John Goodmanueber seinen Alkoholismus

http://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/41275/Ich-war-jede-Nacht-bis-zum-Anschlag-besoffen

Kickstarter-Touching Strangers

A brilliant photographer raised 80k after pledging for 10. And very well deserved.
If you like photography it's worth having a look at his work.
Here the kickstarter link for you:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aperturefoundation/touching-strangers-photographs-by-richard-renaldi

and here's his website: http://www.renaldi.com/about/

Detroit- the place to be?

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/nov/05/young-people-detroit-buy-500-house

Dada-dance

http://www.edisproduction.de/2013/10/20/man-with-awesome-dance-moves-will-amaze-you/

The launch video - Lazy Oaf

Good day, just saw Lazy Oaf's Looney Tunes launch video and thought it is unsual: weird, nice angles, lot's of rewinding and a very bizarre and contemporary feel to it. A good portion of irony in the oh-so serious fashion world.
Here the link:


http://vimeo.com/77224679#

New York Envy-

The envy appeared when reading this article about the movie which screens at the New York Film Festival:
Jim Jarmusch and Tilda Swinton on Creating the Vampire Hangout Movie  
‘Only Lovers Left Alive’
By Jason Bailey on

http://flavorwire.com/419565/jim-jarmusch-and-tilda-swinton-on-creating-the-vampire-hangout-movie-only-lovers-left-alive/


Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts initiative

Brilliant: Rolex is supporting young artists with this program by pairing up an overly successful atrists with another one, which is a lot younger. Mind my sarcastic underdone, I actually am amazed. What a great initiative to take from Rolex!
Here the link, if you are interested:
http://www.rolexmentorprotege.com/mentors__proteges/architecture?cmpid=dw201305393

Cindy Gallop-on better advertising

Here a (not so) short video from Mrs. Gallup's speech at the "Changing Advertising Summit" 2012
A very strong women making aware some downfalls of contemporary advertising.

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/video/2012/nov/02/advertising-business-cindy-gallop

Samsung-Hands

Commercial by Manuel MACK (www.manuelmack.com)

Just came across this commercial and thought it's very nice, concise and pretty.
Click on one of the images below to be directed to the short clip.
These are NOT sponsored links.





New Beginnings NYC - Ballet

New York City Ballet

"The New York City Ballet presents New Beginnings: a video featuring Maria Kowroski and Ask the Court in the pas de deux After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon on the terrace of Four World Trade Center in Manhattan. A sublime performance filmed at sunrise heralding a new beginning for the city". from: http://www.fubiz.net/2013/09/20/new-york-city-ballet/

Nick Knight and Kanaye West?

Interesting.

Click below to see a collaboration between the artists. No judgements.

http://showstudio.com/project/blkkk_skkkn_head?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=24_07_2013

A hateful art director

Cody Pate made me laugh today, when going through his pportfolio I stumbled upon on a hate letter he sent to Jack threads: Astonishingly, it resulted in a pair of high tops!

http://codypate.com/JackThreads

picture of the day

Stranger, Moma PS1, New York June 2013

Who is the black male? on "Questionbridge: Black Males"

Have you ever wondered about stereotypes?
Four Artists, Hank Willis Thomas, Chris Johnson, Bayeté Ross-Smith, and Kamal Sinclair, have taken upon themselves to investigate in the stereotype of the black male.  According to Blouin Artinfo, they set out 4 years ago, aiming at a documenary but the reult soon turen out to be much bigger.
The article below will explain in more detail. In a very very small nutshell; they are now working on an app and a website in order to further investigate stereotypes. 
Not only are they making brave work, they make full use of modern technology and connectedness through the internet. It is something worth seeing, and, if applicable, to get involved in! For more information see below link:

 http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/921703/hank-willis-thomas-on-subverting-stereotypes-in-a-new-web
Todays Favourite Female Fashionphotographer:
COLIENA RENTMEESTER!
She combines an easy, relaxed mood with an appreciation for beauty and her personal view. Sounds cliché? Probably. It's fashion photography but I bleieve her images look authentic - which is rare.
See her blog http://flashcocopop.tumblr.com/ or click on the image below for her website...



controversial advertising - smoking and cats...

I just cam across a campaign by The Wade Brothers for the Lung Cancer Alliance,...
it's wonderfully impossible. I have not made up my mind by it by I am intrigued with no further jusgement: See for yourselves...

click on the image below to get directed to the advertising clip:


Bat for Lashes - song and video

Todays favourite inspiration is a music video: Bat for Lashes' "Daniel".


It makes me feel grateful for living today,for electronic music, for video's and contemporary design, for everyone that brakes the law of convention.
Click on the image to see the video.



