my electronic christmas message

To my friends and colleagues, wherever you are across the world, I just want to wish you a fun festive season... I am hoping that some of the stories in this blog, which I started this year, will show my appreciation for the amazing lifestyle I have...my only wish is that I could spend more time with good friends - but then you cannot have everything and I do appreciate all the great little connections we create with all my love and good wishes for 2012...

not sure about (the film) New Years Eve

I didn't ever see Garry Marshall's film Valentines Day last year - apparently I did not miss that much. I should have read the reviews this time - but at the same time I don't like to be limited in my expectations. But then again New Year's Eve is probably one of the most over-rated evenings of the year, despite age or culture... so I don't know which bit of my idealistic and naive optimism encouraged me to see this movie... It was a predictable romantic comedy, set in New York (where else) on the afternoon and evening of December 31, 2011 - very contemporary. The extensive cast of A list actors and actresses seemed to enjoy acting in and out of character, portraying a range of normal lives, with their everyday challenges... the formula was a little confusing cutting back and forth between all these terribly normal lives with their real challenges. It was interesting to see Robert de Niro as a dying patient, Halle Berry as his nurse and Jon Bon Jovi as the disillusioned singer. The entertainment was probably better than an average Thursday night's TV viewing but the ending was a predictable as the formula suggests - really sad there there wasn't just one little surprise to encourage some independent thought... o well at least I have a chance to make more of New Years Eve, 2011, if I want to...

a debut novel by Janice Lee - The Piano Teacher

Janice was raised in Hong Kong, of Korean heritage, educated at Harvard and she worked as an editor for Elle magazine before she started writing novels.... Three characters represent different cultures, timeframes and experience. Claire is the contemporary english wallflower, ready for life to unfold. In contrast, Trudy is a savvy eurasian, caught between cultures at the outbreak of a war that unravelled at many levels. Will is the charming and enigmatic man who spans both their worlds... The novel seesaws between 1941/2 and 1952, between the second world war and the Korean war and captures something of the political baggage of both. The reader is transported beyond their everyday world to the exotic east vs west complexity. I feel like I know Hong Kong and I have experienced the change from its British colonial past to its contemporary extension of China. I have heard locals talk from their own perspectives about the British and the Chinese in ways that I really appreciate. Yet I was quite shocked to read about the occupation of Hong Kong and the role of the Japanese. So it should not have come as a shock to read about the universal themes of love and betrayal - do wars really intensify the conditions that generate these extremes - it seems so - people are forced to make decisions in terrible circumstances and the compromises are more than most of us would accept - but the human emotions and condition remains the same. Perhaps the real appeal in this novel is its total believability about places and cultures I know too well. I can escape to a world more fractured than mine and feel the power of love and humanity. Only then, do I reflect on how lucky I am, at so many levels...

happy 150 birthday Gustav Klimt

An amazing man celebrated in a briliant city - and he is so omnipresent it is challenging to offer something more... So off we went to the palatial Belvedere - and we avoided the crowds queuing to see The Kiss, having already enjoyed that experience several years ago. Instead we wandered through the gardens to the Unteres Belvedere to see an exhibition of Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann - titled the Pioneers of Modernism. This eighteenth century summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy houses so much great art work in its baroque interior, while sporting immaculate gardens with water features and fountains - pity they had all been turned off for the winter.

Art, design, architecture - all in perfect balance - complementing and extending beauty and function. It started with a glimpse of what went into the Beethoven Freize, now in the Secession building. We then saw some amazing examples of Klimt's artwork. He is such an accomplished artist who can create designs in tree trunks that make it difficult for you to see the wood for the trees. His women are stunning and elegant. His poster also proclaims that not everyone will enjoy what you create and that you cannot please everyone - what a piece of simple philosophy. But what was unique about this exhibition is the way components of design were transferred both to art and architecture.

The beautiful square, complemented by curves, arches and circles. Concepts of simplicity and usefulness, normally associated with furniture, were also evident in Klimt's art. It was not a surprise to see Hoffman's furniture in some of Klimt's portraits, but their collaboration in designing jewellery was out of this world. Here's wishing a truly talented man a fantastic year long birthday celebration - not sure if I will be back in this wonderful city in this time, but I will certainly enjoy what I can from my memory, and at a distance.

the best schnitzel in Vienna

We were warned to arrive early - by 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon, the queue stretched across the cobbled street... so we made another plan. On Sunday we arrived earlier and only had to queue through the double doors to the footpath. We had chosen to visit the original Figlmueller restaurant, just behind St Stephen's - for an amazing gastro experience. This has been the original dining room for over 100 years. The waiters wore their tuxedos with pride and exuded calm control. The specialty was clear - a thin pork schnitzel, which at an average 34cm diameter exceeded most dinner plates. We opted for the very traditional Wiener Schnitzel von der Kalbsrücken - a total treat, neatly presented in two segments. We complemented this with a bottle of local Grüner Veltliner, which was cleanly crisp. wow - an excellent last meal in Vienna!

up close with new frescoes in Karlskirche

Karlskirche is a stunning church just outside the Inner Ring in Vienna. From the outside, it is a mixture between a small St Paul's, and a mosque. The whole building is shiny white and the Roman entry pediment separates two amazingly scuptured minarets.

Inside, it is a Baroque explosion and the subtle surprise is a slim glass lift at the rear of the church which carries visitors up to a platform at the base of the dome - presumably it also gives access to the team of painters who are spending 4 years reconstructing the original frescoes, originally painted by Johann Michael Rottmayr over 225 years ago. It is a real treat to be able to ascend beyond the large organ and spectacular altar.

