Street Artist in Rome

                                              from databhi on Vimeo.

COLLECTIVE
Elsewhere Factory

Time is relative

Its being a little while since a post something. First thing, I am sorry. Second thing, I am sure it will happen again. A post per day is challenging and sometimes impossible. Life just insists to get busy and busy with time. As a girl of theories, I have one now.

Theory Statement: a post posted is better than two posts in your head.

For now, I have millions ideas on my head, but not time to copy-paste, study and write a post. How to create time? How to make time flexible?

When I had to study for an exam, that was all I did for the whole day. Busy Busy.

When I had to finish a project and go grocery, that was all I did for the whole day. Busy busy.

When I had to help at home, cook, write a paper, go tothe doctor, pay the bills, prepare for a meeting, clean my wardrobe, that was all I did for the whole day. Busy busy.

Now I have to work for a multinational company, study for my MBA, write my final project, work on my side projects, read, get references, help at home, produce my music, release my two books, that is all I do for the whole day.

Busy busy!

Time is relative like truth. You can just make it.

And wins who makes more nad better.

Sharing my new hobby!

I just want to share one of my new greatest achievements: Rowing in the Lagoon!

I decided to start canoeing classes two weeks ago. The basic fundaments are given inside a tank, where you should row for a while. Then, you pass to the next step, the actual Lagoon.

I wanted to learn the positions and techniques, so I hit Youtube to check on videos. I ended up wathcing a really funny and scary edition of 23 people falling in the water. Hahaha! So, that´s why I was really shaky and nervous bellow, but I did not fall! That´s good so far!

Anyway, rowing is a great exercice, not only for being a complete work out, but for also being mind provoking, refreshing and beautiful. The water is delightful, the sun is marvelous, the scenery is astonishing! It always end up being a great inspirational moment of the day.

What is yours? What do you do to inspire yourself daily?

Stephen Wiltshire

I first knew Stephen at the age of 13 by a documentary about his work and life. I was so impressed that I have been following his career since then.

Stephen Wiltshire is an artist who draws and paints detailed cityscapes. He has a particular talent for drawing lifelike, accurate representations of cities, sometimes after having only observed them briefly. He was awarded an MBE for services to the art world in 2006. He studied Fine Art at City & Guilds Art College. His work is popular all over the world, and is held in a number of important collections.

Stephen was born in London to West Indian parents on 24th April, 1974. As a child he was mute, and did not relate to other human beings. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language and lived entirely in his own world. At the age of five, at Queensmill School in London, teachers noticed that he was only interested in drawing. And that´s when its began...

In 1987, the BBC QED programme, 'The Foolish Wise Ones', featured Stephen's astounding talent. Great doc!

The incredible thing is that Stephen looks, memorizes and then draws it by entirely memory. He memorized Madrid´s panoramic view during a 30 minute helicopter flight through the city and during three days he drew this detailed drawing below. Check out the details this guy can hold in his mind!

Life is so hard the way it is. Imagine life and art with extra obstacles. It can be challenging, but also an opportunity for innovation and for exceeding ones personal talent.

I just love people that have the heart and generosity to cross the boundaries and make a meaning by touching people.

Check out Stephen´s site!

I know a GREAT LITTLE PLACE in London

It was really hard, but I finally found it!! You know that I am organizing a great artful guide from Buenos Aires (please, keep checking for more tips _ Coming soon: Recoleta and Where to stay in BsAs).  Here is a GREAT tip for who is travelling to or living in London! The blog is called Great Little Place and it gives incredible tips of unknown bars, restaurants, cultural places, so on. You should check it!

Lounge Lover, No. 1 Whitby Street, Shoreditch, E1 6JU

Minimalist this is not. It’s a miscellany of weird and wonderful objects of all shapes and sizes. But let’s cut to the chase: decadent cocktails in decadent surroundings. Not cheap, but truly immense.

Three Blind Mice, 5 Ravey Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 4QW

Round the corner from Book Club, this cosy basement bar is a self-proclaimed ‘unique little den of iniquity’. Incense burning from the air con vents. Peeling posters from the world over. Shabby seats. Chic this place is not. Beer is not this bar’s forte either unless you’re after a can of Red Stripe. However, it does serve up a devilish selection of spirits and is a charming little treasure. It’s so good in fact that we’re going to host our own event here on 8th July so watch this space.

Doodle Bar, 33 Parkgate Road, Battersea, SW11 4NP

This place is white. But with scribbling, doodles and drawings all over the walls. Like playschool but for kidults. There’s a lovely outside area with table tennis, patio heaters and a little balcony overlooking a dock by the Thames. It’s an events-only café though so it’s not open all the time. Call them up beforehand to make sure it’s open before you mosey on down: 0207 502 8167.