Motivations - Alix Marie (Artist)

Motivations is a series of questions seeking real people to reveal their dreams, and methods of following them regardless of the current stage in life.
They arose through conversations with friends, people.

Alix Marie (MFA at the Royal College of Art, London) kindly allowed me to ask her seven questions which seem vital to the understanding of motivation as an artist.


Alix, what do you do?
I do sculpture and photography. Sometimes mixed together, sometimes independently. Im interested in how they inform each other and their hybrid practice. I believe that the future of photography in the art sphere is in its sculptural aspect, in the photograph as object. I'm interested in photographic installations, how to explore the medium further rather than the idea of a print on the wall. This is for the material aspect, on the subject matter you could put my work under the broad umbrella of the bodily. 

I cast with plaster, clay, light and make imprints to explore our flesh. 

What are your daily struggles?
Id say time and money, as for so many of us. I get so many ideas a day i never have the time to try them all out. Outside of the art school bubble id say sometimes its hard to find the right people to bounce ideas off, your peers are so important. But i know ive been very lucky so far, no major struggle in my life or work so im happy (but im also a baby; so touch wood.)


How do you get over them?
The selection of ideas comes naturally and instinctively i think. If you dont have the time right now and it really is an important subject / project, it will come back to you later, under an another form. Thats what i like to believe but it doesnt keep my from making lists and keeping thousands of sketchbooks to rot on shelves...


What are your motivations? 
Err. life ? Neurosis ? Surviving ? 
The urge to make things is not something I asked for, its just there. If I had not been so lucky and had the freedom to go to art school, if I had been born in another time and place I would probably be a weird housewife obsessed with craft, and making creepy  stuff at night in a shed at the back of the garden, but thats just a guess.
I do art cause I was confronted very early on by images that struck me and influenced me, made who I am. 

Maybe in a weird way its my revenge or offering to reproduce this and change peoples vision of things by showing them something different ?

What would you die for? 
The last meal.

What makes you laugh?
All of the people around me, I think humour is very important is relationships (family, love, friendship). People are crazy, life is a bitch, so things make me laugh when they dont make me cry.

What has been the most inspiring advice you ever received? 
Always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn then always be a unicorn.
Everything that  needs to happen, will. 

And when it does it will be in due time.
Try and be a good person.

On an artistic level ? 
Remember that creating will be 20 % of your time and all the boring stuffs 80 %. 
Follow your instinct. Never stop producing. Concentrate on the present rather than worry about the future because in our work, a project feeds into another. 
Ask for things, don't be shy, no one is waiting for you. 

Don't be a pretentious prick either, its tiring.



Upcoming exhibition


I am delighted to announce my participation at the below exhibition in New York City.

Please join me for the private View on May 8th from 6-8pm

WISH MEME
A curated art exhibition during FRIEZE ART WEEK

Press Preview | Wednesday, May 8th | 4 - 6pm
VIP Preview | Wednesday, May 8th | 6 - 8pm

RSVP HERE by May 7th

Daily Hours | May 9 - 12, Noon - 6pm

With best wishes,

Nadia

www.springbreakartshow.com/wishmeme

All round creatives - Fashion meets Photography

This article  , though maybe a bit short, talks about Karl Lagerfeld, among others, and their publishing of multiple media.
Isn't it interesting to see how this seems to been an unsual event, while many successful, creative individuals seem to be demonstrating an all round attitude to creativity - Doesn't it seem only logic one would not subscribe to only one outlet of it, particularly if the creativity hi-jacks ones mind on a regular basis?




Hands - Michael Schlingmann

6 years after it's release it's time to be highlighted again: Awonderful video, an advertisement for Guinness but more so a beautifully executed stop-motion.Click the images to see the video.



Hands, by Michael Schlingmann, 2006.

I am in love with Wayne McGregors Brain

Wayne McGregor made a stunning choreography for the Ingenue video by Atoms for Peace.
I am taken by the way the bodies merge visually, sometimes hard to differentiate, yet the 100% opposite of each other in every visual aspect: gender, color, movement.
McGregor thinks with bodies, which he describes in his Ted Talk (yes, also worth a watch even if you're not madly into dance). Interpreted loosley, it seems like a metaphor for relationships, where the protagonists are both similar and very different. Watch for yourselves, it's beautiful.





I miss you, Baby.

I miss you Baby.

     

Hold me tighter.

 





My Friend Kills Time - Shortfilm by Rørvik

'My Friend Kills Time'  a film by Norwegian filmmaker Jakob Rørvik, recently seen on NOWNESS.

Have you ever thought of escaping the city?  

Dropping the rat race and living for the basics? 

Rørvik says: “The idea of not being around people and the hustle and bustle of London frightened me. Questioning that fear was my starting point.”   

