JaZzArt en València

Got to say that when techno-pop rolled around I was not too engaged with the sound, that is until I heard «West End Girls» (1985). Then I searched out everything about and of Pet Shop Boys. Phenomenal! I totally got hooked on their music and through them, I began digging on techno-pop…

Pet Shop Boys, the most successful duo in the musical history of the United Kingdom according to the Guinness World Records (1999). They placed 44 singles in the Top 30 of the UK, and that is to include 22 of them in the top 10 and four number one hits. The number one songs were: «West End Girls«, «It’s a Sin«,​ «Always on My Mind» and «Heart«.​AND to date they have sold over 100 million records world-wide. They have won three Brit Awards and have been nominated six times for a Grammy. Since they kicked off their career in 1984, they have recorded 15 albums and nine of them have made it to the Top 3 in the UK charts. Rather good I would say…

The boys started in London in 1981. And for the US, they were the leaders of the second British invasion. They are the true pioneers of electronic pop-rock. The duo is composed of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. They met in 1981 at an electronics store in Chelsea.

Nonetheless is their latest, and fifteenth studio album released in April of 2024. They are still touring and recording not just for themselves but for other artists, like Madonna… I guess this duo is never being boring… 😊

CHEERS

A veces me parece que vivimos en un mundo de idiotas, que la gente del Siglo 21 (y también muchas del Siglo 20) no tiene materia gris y que toda la normalidad, la razón, la lógica (y mira que tu sabes, querido diario, que a mi la lógica me la suda) se han ido corriendo al coño de la madre que las parió. Mare meua! En lugar de disfrutar, celebrar, agradecer, y gozar de la libertad, de la paz, de la abundancia, el hombre opta por la mierda, el atraso, la guerra y la esclavitud. En Polonia pisan la bandera de la UE y la queman. En la India hacen la guerra con Pakistan. Y no se, ni me interesa quien tenga la razón en ese nuevo conflicto tan peligroso entre dos potencias nucleares. Por otra parte los palestinos, los yemeníes, los grupos terroristas, los evangélicos, los nacionalistas, los madridistas, etcétera etcétera… Aranceles, broncas, cambios de nombres, religion, la economía, la pésima educación que le están dando a los chicos, la moda hortera, la adicción al móvil, los influencers… Basta ya de tanta jodienda! Paso, paso de todo esto! Porque no nos acercamos al espejo y así, mirándole la cara al que más queremos, en lugar de quejarnos tanto, o repetir eslóganes y boberías, cantemos junto a Don Giovanni así…

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Sometimes I think we live among fools, that the people of the 21st Century have no grey matter as is the case with many of the 20th… that all sense of normalcy, reason, and logic (and you know Dear Diary that I don’t give a shit about logic) have gone to hell in a handbasket. Good grief! Instead of enjoying, celebrating, appreciating and being thankful for freedom, peace and abundance, mankind opts for shit, for backwardness, for war and slavery. In Poland an Eurodeputy has stepped all over the EU flag and then burned it. India and Pakistan have gone to war, and I don’t need to tell you how much we do not need another war, especially between two nuclear powers. And I could care less who is right or who started it. On the other hand you have the Palestinians, the Yemenis, terrorist groups, evangelicals, nationalists and supporters of my most hated football club, etcetera etcetera… Tariffs, fights, name changes, religion, the economy, the terrible way children are being educated (at home and at school), the horrible fashion trends, the addiction to the mobile phone, the influencers… Enough of all this shit! I pass! I can do without all of it! Why do not we, instead, approach our mirror and looking into the eyes of the one we love the most, instead of complaining and bitching, or repeating stupid slogans we sing along with Don Giovanni, like this…

GRACIAS – CHEERS

Life is what you make it, that is what some say. I prefer to say that life is a cabaret (old chum), but regardless of your preference, life is a tangible thing. It is not something ethereal, neither is it a fairy tale… To an artist life is a series of paintings. Think of how Picasso documented his entire life in his thousands of canvases. Well, do not be surprised but all artists do that in one way or another. Sometime, as in the case of one like Picasso, it is quite obvious. Other artists camouflage their diaries on canvas quite well. But all artists always paint the same thing. You just don’t notice it.

CHEERS

Always was a fan of this band that I have always thought that with The Allman Brothers Band and the Charlie Daniels Band, was the best US band. And of course I am talking about The Grateful Dead and today of their big hit (only top 40 hit) «Touch of Grey» from 1987. Not only a top 40, but a smash video on MTV… The single is from the album In the Dark. A song with somewhat dark lyrics set to a very upbeat pop style arrangement. The chorus/refrain, «I will get by; I will survive» is changed at the end of the song to “We will get by; We will survive” which makes the song an anthem for dead-heads all over the world… Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics and Jerry Garcia wrote the music… «Touch of Grey» made it to the top 10 on Billboard, and was number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This has been the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts… The video, smashing good I would say, was directed by Gary Gutierrez, the same onw who had created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie. It was filmed at Laguna Seca Raceway after one of the band’s concerts in May 1987.