One last plea before you go, please help out a Camberwell community project by joining their facebook group. They need your help to create a cultural/arts centre in the area: http://bit.ly/aZ6Wi0.

I know that this is not totally an art topic, but it is a cultural topic that I thought you guys could enjoy!

Have fun!

Negociating Techniques - Getting to YES

One of the great challenges in our daily lifes is to get people to say a simple word: "yes". Yes to you, yes to your projects, yes to your blog, yes to your art piece, yes to your budget, yes to your dreams, etc. Yes comes with hard work and mainly negociation. Maybe you are not able to have what you want, but you can negociate to have most of it according to the parts.

Lots of artists under-estimate the negociating techniques in the artist´s daily life. To start off, many times, artists need to negociate with his or her family in order to become an artist. This is one thing you never see in someone becoming a dentist, for example.

"Hey, mom and dad. Hey, my wife. Hey, my husband. I want to become an artist, and, as you know, an estimate artist turn over is from 5 to 10 years. So, I need time and investment. Can you please sustain and support me in the meanwhile?"

Being an artist is more blasé and sometimes they just don´t get it. A blank canvas, a stage, a mic can be toatlly terrifying at times and the advances are not quantified like a certificate hanging on your wall or a job promotion. The achievements start off as being emotional inner-progresses like an abstract painting. The challenges of being an artist exceeds the challenges of making art. If you know what I mean.

 

In third world countries, the reality is completely stressed. Let´s imagine like that: if in a first world country it is difficult to be an artist for some people, in a thrid world country being an artist is, at first, a character trace refletcted in braveness, persistence and hope.  

(Please, refer to a great post about this: Tips on how to become an artist.)

So, I bring you here this great book, that will help you to maximize your efforts in a negociation with your marchand, your manager, your producer, your partner, your theatre company, you choir, etc.

Click here to get the PDF file of "GETTING TO YES -Negotiating an agreement without giving in" by Roger Fisher and William Ury from Harvard Law School.

Kevin Phillips

My name is Kevin Phillips, I'm currently 18 years old planning on going to college for an art degree. All my life I knew I was pretty good at art, took art classes all through school etc. But it wasn't till the summer before my senior year I actually wanted to do art for a living. I never really learned any art techniques or rules in any of those classes, so I'm self taught for all of my graphite pieces. When it comes to painting, I owe a big thanks to my senior year art teacher Mrs. McDougal. I do not consider myself a specific kind of artist, considering I've worked with metal sculpture, graphite drawings in realism to abstract, and painting that ranges from realism to abstract. I consider myself to be pretty well rounded in all areas of art, at least for my age and where I'm currently at.

A few artists that I look up to are Erik Johnson and Ryan Shultz, both were on the show "work of art" and are very talented. Tim Gagnon and Lawrence Yang, are two that I model my work after a bunch. And last but not least Banksy, Banksy is probably the most known of the 5 because of the way he keeps in secret and the meaning behind his works.

This is a portrait that I did of my friend Caylee, I think what helps this drawing strong is the contrast in lighting, and her good looks help as well.

In all of my portraits, I attempt to set a mood, or feeling. In this one you look up at the girl (Hail) as she looks up and away giving a lift me up feeling somewhat.




This piece was inspired by an artist I look up to a bunch because of his style, He mixes a Asian influence with a American style in a way I really like. Lawrence Yang is a very well known artist and I have plenty of pieces in the style of Lawrence.

"Inside a collapsing sun" In my opinion this is one of my most successful abstract pieces, I used a few techniques from Lawrence Yang, but really put my own flair into it by using 4 different canvases to make one piece that flows from canvas to canvas.

Tim Gagnon is another artist I look up to. He has a very modern approach of painting and I really wanted to do a piece like his, but in my own style.

My self portrait was done in order to show the contours of my face and to show my youth to be combined with a later piece that makes me look older.

To be combined with the previous picture into one piece, this future self portrait was meant to hopefully show the difference of what I look like adding around, 50-60 years to my age. This was one of my more challenging pieces because it's not the easiest thing to look into the future at yourself.


To see more of my work you can to go either of the facebook pages here and here, I hope you enjoy my artwork, and hope you follow me to see my progression through the future.


* This post was written by the Guest Columnist Kevin Phillips

Stretch your shoes with ice - by Fashion Columnist Daniela Lanna

Have you bought a pair of shoes a while back and yet did not have the opportunity to wear it because they are too small and tight?

If you aim to get the first use experience with confort, we have here the solution!

Learn how to stretch your shoes with ice watching the video below:

Walk wide!

