Without much of an introduction, I’d like to write a few words about what I consider good painting. I’ve wondered for some minutes now whether to segue into the topic via some masterpieces that have impressed me recently, or via some of the ghastly shit I’ve seen as well. Now, just relying on positive examples […]
History & Arts
In Defense Of Stanisław, the Last King Of Poland
A nation that has allowed itself to be wiped off the map by anything other than sheer brute force must confront the shortcomings that brought this about if it wished to continue to think of itself as a nation […]. But the implications of such a confrontation were so complex and so unpleasant that it […]
Copy, cover, afterimage
Almost exactly one year ago I paid a visit to Amsterdam, taking the opportunity while still living a stone’s throw from the Netherlands, and just before moving to faraway Leipzig. A working trip, as usual, dedicating to checking out all the Rembrandts and Vincents. Of course I had planned to write extensive blogposts at the […]
To hell with “buttery consistency”
Sunday morning: Darn, my go-to bakeries are closed and I, breadless, have to resort to the chain around the corner. I know exactly what to expect there: Smooth, even, uniform loaves that are pretty much exactly like the one I’ve bought some weeks ago when it was fresh. The baker down the road, on the […]
Living inside a story
Some time around 2010, give or take a year, I was on one of these family holidays with all the uncles around. Some treasure unearthed from grandpa’s eclectic bookshelf made the rounds. Someone had randomly taken the book out and after a few pages started reading a bunch of memorable passages out loud to the […]
The draughtsman’s guide to painting
Whenever I try out some new technique I find a pattern in my habits confirmed – in writing and printing as well as in cooking or cycling, it seems to be a really universal principle. Recently it happened with oil painting. I tried out some baby steps around December or January, didn’t have a clue […]
Museums: Moreau — Orsay — Longchamp
Nelson, I have something for you! Short explanation for everyone else: Around the time I first went to Madrid – early 2015 –, I had recognised a problem regarding museum visits. I would be captivated by a few pictures that I’d talk about for hours, and then I’d forget them. On that particular trip I […]
Et tenebrae lūcem non conprehenderunt
Leon, I have more arts for you. If you really want to see Kraków for real, you should come to visit me – once more. Now, after you wrote such thing as… Oh, wait, you wrote it on Juanjo’s reference! That thing about me of knowing every corner of Madrid and now of Kraków, you know; […]
„… A to Polska właśnie…”
Leon, I have something for you. Do you remember Mehoffer? And these things? Well, now compare to this Turns out that these artists just make the drawing sketches, and then a glass expert produces it. You know, chain production. And I found the original sketches alongside plenty of other stuff you – English plural you – […]
Drawing ugliness
A few days ago I was having a conversation with Stefan about stained glass windows, like those jewels of my and Nelson’s friend Mehoffer in Fribourg or the less readable ones in the Sainte-Chapelle. At one point we were both fumbling for a word – what do you call the space between four columns, several […]