#art, ETRUSCAN STATUTES

Recently twenty four new ones have been found… Incredible art that the Etruscans made. I hope you enjoy this trip through some of their most powerful and beautiful statutes.

(2022)

Cheers…

#poem, «This is Our Now»

(Photo of Pergamum, Turkey, by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)

THIS IS OUR NOW

Now that all the rivers have bled out
and snowflakes wonder if they’re ever going to land,
I seek within your mind and wonder,
how with just a speck of sand
we stop the tides from rising,
we pave the sea,
we drain the land…

Now we see that climate has turned against us. There are no longer hurricanes, now they’re mega-storms. There are sandstorms that destroy towns. There are rivers of boulders and mud. There are fires that are impossible to extinguish. There are floods that invade cities. There is famine. There is draught. Earthquakes, ever more powerful, shake the foundations of cities. Rain falls without end…

Now that my poor country has been taken,
my towns and villages are seized,
I seek for love and comfort in your bosom,
I search with dignity.
I search for peace.
I ask only for human kindness,
can you spare a piece?

Now that wars, revolutions, violence, terrorism, despots, tyrants, dictators, gangs of killers et cetera et cetera, have taken over and destroyed so many countries, so many societies, so many communities, so many people, people by the tens of millions are fleeing. They are victims. They are workers. They are willing and able to work your land. Multitudes seek only one thing, life. Refugees, migrants, and all those looking for a better life, look to the powerful, rich, industrialised west as a place where they too can prosper. Why are they not being let in?

Now that the streets are dark and scary,
when walking home becomes a horror show,
I look behind me as I turn each corner,
I look around for shadows in the snow.
The rules have changed that once ruled our society,
now the jungle has encroached on our abode,
and I cannot feel safe here, in the place I call my home.

Now gangs roam through our once peaceful streets. No one stops the angry voices. No one helps the working man or woman. Our homes have been taken over by squatters and nothing is done. Our life has become a struggle and no one cares. The rich hide in their safe retreats, country homes, walled-in estates with guards, alarms and impenetrable security, while the rest of society fights off criminals as well as misguided, untrained, and mal intentioned police…

C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 09 NOV 2022, Valencia, Spain

Fotografía: El arte de Alex Castro Soto del Valle – Photography: The Art of Alex Castro Soto del Valle

(Fidel Castro, foto de Alex Castro Soto del Valle, The New York Times)

ALEX CASTRO, hijo de Fidel Castro, nació en La Habana, Cuba en 1963. Ingeniero de profesión, pero que realizó muchos trabajos de cinematografía. Sus fotografías se han expuesto en muchas exposiciones colectivas y están también en muchas colecciones privadas.

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ALEX CASTRO, son of Fidel Castro, was born in La Habana, Cuba in 1963. He is an engineer, but also did work as a cinematographer. He has exhibited his photographs in many collective exhibitions as well as in many private collections.

(2020: Si te ha gustado, no olvides de darle el «like» y gracias/If you liked it, don’t forget to give it a «like» thank you)

Gracias…

Cheers…

How I Teach Art, Lesson 1,5

In lesson one I spoke of the importance of the items you will need in your studio or home that will greatly assist you in your quest to paint or draw. The most important being the «moldeable rubber» (eraser), as it will help you to reduce the stress that can present itself when you face the following problems:

  1. What to paint or draw?

Well, I would say that before asking yourself that question you should think in terms of «how» (not what) you see… Everything you see, whether indoors or outdoors, you perceive according to the light, so everything presents itself in parts. This is chiaroscuro in Italian, and light and dark in English. This is how you see and by extension, how an artist sees.

However, that only refers to subjects outside your head that you intend to paint. If you choose to paint landscapes, portraits or still life (nature-mort), you will paint what you see. And I mean it that way. Not necessarily what is there naturally before you, but what you…as an artist*…sees.

2. How shall I paint/draw this portrait/landscape/still life?

You must choose the style, the colour scheme…in accordance to colour theory…the size, the surface, the composition, dimensions, message et al… Nothing must be left to mere chance, however, you must be open to improvisation, which is completely different from randomness or intuitiveness.

* You are the artist. An artist is not a photographic camera that simply catches what is there. An artist creates, interprets and then represents in accordance to his/her idea and also what he/she wishes to communicate. A painted portrait is not the same as a photographic one. An artist must see beyond what is there and put those impressions…psychological, physical…into the portrait. (I suggest a detailed study of the portraits of Lucien Freud for any artist interested in becoming a portrait artist).

Here are some of my work from the early days of my career:

(2021)

Keep in mind that an artist is a trained, educated and aware individual with a strong desire to communicate, to create and to participate in the ongoing and never ending social debate. In other words, a person with opinions, points of view and abilities to guide and counsel…

Art is not like many other things in life. Art, in its many manifestations, is a contrived and artificial endeavour. It is not related, in any way to reality, except for the fact that it is strictly within the realm of the human. Animals or machines cannot make art. Art is not truth, it is manipulated, created, invented and used by the artist to transmit emotions, feelings and messages.

Fotografia – Photography

(EL HOMBRE EN LA LUNA, NEIL ARMSTRONG, NASA,1969/The Man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, NASA, 1969/©GETTY IMAGES)
(2022)

Gracias…

Cheers…

#artvideo, Dibujos a través de los años – Drawings Through the Years

(Imagen propiedad de FBC/Derechos Reservados/Image property of FBC/All Rights Reserved)

Es dibujo para mi es esencial y forma la clave de la comunicacion artistica.

El arte no es subjetivo…como piensan muchos…es totalmente objetivo.

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For me a drawing is essential and forms the key to artistic communication.

Art is not subjective…as some believe…it is absolutely objective.

Gracias…

Cheers…