(«Torito bravo»/Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
I have often asked, what is art? Why I ask it? Why so many times? I am curious. I learned that when one asks the same question over and over one gets different replies… But, when I ask a question like this I am hoping to get some deep, visceral answers, not the typical ones… So, I ask you, what is art to you? Perhaps that is a better way to ask, as sometimes when you don’t ask the right question you don’t get the right answer, but when you ask it right, then thigs begin to open up… Sometimes I think art is like a bullfighter (very common in my country) approaching the meanest bull. Or it could be the other way around. What do you think?
Here is a little of what art has been to me over the more than thirty years that I have been at it professionally…
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(«Nostalgia No. 77″/Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
And here it is in words, images and music… Featuring my great friend and super percussionist, Rey «Conga» Diaz, from Miami, R.I.P. You will always be remembered…
VIDEO BEST VIEWED AND LISTENED TO ON YOUR PORTABLE OR DESKTOP WITH HEADSETS
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(«Torito bravo»/Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
I have often asked, what is art? Why I ask it? Why so many times? I am curious. I learned that when one asks the same question over and over one gets different replies… But, when I ask a question like this I am hoping to get some deep, visceral answers, not the typical ones… So, I ask you, what is art to you? Perhaps that is a better way to ask, as sometimes when you don’t ask the right question you don’t get the right answer, but when you ask it right, then thigs begin to open up… Sometimes I think art is like a bullfighter (very common in my country) approaching the meanest bull. Or it could be the other way around. What do you think?
Here is a little of what art has been to me over the more than thirty years that I have been at it professionally…
(Kindly asking you to please subscribe, comment, like and share as this helps tremendously)
(Detail from «Birth of Venus»/Sandro Botticelli/Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)
To me Sandro Botticelli is the master of masters of the Renaissance. He created the most beautiful, and meaningful paintings, especially the phenomenal «Birth of Venus». I have heard of many people, including an artist that I know, that almost fainted while standing before this painting. They were stunned by its beauty and captured by the Stendhal (or Florence) Syndrome…
I hope you enjoy this edition of the series…
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(«War Pig»/Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados/All Rights Reserved)
Parece que nos estamos reflejando en un espejo y lo que vemos es la edad media, con sus guerras y atrocidades, con sus cruzadas y papas sinvergüenzas, y no me refiero a los papas de estos tiempos, pero si a los politicos, a los presidentes y a los que los aconsejan, y sobre todo a los que los votan. Guerras y más guerras… Pero ¿Qué se imaginan estos cerdos, que bombardeando a sus supuestos enemigos llegará la paz? Los generales en sus aquelarres conjurando encantos para ganar la batalla, como brujos… Y esto me lleva a la canción del día, «War Pigs» de Black Sabbath, lanzada en 1970 en el disco Paranoid, el segundo de la banda…
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It seems that we are reflecting ourselves in a mirror and what we see is the Middle Ages, with its wars and atrocities, with its crusades and corruption, murderous popes and a cynical church that governed, cruelly, over all. And I am not referring to the popes of these times. In their place I put the politicians, the presidents and those who advise them, and especially those who vote for evil men. Wars and more wars… But what do these war pigs imagine, that bombing their supposed enemies there will be peace? The generals in their covens conjuring up spells to win the battle, like sorcerers… and this leads me to the song of the day, «War Pigs» by Black Sabbath, released in 1970 on Paranoid, their second album…
(Detail from «Birth of Venus»/Sandro Botticelli/Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)
To me Sandro Botticelli is the master of masters of the Renaissance. He created the most beautiful, and meaningful paintings, especially the phenomenal «Birth of Venus». I have heard of many people, including an artist that I know, that almost fainted while standing before this painting. They were stunned by its beauty and captured by the Stendhal (or Florence) Syndrome…
I hope you enjoy this edition of the series…
(please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel, like, comment and share)
He was born in Nyack, New York in 1882 in a well off upper middle class family. From the age of 5 he was taught to pursue artistic paths. When he decided he wanted to be an artist he was placed in the New York School of Art and Design. He graduated in 1905 and started to work as an illustrator for an advertising agency. He went to Europe, first to Paris, several times in 1906, 1909 and 1910. In 1910 he also visited Spain.
Although Paris in those years was filled with innovative, creative and experimental artists, such as Picasso, Braque, Matisse and others, Hopper did not seem the least bit interested. He shunned the art vanguards of the 20th Century, such as abstract art, fauvism and cubism, that were being developed and in vogue. Instead he was most impressed and interested in the works of the impressionists, especially Claude Monet and Edouard Manet. He learned well from their use of light.
In 1910, having returned to the United States, Hopper began exhibiting his works. At this time he moved to an apartment in Washington Square where he lived and worked most of his life. He married Josephine Nivison in 1924. She was rather a successful painter and often worked together. But their life was no pleasure cruise. Both were dominating and jealous people. Josephine demanded that she be the only female model for any future paintings featuring women. And he also tried to control her. And with her being the successful artist, that made things quite interesting.
In any event it is quite well known that their marriage was totally dysfunctional. Yet, thanks to Josephine, Hopper’s art career began to bloom and finally take off. Her art connections led to Hopper having a one-man exhibition at the Rehn Gallery. There he sold all his watercolours. From time time on Hopper’s association with the Rehn Gallery became life-long.
Edward Hopper is one of the best known US artists. His work was a profound study of American life in the which he emphasised its isolation and contemplation. He is, most certainly, a very important artist in the history of art. Hopper died of natural causes in his studio on the 15th of May 1967 in his Washington Square Park studio in Manhattan.
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