* This post was written by Fashion Columnist Daniela Lanna

Anima Mundi - 18th Brazilian International Animation Festival (Part 3 of 3)

Hey guys! Glad you are back checking out more animated films from the Anima Mundi. Notice that this is a small selection and that you should visit the festival exhibition center to watch in the big screen. This year edition has 460 films from a rich variety of countries: Finland, Bulgaria, Japan, Brazil, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, Croatia, Cuba, Corea, Belgium, Spain, Russian, Italy and Canada, for example. I find the german ones really interesting and the one I liked a lot is Der Kleine und das biest (you can check it out in the Anima Mundi part 2) and Der da Vinci Timecode (which I could not find online).

Elk Hair Caddis - Magnus Igland Moller and Peter Smith (Denmark)

Guliver - "Gibonni - Žeđam" Music Video - Zdenko Basic (Croatia)

Sentimental education (short fragment) - Paul Bourgois (France)

Check out a short fragment here!




Make Down - Maurice Hubner (Germany)


MAKE-DOWN (Ausschnitt) from Maurice Hübner on Vimeo.




Something Left, Something Taken - Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata (USA)


Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo.




Stanley Pickle - National Film amd Television School (United Kingdom)




The cow who wanted to be a hamburger - Bill Plympton (USA)

Check here all animation films!


The Necessities of Life - Trailer - Gerald Guthrie (USA)




Videogioco a loop experiment - Donato Sansone (Italy)



Another great video in the style of Donato:




I do Art
A concise history of modern art... in 2 minutes.

Best first film award at Balkanima animation festival 2008.






Vive la Rose - Bruce Alcock (Canada)
This animated short is the tragic love story of a fisherman and his beloved, inspired by a traditional Newfoundland song performed by Émile Benoit.




Buba e o aquecimento global - Mono 3D Studio (Brazil)


Buba e o aquecimento global from Mono3d on Vimeo.


After the Rain - Francois Vogel (France)



Cartoon Scum - Jan Lachauer (Germany)




Cartoon Scum from Jan Lachauer on Vimeo.


Coldplay Strawberry Swing - Shynola (United Kingdom)





Ok, guys! I guess this is it! Enough! I am tired ...
Just hit the Festival and check the other videos, will you?
I am sure it will be a great experience and
you will have a blast!

Have a nice weekend!

Anima Mundi - 18th Brazilian International Animation Festival (Part 2 of 3)

As promised, here is a great selection of animation films from the Anima Mundi Festival.

Enjoy the videos!!!!!

Its important to notice that I have put together one of the greatest animated films from the Festival, but other great films were left out because I could not find them or their full version on the internet. Short films like Sinna Mann by Trollfilm As (Norway 2009) and Der Da Vinci Timecode by Gil Alkabetz (Germany, 2009) are two great examples. They are worth watching.

  The lost thing - Andrew Ruhemann, Shaun Tan (Australia)

Love and Theft - Andreas Hykade (Germany)

Pop - Bernard Derriman (Australia)




SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro) - Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, Masayoshi Nakamura (Japan)




Kill the Surfers - Atelier Collectif  (Belgium)

Mi vida en tus manos - Nuno Beato (Portugal)

Please Say Something - David OReilly (Ireland)

Logorama - (France)

Pigeon: Impossible - Lucas Martell (USA)

Check out more animated films on part 3!

Anima Mundi - 18th Brazilian International Animation Festival (Part 1 of 3)

It starts on 16th of July the 18th edition of the Anima Mundi. The festival is a really important animation event in Brazil. It gathers activities such as master classes, speeches, animated talk, galeries, 3D showcase, Anima Forum, open studio in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

This year's guests are Cordell Barker, Daniel Greaves, Guilherme Marcondes and Stephen Hillenburg (executive producer of Nickelodeon´s SpongeBob SquarePants). They will talk about animation and share their experience and knowledge. If you are an animator, this is a great opportunity for showing your work and learn more about it.

The festival started in 1993. During the previous 83 years, the official number of produced animation films in Brazil was #174. After Anima Mundi began the number of films produced in Brazil increased to 2.600. Another great number to present here is that the festival had more than 6.000 films submitted to it.

I will post some of the films shown in the festival. This is the part I of Anima Mundi. Please, check for further videos.

The Cat Came Back (Cordell Barker)

Rise Above Plastics - Plastics Kill

Der Kleine und das Biest - Johannes Weiland; Uwe Heidschötter (Germany)


The Little Boy and the Beast from mic hic on Vimeo.


How to make a baby - Cassidy Curtis and Raquel Coelho (USA)



I loved all of them!

Kid´s Street Dance @ Copacabana

Every Sunday, I take a walk by the beach at Copacabana, Ipanema or Leblon. I always love when I encounter an art manifestation: dance, puppeteer, theather, circus or else.

Two weekends ago, I came across a street dance. The group was advertising their classes and presented a variety of dances. This little kid is amazing. So fun!

