Robben Island in front of Cape Town seen from the Signal Hill.
Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed “Kathy” Kathrada spent 18 years on this island prison of his totally 26 years of imprisonment 1963-1989. Later he served e.g. as the member of the South African parlament and an adviser for the president Nelson Mandela who also was an inmate in Robben Island (and later in Pollsmore Prison) the same years as Kathrada.
Ahmed Kathrada died yesterday, 28 March 2017 at the age of 87 years.
“As a full-fledged art movement, Photorealism evolved from Pop Art and as a counter to Abstract Expressionism as well as Minimalist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States. Photorealists use a photograph or several photographs to gather the information to create their paintings.” From Wikipedia
The works of photorealists have always fascinated me. Is it the admiration of the capability to meticulously imitate (duplicate?) the real world, or the possibility to be able to immerse myself into the details of the often very large paintings? Probably both.
Here are some samples of some well-known photorealist artists. I took the pictures last year in Kumu, Modern Art Museum of Estonia.
To start with, the works invite spectators to stop for a longer time to study the details.
The details are sometimes confusingly elaborate and vivid. Here is an example from Bertnard Meniel.
Details from the left and right side of the street.
In the works of Tom Blackwell it’s amazing how the sheen of the chrome is so real from the distance but when you have a closer look, it is just stokes of oil paint.
Chuck Close has drawn his self-portrait with small squares filled with varying number of pencil strokes. Impressive result.
The last example are works of Roberto Bernardi. Even looking very closely the reflection of the glass is very natural, very hyper-realistic, like the candies in the first painting.
Finally, a good summary of the “isms” of the art during the last 50 years “From Photorealism to Funism (1960’s-present)” is here. You might like to have a look at this “Important Art and Artists of Photorealism” as well.
Viime tiistaina Savoy-teatterissa esiintyi Kodinkynttilät-laulutrio Maija Hapuoja, Monna Kamu ja Irma Tapio – kaikki kohta seitsemänkymppisiä upean uran luoneita laulajia. Konsertti Muistojen bulevardi oli viehättävä paluu 1940, -50 ja -60 luvun iskelmiin, uusina hienoina sovituksina.
Taustayhtye ei ollut yhtään vaatimattomampi, näyttävimmässä roolissa viime syksynä 80 vuotta täyttänyt fonisti ja klarinetisti Pentti Lasanen, jolla oli pari omaa soolonumeroa.
Komppiryhmä oli louhittu suoraan Suomi-jazzin peruskalliosta. Bändiä veti pianisti Eero Ojanen, bassossa Pekka Sarmanto ja rumpalina Reino ‘Reiska’ Laine. 1970-luvun alussa kuvasin silloin nuoria jazzmuusikoita. Nyt noin 45 vuoden jälkeen monet heistä ovat vielä mainiossa esiintymisvireessä. Seuraavassa herroista vertailukuvat 1970-luvun ja tämän päivän välillä. Eeron ja Pekan kuvat ovat vuodelta 1971 ja Reiskan 1972.
Eero Ojanen Vaasassa 1971 ja Helsingissä 2017
Pekka Sarmanto Vaasassa 1971 ja Helsingissä 2017
Reiska Laine Porissa 1972 ja Helsingissä 2017
This bird has somewhat complicated name in English (maybe only for me), the willow ptarmigan, also know as willow grouse or red grouse (Lagopus lagopus, riekko in Finnish). The bird is shown in it’s white winter plumage. The black throat and the red wattles over the eyes are the very distinct.
This Thursday Twitters post is a blast from the past. I took these images on mid May 1982 in Naruska in Finnish Lapland (roughly here). Still plenty of snow still at that time of the year there. A suitable post for the last days of the year.
I probably used then Tamron 70-210mm, which produced quite satisfactory images. (The scanning quality of the slides could be better though.) These birds seem to trust their white color so much that you can often quite easily approach them also with a shorter lense.
o – o – o
A tree during christmas time, though not a spruce.
Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu, the main shopping street during December. Some of us are doing well, some are less lucky.
The Finns might find similarities with the work of Kari, the icon for political cartoonist in Finland. His drawing was published 62 years ago. The design of the christmas lights in Aleksanterinkatu is still the same – and maybe the message of the drawing also …
Helsinki, 12 December 2016
Merry-go-rounds are fundamental for European Christmas Markets. So in Tallinn, Estonia as well.
Tallinn Christmas market merry-go-round, 8 December 2016
Could it be so that the Common redpoll (Carduelis flammea, urpiainen in Finnish) is the bird of Christmas? For me it is. Just look at it’s head.
A group of these small lively birds landed next to our home just two days ago. They were eating leftovers from the bird feeders and bathing in small puddles (the last days have been warm and wet, no snow anymore).
(For photo techies: I took this picture with Canon 5D Mk4, Canon 100-400 + Sigma’s 1.4x converter. The very pleasing thing is how little digital noise there is though I used ISO 12800!)
So this is a combined Thursday Twitters and Countdown to Christmas post. 🙂
Common redpoll (Carduelis flammea) in Mäntsälä, Finland, 20 December 2016
o – o – o
You might call it mulled wine or Glühwein but hear in Nordic countries and Estonia it is glögg. Enjoy!
Tallinn Christmas market 8 December 2016
Without decorations there will be no Christmas. And who would be a better shop keeper than Mrs. Claus.
Tallinn’s Christmas Market, 8 December 2016
Pulse of Change - Muutoksen syke 