JaZzArt en València

Hemos llegado al siglo veinte, momento donde la historia del arte se empieza a liar, pues la llegada del nuevo siglo marca el desencadenamiento de muchos nuevos estilos de pintar, como también el desarrollo de muchas filosofías acerca del arte. Estas son las llamadas vanguardias y una de las más importantes fue el Cubismo, pues cambió radicalmente la manera de pintar de muchos grandes artistas.

En el cubismo el objeto/sujeto se representa como nunca se presentó antes en la pintura europea, pues la idea era recrearlo en el lienzo como lo imagina el artista, no como lo ve, y pintarlo de todos los ángulos, de todas las caras, y a través de todos los tiempos en los cuales existe y ha existido el objeto/sujeto. El artista cambia la manera de pintar, rompiendo los esquemas del arte clásico, para acercarse al arte africano, donde las formas no tienen que parecerse, necesariamente, a la realidad, sino al concepto artístico del que las pinta. En esto estaban pensando Picasso y Braque cuando inventaron el cubismo.

Aquí os dejo de muestra algunos de los cuadros de Picasso. En la próxima entrada vendrán los cuadros de Juan Gris, el pintor madrileño que también trabajó mucho el cubismo, y en la que le sigue, os traigo a Salvador Dalí, pero no el Dalí surrealista, sino al cubista…

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Well, we are now in the times when Art History really filled up with many different styles and schools of thought. These are generally referred to as the Vanguards of the XX C. One of the most important ones, that actually changed the way painters worked and thought, was Cubism.

Cubism was a way of representing the subject in a manner that had never been done before. The idea was to recreate the object on the canvas, painting it as one actually sees it, from all angles (or most). The artist changes the focus, from the one most revered in classical painting, to one mimicking African tribal masks where the features were not meant to represent reality but the idea in the artist’s mind. This, more or less, was what Picasso and Braque were thinking about when they invented this new vanguard of the XX C., Cubism.

Here are samples from Picasso. In the next post we will feature samples from Juan Gris, a painter from Madrid that also became a famous Cubist. And on the third day, we shall delve into Salvador Dalí, but not Dalí the surrealist «mad man», but Dalí the cubist.

Gracias…

Cheers…

Omnia Caelum, si no te acuerdas, significa más o menos, que “todo es cielo”, y es una frase de la Metamorfosis de Oviedo. Hace muchos años decidí usarla como tema y como nombre para mi taller, para mi galería y para mi filosofía artística.

Aquí algunos de los cuadros más pequeños que exponemos. Son retratos, son símbolos, quizá máscaras, quizá el deseo de entablar un diálogo…

Eso y lo atemporal, es arte…

Gracias…

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Omnia Caelum, if you don’t remember, is a phrase from Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” and can be roughly translated as “All is Heaven”. Many years ago I adopted it as my motto, and as the name of my studio, my gallery, as well as making it my philosophy of art.

Here are some of the smallest paintings exhibited in our gallery. They may be portraits, symbols, maybe they’re masks, but always they stand ready and willing to dialogue.

This, and the knowledge that art is timeless is art for me.

Cheers…

Hoy, como ayer, nos hemos despertado con la noticia de que Putin ha invadido a Ucrania. Este hecho, criminal y barbárico, de violar la integridad física de un país soberano, ya lo venia preparando el líder ruso hace meses y finalmente ha hecho lo que todos esperábamos que no hiciera. Opino que este hecho, tan arbitrario y tan cruel, debe ser severamente castigado por Europa, el Reino Unido, Estados Unidos y todo el mundo libre…y no tan libre…sin vacilaciones ni cortapisas. Esta agresión no debe ser tolerada, como tampoco se puede tolerar, a estas alturas de la historia, a sendos tiranos. Siento el dolor y la angustia del pueblo ucraniano, donde tengo amistades queridas y me duele el alma al imaginarme las dificultades que tienen que estar sufriendo por culpa de esta puñalada trapera que le ha pegado el vecino, especialmente cuando ellos, como todos nosotros, están lidiando con una pandemia que parece ser interminable. Que Dios bendiga a todos los que están enfrentándose a ese mal y que también, en su infinita misericordia, haga que los rusos regresen a casa y se larguen de Ucrania, que no les pertenece.

Today, like yesterday, we woke up to the news that Putin had invaded Ukraine. This act, a criminal act indeed, of violating a sovereign land’s phisical integrity is something that had been brewing for quite some time in the mind of the Russian president and finally he did what we all hoped he would not do. In my opinion this is barbaric and unforgivable and Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the rest of the free…and not so free…world should unite against this aggression and should find the most accurate and painful way to punish the Russian tyrant. I feel for the people of Ukraine, where I have friends that I love. I do not think anyone should have to endure such unnecessary hardship, nor this uncalled for suffering, while living peacefully in their own land, especially in these times when we are all still dealing with a pandemic. May God bless those in harm’s way and may He, in his infinite mercy, dissuade the Russians from further crimes against humanity and lead them back home and away from Ukraine which is not theirs.

Images move through art and form the compositions that transmit the message from the heart of the artist.

