(3) Fine Art Prints by Bodo Vespaciano (JaZzArt)

(«Jazz on Time», Image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

This one is one of my favourites and I thought about it for a while before I decided to sell it as prints because I value these JaZzArt illustrations as being originals, one of a kind. But here it is and available here at Fine Art America .

JaZzArt is a series that I started way back in 2016 while working my studio gallery Omnia Caelum Studios Miami. I, as a lover of music, and as a lover of music I am a lover of «good» music and I find that most good music is jazzy in many ways. So I researched they why and discovered that the Jazz masters of New Orleans, back at the dawn of the XX C. decided that to make jazz you had to improvise, you had to let the musician be the composer and you had to swing. Three elements, three ingredients in the pot. So why not use those same criteria to make art. I did and that’s how I came up with JaZzArt.

Check out this video of my Jazz-Art (JaZzArt) from my days in the Florida sun:

(2017)

Cheers…

Fine Art Prints by Bodo Vespaciano (JaZzArt!)

(«Toro Jazz», image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

Finally I have decided to release these illustrations (JaZzArt Phase I) as fine art prints. I did not know how to do that successfully but I researched and found Fine Art America and Pixels, so here they are. You can get them on paper (special artists paper) or on canvas.

(Bodo Vespaciano)

Just in case you do not know me (small bio on the Fine Art America site) but here I will tell you that I am a poet. I write my poetry on my canvases, on artists papers and on videos. Sometimes I even write them with words (in Spanish, Catalan and English) and compose verses. The latest thing that I have done…poetically with words/pictures…is the «Euro-Ku». Check it out:

Cheers…

VISIT «CUENCA» in Castilla La Mancha, Spain!

(Image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

This is the land of my maternal grandmother and also of many lovely, hard working and hard living people in the La Mancha region of Spain. Of course there is much, much more than this short video could ever hold, so if you are visiting Spain, I truly encourage you to venture into the plains and mountains of La Mancha, it will be an experience you will treasure and not soon forget.

Check it out:

(2022)

Cheers…

Art Prints by Bodo Vespaciano…

(«Jazz with an Owl», image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

This is one of my original graphite on special artists paper JaZzArt Phase I which is now available as a fine art print, in paper or on canvas. Visit my Fine Art America site for this one and others.

(FBC)

Cheers…

Art History: Art Naive (Art Naif)

This is certainly part of Art History, although it doesn’t really have much to do with the professional, philosophical and profound aspect of art. After all Art is an academic subject one studies at university, right? Well, a lot of these artists said they did not need that, all they needed was some paint, a canvas and a couple of brushes. Would Engineers, Medical Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and other professions say that amateurs pretending to be engineers, doctors, dentists and lawyers be the same as the ones that have suffered through 4 to 6 years of uni training?

And don’t get me wrong, I love Grandma Moses and Henri Rousseau. I don’t think much of some of the others, especially Frida Kahlo. You see, she is taken as an icon of women’s liberation, or feminism, but if you read her published diary and any other articles or books…very few…written about her, you will realise that she was definitely no feminist. She was a submissive woman who suffered gratuitously at the hands of an abusive husband and she still held him at the highest standard. That is not what a feminist believes and it is not how a feminist acts. So, especially if you are a fan of this artist, let me know what you think…

Well, here is my version of Naive Art. I do enjoy a lot of it…

(2022)

Let me know what you think…

Cheers…

Middle of the Week Music: «Kashmir» by Led Zeppelin

(British rock band Led Zeppelin poses in 1973. | Evening Standard/Getty Images)
(performed in 1974)

Now this was always one of my favourite Led Zeppelin songs. I loved the orchestration, the steady, almost marching, Asian rhythm and the way that Robert Plant used his iconic voice to make the song almost a lament, a cry, a calling…

With this song I have to give you the lyrics. It’s a phenomenal group of verses, filled with the amount of mystery, mysticism and symbolism we are accustomed to finding in the music of this, one of the greatest rock groups that ever existed.

