Nocturne: the night sky, oil on card, 10 x 14 cm - discarded
Painted on Beiramar Avenue, looking out to sea. The avenue has been nicely re-modelled by the city.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Symphony in grey: condominium; a new series; Whistler and music
Symphony in grey: condominium, oil on card, 11 x 15.3cm SOLD
This is a more elaborate version of the type, with quite complex poured concrete forms. It is on Madre Benevenuto, in Trindade. As yet it is unoccupied, but I can't imagine it being more colourful when it is.
This is the first of a Whistlerian series of ten, all standard postcard size.
I found it amusing to read this about Whistler:
*
I found it amusing to read this about Whistler:
"Whistler used musical terms in his paintings' titles: symphonies, arrangements, harmonies, nocturnes. According to his friend and fellow artist Mortimer Menpes, however, Whistler "had no sense of music, absolutely none." Whistler himself stated that "it is an accident that I happened upon terms used in music." He was, though, familiar with philosophical arguments maintaining that music was the highest art form, since it escaped the concrete imagery produced by language. By appropriating music, Whistler suggested that the people, places, and things in his paintings were unimportant accidents. The only part that really mattered was the effectiveness with which he organized color and line into a harmonious and therefore beautiful whole."
This is a quotation from some concert programme notes written by Kenneth Myers, and published on the Smithsonian's website: http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts/related/jokubaviciute/progNotes.asp
The Big Chill (1983): review: 3.5/10
Following the suicide of a friend, a group of seven eartwhile college friends meet in a lovely big house in the country.
Here they dress in horrible 80s styles with "mullet" hairstyles.They are not interesting or mysterious. They take drugs, mainly marijuana, occasionally a strange pill... Do you care? I don't.
They have poor table manners. Many shots feature socks.
The film supposedly examines value changes and disillusiion over the years, but actually characters are merely annoying and narcissistic (they very much enjoy videoing themselves) and have no depth. The film does not give not enough background shading, and their style of conversation is too superficial. The soundtrack is given too much prominance, as if the makers imagined that having catchy songs playing throughout the film would compensate for plot development or character analysis.
When I was a child I hoped life was not like this, I still hope it isn't: empty pointless people slopping about conducting vacuous affairs and talking rubbish and showing off: no glory or joy, no challenges or real compassion, no love, glory or honour. A pox on these people.
Here they dress in horrible 80s styles with "mullet" hairstyles.They are not interesting or mysterious. They take drugs, mainly marijuana, occasionally a strange pill... Do you care? I don't.
They have poor table manners. Many shots feature socks.
The film supposedly examines value changes and disillusiion over the years, but actually characters are merely annoying and narcissistic (they very much enjoy videoing themselves) and have no depth. The film does not give not enough background shading, and their style of conversation is too superficial. The soundtrack is given too much prominance, as if the makers imagined that having catchy songs playing throughout the film would compensate for plot development or character analysis.
When I was a child I hoped life was not like this, I still hope it isn't: empty pointless people slopping about conducting vacuous affairs and talking rubbish and showing off: no glory or joy, no challenges or real compassion, no love, glory or honour. A pox on these people.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Chelsea on the Rocks (2008): review: unfinished film
Length of film: 88 minutes
Length tolerated before switch off: 23 minutes
Percentage suffered: 20.24%
This is a documentary about the New York's Chelsea Hotel and the people who lived there.
Reason for switch off: Just being famous doesn't make someone interesting. The film offers no insights into the creativity of anyone and, more importantly, fails to tell a story, so the interviews conducted are dislocated and boring.
Length tolerated before switch off: 23 minutes
Percentage suffered: 20.24%
This is a documentary about the New York's Chelsea Hotel and the people who lived there.
Reason for switch off: Just being famous doesn't make someone interesting. The film offers no insights into the creativity of anyone and, more importantly, fails to tell a story, so the interviews conducted are dislocated and boring.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The sea from the mall
*
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The sea from the mall, oil on card, 12 12 cm - discarded
I feell that I won this picture having had a somewhat unsatisfactory run over the last few days.
The secret is sometimes to relax and just not to try so hard or care so much.
*
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Great Buck Howard (2008): review: 6/10
Against the wishes of is father, a young mans drops out of law school, seeking to become a writer. To earn some money in the meantime, he takes a job as assistant to "mentalist" showman Buck Howard, who is attempting to revive his career.
The film parallels the career beginnings of the young man with the older, and the plot is handled deftly. The acting is generally good and the film is never dull.
But there is something unimaginative about the direction, so that the film considerably lacks the atmosphere and passionate engagement that the story and characters deserve.
The film parallels the career beginnings of the young man with the older, and the plot is handled deftly. The acting is generally good and the film is never dull.
But there is something unimaginative about the direction, so that the film considerably lacks the atmosphere and passionate engagement that the story and characters deserve.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sliding Doors (1998): review: 3.5/10
In London, a PR officer returns home early having been sacked for stealing vodka: the film then diverges into two parallel tales. In one she returns home to discover her partner, an aspiring writer, in bed with his ex, a bossy American woman; in the second, due to an accident, she comes home minutes later after the American has left, thus living a life of ignorance and misery as her partner continues his affair.
The film loses momentum after the first 30 minutes, becoming doleful, the comparasion of her alternate possible fortunes is less inspring than it might be. In the former, the heroine meets a flirtatious, gummy Scotsman who considers himself a great wit, but who, in truth, is a twerp and an obsequious bore. In the second, she continues to live unhappily with her boyfriend who has an unfortunate haircut.
The villain of the piece, the scribbler boyfriend, whose pusillanimity is the cause of our heroine's misery, is potentially the most amusing character in the film. She is a thick spinless drip who has little really to delight so it is a pity that his wickedness could not be more more exuberant, as this might have animated the film more: bad always so much more cinematic than good.
It's quite pleasurable seeing bits of London, though the film does little truly to exploit location, apart from some bridge and river shots. To me, London is a furtive city of crooked streets and secretive corners and the filmakers surely could have used this far more as metaphor for maritial deceit.
The film loses momentum after the first 30 minutes, becoming doleful, the comparasion of her alternate possible fortunes is less inspring than it might be. In the former, the heroine meets a flirtatious, gummy Scotsman who considers himself a great wit, but who, in truth, is a twerp and an obsequious bore. In the second, she continues to live unhappily with her boyfriend who has an unfortunate haircut.
The villain of the piece, the scribbler boyfriend, whose pusillanimity is the cause of our heroine's misery, is potentially the most amusing character in the film. She is a thick spinless drip who has little really to delight so it is a pity that his wickedness could not be more more exuberant, as this might have animated the film more: bad always so much more cinematic than good.
It's quite pleasurable seeing bits of London, though the film does little truly to exploit location, apart from some bridge and river shots. To me, London is a furtive city of crooked streets and secretive corners and the filmakers surely could have used this far more as metaphor for maritial deceit.
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