Selected Essays of John Berger

Back in 2004, when I joined an academic exchange program in Springfield, Missouri (USA), I got John Berger´s essay book. I read some essays as soon as I got it, but I confess I officially started reading it now.

I have to say that if you want a good book to read this is the one!

The essays include tense (tender + dense) meditations on painters like Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, Goya, Poussin and Gauguin, as well as sculptors like Lipschitz, Brancusi and Zadkine.

Read the reviews here.

Puerto Madero - My Trip to Buenos Aires

Night View

Puerto Madero was revigorated in 1989 when the govern decided to remodel it. Along with Recoleta it is one of the richest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. I would suggest a late afternoon visit to it as the view and restaurants are great. You could take a walk and than eat something nice checking out the view and people passing by.

Puente de la Mujeres by the Spanish architecture Santiago Calatrava

who was inspired by tango dancers

Puerto Madero does not have much to do, but it has much to enjoy!

Here is a list of things you can do:

1. There are two floating museums: Corveta Uruguay and Fragata Sarmiento;

Fragata Sarmiento

2. Museum Fortabat, in front of Dick 4, is a modern building that holds Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat´s art collection. The collection has Argentine artists such as: Prilidiano Pueyrredon, Fernando Fader, Batlle Planas, Xul Xolar, Emilio Perorutti and Antonio Berni;

3. Ecologic Reserve Costanera Sur is the biggest green area of the city where 200 different espicies live. There are great walk and bike tours. The site is porlareserva.org.ar.

I would strongly recomend a bike tour called La Bicicleta Naranja, which is a GREAT option for a different and healthy site-seeing. You can rent a bike and ride it through BsAs´ green areas (which are a lot, try Recoleta) or plan a bike tour. La Bicicleta Naranja has four different types of tours: north, south, aristocratic and lakes & green areas.

Ecologic Reserve

La Bicicleta Naranja tour group

4. Monument Juan M Fangio. There you go, it is below!

No need for WOWs. Next topic, please.

5. Faena Hotel + Universe is a charmful hotel in Puerto Madero and the most expensive hotel in the entire BsAs. It is really (but really) expensive. Its daily rates start at $500. If you dont have the money to stay there, you MUST enjoy its facilities. You dont need to be rich to seize the best ;)

Faena counts with a Library Lounge with live music (currently DJ Ale Lacroix) and all kinds of books to read. Also, there is a show house El Cabaret with Tango Shows, the special handpicked store La Boutique, two restaurants and one bistro, the PoolBar, for example. Visit the PoolBar at night, you ahve no idea how incredible is the lightning in the pool. It seems like a mirror.

The hotel was totally decorated by Philippe Starck, the creme-de-la-creme guy who is making tons of money. Check out the pictures:

 EL MERCADO - Faena´s Restaurant

                

Library Lounge

Pool Lounge

El Bistro

yes, unicorns! yeah, 12 of those!

Check out some examples of the Menu. It seems delicious!

The bad thing is that they come in French (pettit) portions!

Where to eat?

Tourists are always told to eat at Siga la Vaca, but I did not think it was that incredible. I dont undestand the fascination Argentines have with the Vaca (cow) word in restaurant names.

I would suggest the ones below:

El Mercado - Faena's restaurant

Carletto - italian food

Chila - this is a fresh NEW restaurant. Its cousine is comanded by Soledad Nardelli from Arts Culinaires - Lyon.

Cabana de las Lilas - Argentine barbecue. This is the one that everyone talks about. It is expensive, but really good.

Gourmet Porteno - It has an international menu and offers the traditional Argentine parrilla.

I Fresh Market - Inspired in NY delicatessen

Red Resto - French Cousine inside the Hotel Madero

Spell Cafe - Informal cafe

Here is a list of ALL restaurants in Puerto Madero! So, you can choose!

And here is a good piece of information: let´s understand the Argentine cow!

The famous meat are: bife de chorrizo (argentine cut beef) , bife angosto (porterhouse or strip steak), solomillo (lion, the fleshy and boneless part of the spine) and tapa de cuadril (rump cut).

         

Let me know if you need this image in larger version. I can e-mail ya!

Night Life?

There are three good things to do:

Asia de Cuba - nice restaurant that at 1am, just like a late Cinderella, transforms itself in a great night club. It is U$13 to enter including a drink. The bar just accepts cash!!!

Casino Puerto Madero - casinos are not allowed in the cities, but not in the sea. So, there you go! The casino has 100 game tables, 650 niquel machines, restaurants and bars. It is free to enter, but it costs to play (U$10 higher). You should dress in esporte fino, which means a "fine" daily wear, no flip flops or sandals, no t-shirts showing your arm pits...things like that.

Deep Blue Fun & Bars - an entertainment house with good food.