Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
22/365 reporters sans frontieres 1 - alexandra boulat
Macedonian Refugee Camp, April 1999
Civil Serbes apres la chuts de Vukovar, Croatie, November 1991
This was the most striking of all. Nothing particularly scary or foreboding, but just really beautiful. Of the 100 photos in the gallery, this particular one drew both Mr Mo and myself like moths to a flame.
This exhibition was the 100 photos of Alexandra Boulat and her father Pierre Boulat.
Black and white photos taken by Senior Boulat of the WWII, the independence of algeria, telling of how much the world went through during those dark periods, and then the subsequent transformation of the new world, the nouveau riche post war recovery.
His collection of sober military photographs were contrasted against those of YSL, truman capote, cigars, edith piaf, laughing couples and lots of luxurious furry coats - the lure of bright lights and the big city, surely those were the golden years of the 1900s.
His daughter Alexandra Boulat is what we know as the modern day photo journalist. Her very gripping selection spanned across war torn countries just like her father but on a much more international scale, from the fall of the soviet bloc, the warring states in the middle east and the consequence of war, death and destruction. There were also a few highlights of laughing faces from amidst folk that the modern society left behind, and the most memorable ones were those of the Berberes in the Atlas Mountains.
Pierre Boulat had a cheeky and humourous edge to alot of his photographs, many of which were sombre, slightly ecletic but somewhat funny (in the woody allen way). His camera skills were nothing short of marvelous. Every snapshot was, as cliche as it sounds, picture perfect. Alexandra on the other hand shoots some very startling photos, and each one lingers on your mind, and you don't know it yet, but each face, each photo, it secretly haunts you. Each different picture evokes emotion, --indignance, shock, tranquility, lightheartedness, and perhaps sometimes joy, but mostly sadness.
I'd highly recommend anyone who is a big photo buff (and who happens to be in paris) to visit this exhibition :)
Reporters Sans Frontieres
100 Photos de Pierre et Alexandra Boulat
until 27 February 2011
AccèsAvenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris
Hall Jacqueau au rez-de-chaussée du musée
Tél : 01 53 43 40 00
Hall Jacqueau au rez-de-chaussée du musée
Tél : 01 53 43 40 00
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
While i am away...11/365
Before I joined the House three years ago, I had been more than clueless about art, and painfully oblivious to its existence. When I moved to London, things changed, it was everywhere. There they were, calling me, in the museums, in the studios, in warehouses, on the streets, on walls, in pop-up shops, at work, in beautiful homes, on people, on bags, on shoes, in store windows, I even have one in my flat! Oh I could go on...it is in the air here in London.
Where has this been all my life? In my very plebian uncultured mind, art to me was limited to the shading of peanuts, and sunday mornings painting fruits in watercolour. Contemporary art? Simi contemporary art? With heavy penalties on expressionism and graffiti, a big hooha on painted postboxes and MRTs, street art has made little progress in Singapore. Of course, the restriction is not without merit as there are some hideous, and ometimes inexplicable works about.
That said, I buzzed in a little excitement today as I read the news that the inaugural Art Stage Singapore, a contemporary art fair is making its debut this week in MBS. There will be no scrawlings on the walls, no spray painted figures on the ground, but boy will there be some fantastic pieces up for all to see!
Most notably, there has been alot of talk about David LaChapelle, who created the the portrait of Alexander Mcqueen below,
Where has this been all my life? In my very plebian uncultured mind, art to me was limited to the shading of peanuts, and sunday mornings painting fruits in watercolour. Contemporary art? Simi contemporary art? With heavy penalties on expressionism and graffiti, a big hooha on painted postboxes and MRTs, street art has made little progress in Singapore. Of course, the restriction is not without merit as there are some hideous, and ometimes inexplicable works about.
That said, I buzzed in a little excitement today as I read the news that the inaugural Art Stage Singapore, a contemporary art fair is making its debut this week in MBS. There will be no scrawlings on the walls, no spray painted figures on the ground, but boy will there be some fantastic pieces up for all to see!
Most notably, there has been alot of talk about David LaChapelle, who created the the portrait of Alexander Mcqueen below,
credit: http://www.lachapellestudio.com
Also, how could I forget, Mr Takashi Murakami who probably is a much more familiar name given that he collaborated with Louis Vuitton in their most memorable cherry blossom print all those years ago?
credits: http://www.bbc.co.uk
Ahhh....it could almost be a happy ending going home at some point, there could one day be some real change in this city, and believe you me, when that day comes, my smile will be wider than that of Mr Murakami's little flowers.
:)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)