It feels quite precarious to walk out on platforms in the scaffolding, to see a spiral staircase taking you up through the middle of the dome. We were able to see glimpses of a beautiful blue sky just on sunset through the arched windows.

Then we gingerly walked up the steep scaffolding steps with a full 360' experience of larger than life full colour religious experiences. Proportions were elongated and emphasised and the cherubs at the absolute top were soooo chuby, even for well rounded cherubs! We were rewarded at the very top of more views of Vienna at sunset, as we peered through the arches of the pinnacle turret - it was truly magical.

Christmas markets in Vienna

An amazing city at an amazing time of year - it was a well planned visit to colleagues and a celebration of my birthday. It is difficult to judge the impact on a french family of living in Vienna - but they certainly have a wonderful spacious inner city apartment with a roof terrace. We slept in their daughter's bedroom, in a small turret... I would have loved to have been born to the Austrian aristocracy over 100 years ago - this city has an amazing past and is sufficiently wealthy to protect it for future generations.

So it was no surprise to be totally impressed by the christmas markets - with their contrasts between the neo-gothic architecture and trees full of red hearts and snowmen... Visually it was breathtaking and there were all the other components of great christmas markets - the spicy smell of gluwein, smoky maroni burners, lots of sweets and lebkuchen stalls, some creative stalls with wonderful candles and lots of hats and scarves... and everywhere people meeting, chatting, drinking, eating, having fun, enjoying the season, all invigorated in the cold night air...I loved every minute and enjoyed the several markets we visited. Not sure whether I preferred the Jeager Tee over the Ingwer Punsch!

More Surrealism at the Albertina - the Kaplan Collection

How lucky can one person be - to see 3 brilliant exhibitions in one museum, all connected by the common theme of surrealism - which for me is an extension of my art history and experience. Definitions abound but for me it is about representing emotions and the subconscious in a way that offers alternative perceptions of reality. I know that I don't always understand the whole picture, but accept that I usually enjoy the challenge in either an aesthetic or an intellectual way. I have always found Dali a bit tortured but his early work is quite simple.

I totally love the simplicity of Miro and there was a selection of the variety of ways he used two lithographs together to create an amazing sequence of work. So it was with an amazing sense of sensory overflow that I realised I was hungry and that it would be nice to appreciate the last of the afternoon light...

the Batliner Collection at the Albertina in Vienna

It is described as ranging from Monet to Picasso and tracing the path of art from Impressionism to Modernism. This private collection of over 500 pieces of art was donated to the Albertina in 2007 and now, over 100 pieces are on display. It was impressive, because at the entrance to the museum, the concrete steps were transformed to look like Monet's water lilies.
It was an interesting mistake that we saw this exhibition backwards - from abstract back towards the figurative art of the Impressionists. We began with cubism and surrealism - there was a whole room of art by Paul Delveaux - an impressively disconnected Belgian painter. In fact, it was an interesting extension of the Magritte exhibition that we had just seen. But I really enjoyed several important groups of artists - my favourite der Blau Reiter group were well represented with examples from Franz Marc (some beautiful orange and golden cows), Wasily Kandinsky, Gabrielle Muenter and their colleagues. I loved seeing old friends of Kirchner, Klee, Kokoschka and it was quite calming to come back to the classic impressionist painters of Bonnard, Cezanne and Monet... a wonderful journey collected by an amazing couple - I appreciate their legacy.

Botero - his paintings in Vienna

I first encountered Botero's sculptures when in Madrid in the early 1990's - they are not easily forgotten - exaggeratedly fat, in strange proportions and conveying simple still life combinations - I remember children climbing over these giant people and horses and people taking photos (myself included) from different angles. At the time, I did not know much about Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist, with an international reputation, now living in Paris.

So I was keen to see an exhibition of over 70 paintings in the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna. I was confronted by expressionless fat, contorted people; massive heads and faces, gaint legs with perfectly circular defined patellas and pathetic stumpy arms. I was so surprised to see that he was of a fairly normal physique!
It was almost like a personal diary - growing up in Colombia, training as a matador, enjoying good food and the outdoor lifestyle... a few cracks emerged when we saw the widow and her young children - and then we were confronted by a whole room of his Abu-Ghraib-Cycle from 2004/5 - where he expressed his horror in a deeply universal manner - this man has a message and he can be heard. Is this the modern day Guernica?

Again, I am moved by the message behind the art...

Magritt: a voyage of discovery at the Albertina in Vienna

I had not seen a lot of his art and my pre-conceptions were of a quirky Belgian. I was able to appreciate his colour and design but I don't think I always got his message. So it was with a genuine enthusiasm that we visited the Albertina again, in Vienna.
250 paintings later I have a deep respect for this man and his experiments with psychology and philosophy. He is able to draw ideas, sometimes directly and sometimes through contrasts.

His classic painting "this is not a pipe" in French and English were a subtle reminder that what he painted looked like a pipe but it was not a real pipe that could be smoked - so he was not lying!
He challenges our assumptions, tries to capture our shadow self and uses clouds as universal symbols- again I know they capture a point in time, but can any painter really draw a real sky before it changes?

I loved his surreal images; portraits without faces, night and day combinations, large bird cut outs of clouds above oceans..
I am inspired to learn and understand more about this man and the surrealist movement...