Angels and Demons

I finished reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (I read the whole book in Barnes & Noble!). He also wrote The Da Vinci Code, which I read a couple years ago, but several people said that Angels and Demons is better. I would usually just roll my eyes if his books are brought up in conversation, but somehow I find them mildly entertaining and a good read for fun. I don't take any "facts" in the book seriously, and I think a lot of what he proposes as the behind-stories of artists and their work is proposterous.

But I did find the ambigrams kind of interesting. Ambigrams are typographical designs that are symmetrical, usually one or two words, that can be read the same way upside down. The type used in the book was rotational ambigrams, but there are several different kinds (mirror-image, figure-ground, spinonym, symbiotogram, etc.).

Here is the illustrations of the ambigrams from the book:

With every end, another beginning...

(7/16/08)


















(7/28/09)


















I'm almost at the end of my 8th journal. On one of the first pages, I did a Prismacolor drawing of my favorite coffee cup (made and given to me by Diana Morrow), so I found it fitting to do the same coffee cup at the end, this time in watercolor.

I love journaling. It helps me process things better and is a great reference if I want to look back at past events. It is a constant reminder that I am growing and changing, but it also teaches me from my mistakes and shows me who I used to be.

This is the kind of diary my 9th journal will be. I just purchased it at Barnes and Noble the other night. Moleskine came out with special edition Woodstock notebooks to celebrate the 40th anniversary. I chose this one because this particular poster has kind of a sentimental meaning to me from a story I would rather not explain. Hopefully, I will be able to start this one on my 21st birthday, which is six days away.

Looking forward to March 5, 2010!

Check out the newly released trailer! I am so excited about this movie!

Here am I
left
an empty shell
a vessel filling with sorrow
until the brim overflows
and all inside is hollow again
How much more can this empty frame take
Racked in grief
Searing to the very core of
where I belong
who I
once was.
Never will be again.
I lay my head upon the grass
Inhale the scent of the earth
for she is in it
Quiet, in the dark night
The wind whispers of her presence
Alive on another plane.
I call to her, my driven words dropping in the same air
from which she took her last breath, but
Never reaching the other side.

Nicola Verlato

I became acquainted with the work of Nicola Verlato for the first time a couple days ago and I absolutely love his paintings and the way they are done. He has work at the Venice Biennale this year (The Death of James Dean (from a drawing by Andy Warhol), The Monterey Guitar, Beauty of Failure, and Beauty of Failure II). Beauty of Failure is as tall as 10 ft.!

He does a lot of crazy paintings with seemingly random objects that are charged with symbolism. He makes social and political statements in some of his work, but what I really enjoy about his paintings is the way in which they recall classical fine art when the human body was rendered in such a beautiful way. It reminds me a bit of the works from the Italian Renaissance combined with the Baroque period. The way light and dark is used is incredible, as is the movement through the painting's compositions as well. Many of the pieces have such an energy and there is much to look at. His uses of classical methods draws upon many great ages in painting, yet the work ends up looking still new, contemporary, and fresh with modern cultural references.

Verlato now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He was born in Verona, Italy in 1965. He's studied at the Conservatorio, (Lute and Composition), Verona, Italy, and IUAV (Institute of Architecture, Venice), Venezia, Italy.

Here are some of the pieces that are now in the Venice Biennale:






































Beauty of Failure, 2009, oil on linen.







































Beauty of Failure II, 2009, oil on linen.
(Both of these are roughly 5 x 10 ft.)








From the series, Mothers. There's No Place Like Home, 2006, oil on canvas.






The following three are from a series called Martyrdoms and Miracles:




Cinderella. 2003, oil on canvas.





Fiftycent. 2003, oil on canvas.








The Best For You Is Absolutely Unattainable: Not Being Born, Not Being, Not Being Anything. 2003, oil on canvas.










Still. 2008, oil on linen.














Enduring Freedom. 2003, oil on canvas.

















Seriously, go look at his site. His work is AMAZING. I only put a few of my favorites.

Guess where I went for the 4th!

So You Think You Can Dance

I love watching this show any chance I get, and the couple times I've watched this season, I've really enjoyed the dances by Kayla Radomski and Kupono Aweau. Last week they did a contemporary routine choreographed by Sonya Tayeh to Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation. This was a unique kind of dance that reminded me of Tim Burton. Tonight, they did another contemporary dance choreographed by Mia Michaels to Gravity by Sarah Bareilles. The choreography was inspired by addiction and the sense of needing something, yet trying to break away from it simultaneously. I found their execution to be very beautiful and expressive.


7.1.09 (Eyes on Fire - Blue Foundation)





7.8.09 (Gravity - Sarah Bareilles)