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face
And stars fill my dream
I’m a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race
This world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait
All will be revealed
Talk in song from tongues of lilting grace
Sounds caress my ear
And not a word I heard could I relate
The story was quite clear
Oh, baby, I been blind
Oh, yeah, mama, there ain’t no denyin’
Oh, ooh yes, I been blind
Mama, mama, ain’t no denyin’, no denyin’
All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand
As I scan this wasted land
Try to find, try to find the way I feel
Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace
Like sorts inside a dream
Leave the path that led me to that place
Yellow desert stream
My shangri la beneath the summer moon
I will return again
As the dust that floats high in June
We’re moving through Kashmir
Oh, father of the four winds fill my sails
Cross the sea of years
With no provision but an open face
Along the straits of fear
Oh, when I want, when I’m on my way, yeah
And my feet wear my fickle way to stay
Ooh, yeah yeah, oh, yeah yeah,
But I’m down oh, yeah yeah, oh, yeah
Yeah, but I’m down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oh, my baby
Let me take you there
Come on, oh let me take you there
Let me take you there

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: James Patrick (Jimmy) Page / John Bonham / Robert Anthony Plant
Kashmir lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Although the song was recorded in 1974, a different…slightly…version appeared in 1975 in the Physical Graffiti album recorded in London. It is considered…and not just by yours truly…to be the band’s crowning achievement, ahead of «Stairway to Heaven».

(Ahmet Ertegun)

Although I find this version, with the Egyptian Orchestra, to be one of the best I have ever heard, I like to give you options and here is the version done at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert. Of course the drummer here is Jason Bonham, son of John, lovingly called «Bonzo». The concert was in 2007. Twenty million tickets were requested…

(2007)

Poem: (Euro-Ku) «My Home is the Mountain»

(Image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

My home is the mountain, my view is the sky, my love is this earth and all God provides.


I walk with the rhythm of the rain on the rocks, I only need the air I breathe and the faith I call home,


and each morning I rise with a song on my lips and a heart full of gratitude for each moment I live…

C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 24 MAR 2022, Valencia, Spain

Un poema: (Euro-Ku) “La puerta mía”

Sin abrirse en el olvido queda cerrada la puerta,

nadie sale, nadie entra sólo el aire,

y el recuerdo de las risas, y los ecos de los pasos bailan con las hojas muertas.

C.2022, Francis Bravo Cabrera, 22 MAR 2022, València, España.

——————————————————————

El Euro-Ku es una forma poética que he desarrollado en homenaje al Haiku tradicional, pero con un pensamiento típicamente europeo. Debe ser escrito con palabras simples, expresar un pensamiento coherente y claro y estar acompañado de una foto original que aclare el mensaje de los versos, que son tres, sin limitaciones de sílabas.

Great Artists Series: Paco de Lucia

(2014, foto La Semana)

One of the greatest guitarists of the XX C. and part of the XXI C. as well. Paco de Lucia died at the age of 66 of a heart attack on the 25th of February 2014.

He was born in Algeciras in Cadiz province in 1947. He was considered the greatest Flamenco guitarists and a virtuoso of the instrument. Paco de Lucía learned from the two best schools in Spain. First from the school of Niño Ricardo, who died in 1972, but is considered one of the greatest guitarists in the Flamenco world. He also was greatly influenced by Sabicas, who died in 1990 and is considered the guitarist that perfected the use of the instrument as a solo instrumento on stage instead of just being an accompaniment to the singer.

(Paco de Lucia and Camarón de la Isla)

Paco de Lucia is credited with internationalising Flamenco music, especially the guitar. He played all over the world and as well with many other guitar virtuosos of other countries and other styles of music. And not just great guitarists, but he played with singers like El Cigala, Alejandro Sanz, and with jazz pianists like Chick Corea. He has recorded several times with John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, and appears in many of the recordings of legendary Flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla, the great Spanish singer-songwriter Jean Manuel Serrat, the popular singer Dyango and many others.

(John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola)

To me, Paco de Lucia was…and his records still are…an inspiration. I saw him many times and I have missed him and will miss him always. His music, his compositions and his interpretations are phenomenal and considered as the finest in Flamenco and as well in jazz and really in any type of music that he played. Rest in peace…

Cheers…

And being that this great artist was a musician, I think it’s only fitting that I refer you to some of his best work to be found on YouTube:

Poetry Monday: (Euro-Ku) «The Door»

(Image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, All Rights Reserved)

As smoke that always finds the cracks and crevices to pass through wood that’s seen centuries race,

I pass each day through my front door like a ghost with a happy heart and a smiling face,

knowing that the door that lets me out keeps out the rains…

C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 20 March 2022, Valencia, Spain