Monday, June 16, 2008
Seyed Alavi in SF Chronicle
The San Francisco Chronicle has an article today by Charles Burress about one of Seyed Alavi's public art installations -- specifically, the traffic-signal boxes in Emeryville. The photos are worth checking out, too. As commenters on the article have pointed out, the work isn't new, but nevertheless I'm pleased to see it get some attention.
I'm very happy to own one of Alavi's "Aquamano" prints, called "Loon Song."
I'm very happy to own one of Alavi's "Aquamano" prints, called "Loon Song."
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Paris Metro Nudes
The story in the Telegraph (UK) about Jam Abelanet's book "Fantaisies Souterraines" -- which has fifty images of naked women in Paris Metro stations and trains -- reminds me of one of my crazier travel stories.
We were in Barcelona, Spain in 1991. It was a sparkling clear summer day, and Jane and I were in line to explore Antoni Gaudi's famed Sagrada Familia Temple. We noticed a strange pair in line with us: a guy with lots of camera equipment around his neck, accompanied by a beautiful woman -- with a very careful coif and makeup -- wearing what appeared to be a lab coat and sneakers. We had a hunch as to what was afoot, and decided to follow them.
They quckly climbed the spiral staircase of one of the highest towers. Eventually the woman walked out onto one of the bridges connecting the towers as the man readied his cameras. (The bridges can be seen clearly in this photo.) We peeked at them from a small window in the tower; the summer sky and the city of Barcelona formed a perfect background as the woman tossed off the lab coat -- as you might expect by now, she had nothing on underneath -- and the guy snapped photos. As fast as it happened, the woman slipped the coat back on and the pair hustled off the bridge and down the stairs. We laughed and laughed -- we think we were the only ones who saw the whole episode.
For months and years afterward we kept our eye out for nude photos on the Sagrada Familia. This was before the Internet and Google Image Search, so the best we could do was look in books of Barcelona photography. We never found out what became of the photos, but we got an hilarious travel memory from the day.
We were in Barcelona, Spain in 1991. It was a sparkling clear summer day, and Jane and I were in line to explore Antoni Gaudi's famed Sagrada Familia Temple. We noticed a strange pair in line with us: a guy with lots of camera equipment around his neck, accompanied by a beautiful woman -- with a very careful coif and makeup -- wearing what appeared to be a lab coat and sneakers. We had a hunch as to what was afoot, and decided to follow them.
They quckly climbed the spiral staircase of one of the highest towers. Eventually the woman walked out onto one of the bridges connecting the towers as the man readied his cameras. (The bridges can be seen clearly in this photo.) We peeked at them from a small window in the tower; the summer sky and the city of Barcelona formed a perfect background as the woman tossed off the lab coat -- as you might expect by now, she had nothing on underneath -- and the guy snapped photos. As fast as it happened, the woman slipped the coat back on and the pair hustled off the bridge and down the stairs. We laughed and laughed -- we think we were the only ones who saw the whole episode.
For months and years afterward we kept our eye out for nude photos on the Sagrada Familia. This was before the Internet and Google Image Search, so the best we could do was look in books of Barcelona photography. We never found out what became of the photos, but we got an hilarious travel memory from the day.
Labels: art, barcelona, photography, Spain, travel
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Geir Jordahl's "Searching for True North" exhibit reviewed on KQED.org
The gallery show of Searching for True North at ModernBook has received a very positive review from Ben Marks on KQED.org. A snippet:
The full review is here.
What's refreshing about Jordahl's work is that, in an age when we've become numb to the guilty pleasures of Photoshop, there's nothing inherently fake about these pictures. Yes, the artist's bag of tricks includes infrared film and panoramic cameras, but what we see is precisely what those tools and materials deliver, no more, no less.
The full review is here.
Labels: art, friends, Norway, poetry
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Norway Recognizes Geir Jordahl's "Searching for True North"
Norway.org, the official United States web presence of Norway, has a wonderful article about Geir Jordahl's new photography book, Searching For True North.
A gallery opening for Searching for True North is slated for Friday, February 1, 2008 at ModernBook Gallery in Palo Alto. These images -- many shot with a Widelux panoramic camera and many made using infrared film -- have been described by Margaretta K. Mitchell as "restless dynamism." See you there!
A gallery opening for Searching for True North is slated for Friday, February 1, 2008 at ModernBook Gallery in Palo Alto. These images -- many shot with a Widelux panoramic camera and many made using infrared film -- have been described by Margaretta K. Mitchell as "restless dynamism." See you there!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Honoring Eric Kupers
I was thrilled to read on CSUEB View that our friend Eric Kupers earned a $10,000 Princess Grace Fellowship and a $15,000 Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Grant for his contemporary dance work. Eric runs Dandelion Dancetheater and is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance at CSUEB. Jane danced in (and thoroughly loved) his "Dance For All Bodies and Abilities" class at the University. One of her cane chairs now serves as a prop in some class performances.
Eric's response to the good news: "Now the work begins."
Eric's response to the good news: "Now the work begins."
