Archive for 2012

Somewhere, in the noise and delicious chaos of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Nam June Paik exhibition, the Korean-born trailblazer of video art can be seen on a screen saying this: “I would rather be corrupted than repeat the sublime.”

It is said in thickly accented but charming English, and it has the mix of impishness and obscurantism that made Paik an elusive and beloved figure, the holy fool and village idiot of contemporary art a half-century ago. But it is a canny estimate of his own work, so smart in its summation that it makes his “corrupted” later works, the glitzy, wall-sized video displays that used dozens of monitors for minimal impact seem less superficial, less trivial than they did 10 or 15 years ago. It tells us that Paik not only recognized and understood what he had become, he understood its inevitability, made his peace with it and, in that bit of refreshing honesty, Paik’s candor completes his trajectory as an artist in a way that is almost redemptive.

Unfortunately, the basic architecture of the new exhibition, which is built around the Nam June Paik archive acquired by the museum in 2009, puts the “corruption” upfront, with one large, late and rather vapid work creating a more powerful impression than the many smaller, nuanced and intellectually challenging pieces he made in the 1960s and ’70s. “Megatron/Matrix,” a permanent part of the museum’s collection, is installed in its own space, where it flashes and hypnotizes with a restless but exhausting energy, working too hard, yet never rising above the level of what one might see in a shopping mall in Shanghai or Dubai. It is a frenetic exercise in surface, and its occasional references to the centuries-long tradition of art history on which Paik grounded his best art — Courbet, Duchamp and the age-old tradition of the nude flit by — is too ephemeral to give it much gravitas. Basking in its lurid assault of color and motion, its images of flags and birds, and its relentless shifting patterns, one might forget the rest and best of Paik’s work, the pioneering videos, installation pieces and mock-reverent exploration of the television as a sacred icon.

Continue reading in The Washington Post

El Museo del Prado ha avanzado las tres exposiciones más importantes que llevará a cabo en 2013:El Labrador, que reunirá por primera vez toda la producción del pintor barroco español Juan Fernández, alias El Labrador; El trazo español en el British Museum. Dibujos del Renacimiento a Goya, que mostrará la colección de dibujos de artistas españoles del British Museum, considerada una de las más importantes del mundo; y La belleza encerrada, una original exposición que trazará un recorrido por 150 pinturas de las propias colecciones del Museo unidas por el formato íntimo del cuadro de gabinete y del boceto preparatorio.

Además, a estas tres muestras hay que añadir las que actualmente se encuentran en cartel y que permanecerán abiertas durante el primer trimestre de 2013: El paisajista Martín Rico (1833-1908), hasta el 10 de febrero; y El joven Van Dyck, hasta el 3 de marzo.

Seguir leyendo en hoyesarte.com

The medieval inn in Leicester where King Richard III slept before riding out to meet his fate at the battle of Bosworth has been recreated by the team of archaeologists and academics who dug up a local car park this summer searching for his bones.

News of their discovery of the remains of a man with a twisted spine and a gaping war wound, in the foundations of a long demolished abbey, created ripples of excitement around the world. Results of the scientific tests on the remains have not been announced, though there have been rumours that they proved inconclusive. Although DNA has been extracted from far older bones, the success of the technique depends on the quality of their preservation.

The DNA test results, which might establish whether the bones could really be Richard’s, are expected next month, but meanwhile The Blue Boar inn has risen again in model and digital form, recreated from detailed drawings found in the archives of a local family.

The inn was ramshackle by 1836 and was demolished, even though it was a tourist attraction for its royal connections, and celebrated and sketched by antiquarians for its picturesque medieval timber work. A Travelodge stands on the site in Highcross Street, without even a plaque to record its former glory.

The site is wreathed in local legends. One says the inn was originally called The White Boar, which was Richard’s emblem. The landlord heard the news from the battlefield that the last Plantagenet king was dead and his crown now on a Tudor head, hastily repainted his boar sign blue, and renamed the inn. Richard’s own grand bed is also said to have remained at the inn, presumably because nobody remembered to come back for it, and yet another legend claims a century later a sack of medieval gold coins was found in a secret compartment in the base of the bed – and that the landlady, Mrs Clark, was murdered for the treasure.

Continue reading in theguardian

By Banafsheh Farhangmehr, former Associate Director of External Relations at IE School of Arts & Humanities and Master in Marketing Management 2007

It’s not a secret that tasting new food and experiencing new flavours are some of the moments I most appreciate in life, but once I starting thinking….  Why not enjoying cuisine not only from the table but also from the kitchen?

Cuisine is not only applying certain techniques, it is also a different way of art that can also be influenced by roots or idiosyncrasy. I feel excited about being able to express myself in some other way and apply bit only my Iranian background but also many of my international experiences, including Spanish (that goes without saying) to my creations.  Just realized that as my dream, but… how could I do that?

I enrolled in one of the best culinary art schools in the world, but how about the location?

I wanted new experiences and combine my international background, so London became the chosen place. London is a large cosmopolitan city that can be a great inspiration for anyone and particularly for someone who is devoted to cuisine.

Here I am! I am in London, in a great school, learning how to become a chef and although I am working long hours I am HAPPY.

I can’t wait to combine my culinary skills with entrepreneurial and management skills that I learnt at IE and create my own unique space.

That is all for the moment, I keep you up with my news but just say that although I am not a master yet I can show you some of my creations, but don’t think it’s a piece of cake