A starting point which surely many Londoners and city dwellers can relate to. 

Rørvik has a distict sense for aesthetics which he showcases in collaboration with perfect sound  composed by Knut Jonas Sellevold.  The images let the audience drift between beautiful imagery and repulsive closeness. That friend who kills time get's quite close, at times. Affirmed by brilliantly produced music by the composer Knut Jonas Sellevold, only rarely it comes to the foreground but when it does it does it with an impact. 

Upshot:It raises some questions without forcing an answer and exists very much in his own right. My Friend Kills Time' is a wonderfully repelling piece, worth a watch if you have 10 minutes to spare. 





In response to

A Love Letter from Emilie Blachère to Rémi Ochlik

A letter from someone loving to a loved one.Instantly evoking 2 main questions such as "what is love" and "what is passion".
For the letter was written by a loving to a loved one.
And that love, by my judging, was supported through a fascination and respect towards someone who followed his calling.
Someone who was eager and fortunate enough to know what he was looking for in a young age and who, tragically lost his life doing it.

It made me think about "the real thing" what I'd die for, and what I wouldn't.

Do you know?
Can you define your 5 main values on the spot?
Honestly, I had to think about it. Which is something I plan to change. (Seems handy to know at least one or two things you'd like to die for, doesn't it? Shift those values a bit per day; just like you strech in that weekly yoga classes - push it just a little more.)
Jokes aside, on these few lines, I don't want to get too deep but I strongly believe that giving importance to once life is the sole purpose of life.
Harold S. Kushner sums up what Victor E. Frankl's discusses in his "Man's Search for Meaning": '[...]that life is meaningful and that we must learn to see life as meaningful despite our circumstances'.
You will never be able to become something specific whilst being unaware.
It has been a little more than a year since the death of the mentioned photographer who spent his life photographing the disasters of this world and I regret that I couldn't have seen his work while he was alive. I take him and Emilie as an eye opener.
I wish for many courageous human beings to follow their calling and should they not know it, to find strength in their environment to keep searching. I hope to meet some of them but moreso to build an environment of support, love and courage.
Support your friends with their love and passions, find your own.
What values do we life by and how ofter might we use an excuse, an "I'll do it tomorrow"?




Alix Marie - London based Artist

Just had a look at Alix's work. 
She's currently studying her M.A. at the Royal College, making a variety of works both in ceramics and photography...
see for yourselves:
www.alixmarie.com




Missing London


And all those people that made it such a wonderful experience, became great friends and encouraged.

 
Stranger, London, Covent Garden 2009


  Stranger II
  London, Covent Garden 2009


Photography - Nadav Kander

Nadav Kander, UK based photographer best know for portraiture and landscapes.
(We've seen this one before, I believe):

I enjoyed Nadav Kanders portfolio for it's diversity.
No sterotypical sticking to one "red thread".
But find below two images which I enjoyed. 























http://www.nadavkander.com/#

Flash of Hong Kong



Thinking in progress - Ivan Perez

Friday, 02/08/2013
This video struck me. thoiugh I am not fully convinced of it, finding many excerpts to graphic, too direct etc, it still inspired me.
The wholeness of this piece. The parallels between painting, video, performance, photography, writing seem somewhat incorporated.. I believe they interact, they're a whole; sometimes rightly separated through media, sometimes wrongly so.
This one, I find , is a wonderful "thinking in progress".

I enjoy some of the movement, finding it wonderfully special. 
Unfortunately the graphic, plump scenes outweigh many of the beautiful thought concepts, but it's still worth a glimpse..

Kat - on the Sunday Odyssey

Some new shots from today with Kat from Frame Models.
(Thank you Kat, from Frame Models) for kindly jumping in for the spontaneous rooftop shoot, and for pretending not to be cold).
 










Creative Advertising - Chloé

This ad for Chloé hit my spot:
Because it can exist in itself, it;s contemporary dance, beautiful clothing on digital colours (and tones which I enjoy).
It leaves the flatness of "sell sell" and meets the depths of a visual exploration regardless of the medium. I like it.


http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/4/16?ecid=ema2041&CID=

Gerhard Richter in progress - Shortfilm

Like many people of our generation, I admire Richter's works: 
I am inspired by his pushing boundaries within painting, blurring them with photography and by his concentration. To tackle similar problems from various perspectives, and not stopping to tackle them.
However fascinated, I did sometimes wonder how the more recent works are produced.
And I feared, maybe, knowing it - I would like his works less. 
That the magic would leave.
Did the magic go?

See your answers here:
Filmmaker Corinna Belz has spent years in Richters Studio documenting his working process.
Here's an excerpt on NOWNESS (click picture or link below)