinking about a final show. I had a clear idea of what I wanted the big painting to look like, but it takes a lot of attempts before it actually looks like what you have in mind. The smaller and embroidered pieces went through a big transition and opened a door I had been knocking on for a long time.

*clockwise: me and dad!; Jackie Dicker's paintings; Yasmine Nachabe's middle eastern women in 1934; Tess Clancy's "Throw Caution to the Wind" flag.  

Its a privilege to have the time to be focused on painting, sewing and producing something that you're proud of. I was very satisfied of how the pieces looked hanging in the gallery among everyone else's artwork. 
The show's opening was wonderful! Just as it was starting we had a mesmerizing sunset! There was also a very delicious bbq in the terrace and most important of all: my dad came to visit me in Berlin and was my plus one for the event! 
Its a matter of working on something you're passionate about...and working and working and never stoping! Wonderful results will come out of that...for sure!

Thank you,
Giannina. 

dOCUMENTA part 2

So here I was in the most amazing and important exhibition of contemporary art, being aware of the many art pieces and installations. Choosing in my head my favorites, my least favorites, the ones that pissed me of, the ones that made no sense at all... just thinking and getting mentally exhausted by it all!
We had the privilege of visiting dOCUMENTA with an art critic who is very brilliant and had mapped out a way for us to be introduced to this grand event. He made sure we knew of its history and showed us the pieces that have been there from the beginning and later on continue to show us little by little the extensive amount and variety of art. It would be almost impossible to try and explain each and everyone of them, or to even try and generalize how they were shown. I know which ones left a mark, the ones that amazed me and caught my eye and that even as the days go by I keep coming back to...

at the Fredericianum 

at dOCUMENTA Halle

at the Neue Gallery

The painter in me chose these! I'm saving the most amazing pieces (and not because they're my favorite...) for my final selection, I think you're going to find them very interesting (and maybe even like them).

Giannina.

documenta

dOCUMENTA is a very large and important, if not the most important exhibition of contemporary art.
(Not to be confused with an art fair) It takes place in Kassel, Germany, and this is number 13! (lucky number) It only happens every 5 years and it lasts for 100 days. (June 6- Sept 16 , 2012)
Well let me tell you I really didn't know what it was going to be like. It was more than amazing, I can't seem to wrap my head around the many things I saw this past couple of days. It felt as if there wasn't enough time to experience everything... The exhibition happens in many places across the city, the Fridericianum museum (one of the oldest museums in the world) is the "starting" point, and then the many venues everywhere including the wonderful pavilions in the Karlsaue park. There is something for everybody. There are things that provoke you and others that make you happy, some that question you and many that inspire you. I haven't quite "digested" everything I saw and felt but I'm so incredibly grateful to have been there. As the many art installations are more than a visual experience, I wish there was a way of showing you with sound, scent and overall feeling how it really was!

As you may have guessed, this is just an introduction of my trip. I just arrived and have to organize my ideas and selection of photographs to show you, so that in some way you'll be able to feel that you were there with me!
May your weekend be filled with art!

Giannina.

Making Art

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You’ve probably read that I am an aspiring artist, but I haven’t yet showed you what I do. I’ve heard that magicians won’t tell you or show you everything that happens in order to make magic, and I’m pretty sure this is going against those rules, but since I’ve been working so hard and you haven’t really met my “artist” side I thought this was a good way to start. This is the first painting I decided to catalogue from the beginning. And I usually paint differently, but this is a project I put on myself and have been working on it for a few months now.

Right now I’m in the middle of it. I brought it to Berlin with me in hopes that by the end of the term what I want from it will show up! Later when I've figure out what is going to happen, I'll explain what's the story behind it. I hope these images inspire you to keep a diary of your projects! And I would love for you to share them with me!

Happy Monday!

Giannina.