I think you will like this and remember the MTV (when they played music) video. I certainly do. And don’t forget to tell me what you think…

CHEERS

Art Digital is not the same thing as a simple AI generated image. You have to create it as you would on paper or canvas, but with digital tools… Sometimes you can take one that you have drawn by hand and enhance it. Let us not forget that all these «things» are tools, just like the pencil sharpener and the rubber…

CHEERS

Leonora Carrington, os he hablado de ella, una de las grandes y de las que no se hablaba mucho hasta hace poco y por supuesto la nunca mencionada en las facultades de Bellas Artes, hace historia pues el pasado miércoles, 15 de mayo, cuando su cuadro «Les Distractions de Dagobert» se vendió en subasta de Sotheby’s (Nueva York) por 28,5 millones de dólares (26.219,459 Euros). Este record la coloca por encima de pintores como Salvador Dalí y Max Ernst. Su tela surrealista de 1945 fue adquirida por el billonario argentino Eduardo F. Costantini, fundador del Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. El senor Costantini ha dicho que el cuadro es «una pintura icónica».

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Leonora Carrington, I have told you about her. For me she is one of the greats and one who wasn’t talked about much until recently. Certainly never mentioned in Art School at uni. Well she made history last Wednesday, May 15, when her painting «Les Distractions de Dagobert» was sold at Sotheby’s auction (New York) for 28.5 million dollars (26,219,459 Euros). This is a record and places her above painters like Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst. Her surrealist canvas from 1945 was acquired by Argentine billionaire Eduardo F. Costantini, founder of the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires. Mr. Costantini has said that «Les Distractions de Dagobert» is «an iconic painting.»

GRACIAS – CHEERS

Como de costumbre, destacando a mujeres artistas que a mi no me presentaron en la facultad y debieron de haberlo hecho. Tantas mujeres artistas que han contribuido, y mucho, a la historia del arte y han sido pintoras importantes y famosas (en ciertos circulos), no pueden quedarse en el olvido.

Hoy os hablo de Gabriele Münter, la que fue, entre unas pocas féminas, importante en el desarrollo del expresionismo alemán. Pero quizá la quieran meter en la historia solo por haber sido la amante de Wassily Kandinsky. Participó en muchos de los movimientos artísticos de Munich y también en el grupo Der Blaue Reiter (El jinete azul).

Gabriele nació en Berlin en 1877 y a los 20 años comenzó a dar clases de arte en Dusseldorf. Se trasladó a Munich en 1901 y cuando intentó ingresar en la Academia de Bellas Artes de Múnich se encontró con la realidad de que no admitían mujeres. Pero entonces, aburrida de las escuelitas para mujeres, buscó su camino, y su futuro, en el grupo y escuela de Kandinsky, Phalanx.

Münter creo su propio lenguaje en el arte. No unía los colores, si no que los iba separando con…el poder de…la linea negra. Fue miembro fundadora de la Neue Künstlervereinigung München (La Nueva Unión de Artistas de Múnich), grupo que había iniciado Kandinsky y que incluía a los mas importantes artistas del Der Blaue Reiter.

Como siempre os digo, hay mas, mucho, mucho mas, así que tenéis tela marinera. Gabriele Münter murió en 1962.

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As usual, I am highlighting women artists who were not introduced to me at university and should have been. So many women artists who have contributed significantly to art history and have been important and famous painters (in certain circles) cannot be forgotten.

Today I’m talking about Gabriele Münter, who was, among a few other women, important in the development of German expressionism. But maybe some want to put her in history just for having been the lover of Wassily Kandinsky. She participated in many of the artistic movements in Munich and also in the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group.

«Münter created her own language in art and an interesting style. She didn’t blend the colours, but rather separated them with…the power of…the black line. She was a founding member of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (The New Association of Artists in Munich), a group that had been initiated by Kandinsky and included the most important artists of the Der Blaue Reiter.«

Like I always say, there is more, much, much more, so I leave you to your research! Gabriele Münter died in 1962.

Take a look at other women in art…

GRACIAS CHEERS GRACIAS CHEERS GRACIAS  CHEERS

Always was a fan of this band that I have always thought that with The Allman Brothers Band and the Charlie Daniels Band, was the best US band. And of course I am talking about The Grateful Dead and today of their big hit (only top 40 hit) «Touch of Grey» from 1987. Not only a top 40, but a smash video on MTV… The single is from the album In the Dark. A song with somewhat dark lyrics set to a very upbeat pop style arrangement. The chorus/refrain, «I will get by; I will survive» is changed at the end of the song to “We will get by; We will survive” which makes the song an anthem for dead-heads all over the world… Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics and Jerry Garcia wrote the music… «Touch of Grey» made it to the top 10 on Billboard, and was number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This has been the only song by the band ever to do so on both charts… The video, smashing good I would say, was directed by Gary Gutierrez, the same onw who had created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie. It was filmed at Laguna Seca Raceway after one of the band’s concerts in May 1987.

I think you will like this and remember the MTV (when they played music) video. I certainly do. And don’t forget to tell me what you think…

CHEERS

One of the great Spanish artists of the XX C.

Our Art History course has gotten as far as completing the Early Renaissance, sometimes called the Quattrocento in Italy. I have paused to bring forth some different artists from more contemporary times, but although I will feature these «special editions» from time to time, we will soon continue on course with the High Renaissance and beyond. Hope you like it, get something from it and comment.

Cheers…

Y yo estoy muy de acuerdo con este pensamiento. ¿Y tú?