I choose guided paranoia, which translates into the definition of Jazz as the leitmotif of my JaZzArT Phase III. It looks like Phase II but on a larger scale…

Instagram: @Guloshka and @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera

Salva Soler (Barcelona, 1976), es poeta, actor y profesor de interpretación y poesía escénica.  Huye de las etiquetas, fusionando diversas artes escénicas para crear belleza e impactar al público con una puesta en escena cargada de energía, emoción, ritmo, conexión y estilos muy diversos. Ha actuado y realizado Master Class de poesía oral y Poetry […]

Salva Soler (Barcelona) impartirá el III Taller de Slam en Matadero — 12 poetas ////// 3 minutos ////// El público decide

FEMINA. FEMINAE

Is there a longing to impress, to brave the storm and be among the best?

Is there a rhythm to a beating heart that does not rest?

I am the symbol of the light, the struggle, I am the expressed.

C.2022, Francis Bravo Cabrera, 23-02-2022, Valencia, Spain

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On the 23rd day of February, 2022, I presented publicly a form that I had been working on and developing for quite some time. I named it…tentatively…the Euro-Ku, in homage and recognition of the Haiku. I have always been a fan of Haikus, especially those written by Zen Masters. However, I knew that as a Westerner I was not placed in this world to live and write as does a poet from the East. But my admiration for the philosophy, the art and the poetry of the East led me to attempt to emulate, of course within the structure of my own, European culture, the Haiku.

Now I have had more time to think and contemplate…even meditate…on the Euro-Ku and I am thinking of a new name, or a sur-name: The «Canticum Novum» or the «Carmen». Both terms can be translated to «song» in the English language. It fits with the explanation I gave, which stated that the words employed in this form be words of the everyday language of the people, not the over-searched «poetic» language of the very cultured few. Therefore I suggested that the content of the verses be similar to the lyrics of popular songs. Circular logic would then indicate that the name «Carmen» or Canticum Novum» would be quite appropriate.

What do you think?

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In recognition of the struggle for equality and for the end of gender violence, we here at Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia support a world free of violence against women and have zero tolerance for such crimes.

El colectivo de Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, reconoce la lucha por la igualdad y por el fin de la violencia de genero y se une al deseo de un mundo libre de violencia machista. Decimos no a la violencia, zero tolerancia.

THE ANGEL’S WINGS

The vaulty sky revolving placidly above, below and through the angel’s wings,
paints textured pictures deep in dreams,
and I awaken filled with peace…

C.2022, Francis Bravo Cabrera, 22-02-2022, Valencia, Spain

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Nota Bene…

The Euro-Ku, which I have developed as an homage to the traditional Japanese Haiku, besides containing three verses (just like the original but with no syllabic restrictions), whose message must tie in and form a cohesive whole, should be accompanied by an original image. The language should reflect our contemporary, narcissistic, ego-centric and surrealistically paranoid existence. Those psychological descriptors serve to make the Euro-Ku totally a European experience.

So this is the Euro-Ku

Well, a traditional Haiku it is not…
It is hybrid, like all of us in the Western World. We are perhaps not as deep or as spiritual as the Japanese who invented the original poem that we know as the “Haiku”.
Those are structured rigorously. They are short poems that speak of the impression caused by contemplation of nature or of daily life. They are written in three lines, the first containing five syllables, the second one seven and the third one five.
We were not put in the Western World to live as if we were Orientals. It’s impossible no matter how many Yoga classes we take or how much we engage in Tai-Chi or Qi-Gong. However, we do admire and learn from our brothers of the East. Then, our attempts at creating Haikus…which are a very powerful way to express ideas…should not reflect the values or literary traditions of that ancient culture.
On the contrary, it should reflect the Greco-Roman culture that has nourished us but not in its classical splendour, instead in its contemporary manifestation and colour. It should be filled with our present-day madness and our psychedelic-surrealistic paranoia.
The Euro-Ku will still be a poem limited to three verses, but there are no other rules, except that there should be some degrees of consistency as well as coherence in the purpose and the meaning, i.e. the words used and the message transmitted. Although it need not rhyme or flow, the words should be as easy to understand as the lyrics of a popular tune.

Here is Number One…

D U C K S

The sky dips carefully, his index finger melts the ice,

and makes the waters warm and blue,

but fear keeps ducks on the cold white ice, as it does you…

C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 22-02-2022, Valencia, Spain

My skin absorbs the dust of frozen centuries,

the dust remains like footprints in the sand,

and I stand frozen like a marbled drop of yellow rain.

“TEMPLES” is a poem in what I have termed the Euro-Ku.  This style borrows the name and part of the idea that gave form to the traditional Japanese Haiku.  However, I have changed most of the rules that govern the composition of that well known form. In the Euro-Ku the verses…they are still only three…do not have to have the same syllable count as in the Haiku.  The three verses should flow into each other in a coherent and obvious fashion and should be written in the contemporary vernacular, as if one were writing the lyrics of a pop song.  The meaning and the message should be intended for the proletariat; clearly understood by all.  It should not be hidden within confusing and archaic…researched…words.

C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 22/02/2022, Valencia, Spain

Written by Dave Mason, this was one of my faves, especially this version by Joe Cocker:

Of course the original was released by Traffic in 1968, both in the UK and in the US and it failed miserably in both countries. Then Joe Cocker…the Man!…recorded in 1969, changed the name to «Feeling Alright», added some conga drums and, as Lou Reed would put it, three coloured girls from Motown and transformed the song into a rock classic!

Here is another cool version by Isaac Hayes:

And even Lulu in this surreal-paranoid video from a popular US Television show:

And even by the whitest black «soul» group of the sixties:

Cheers…