After watching a lovely, but incredibly sad movie called 28 Hotel Rooms, I needed some cheering up. Thought I´d give Etsy a try, it usually works. 😉
art
Valérie Belin
I was taken aback by those ethereal photo collages by Valérie Belin. The explosion of color provides a perfect layout for the woman´s portrait. Her frailty and her intangible beauty are only enhanced by the floral motive. I can´t pretend to know the first thing about art, but this touched me. You can get yours at Lumas.
Laurent Chehere
I discovered Laurent Chehere via Lumas, a concept store where you can buy limited edition photography and art at affordable prices. A French photographer born in 1972, he explores poor Parisian neighborhoods and lifts them up through the themes of cinematographers as Hayao Miyazaki, Wim Wenders, Federico Fellini and Marcel Carné. I want them all!
Esra Røise
While looking for art to decorate our bedroom, my husband let me in on a secret: Norwegian artist Esra Røise! And God is she fabulous! I´d be happy to plaster my entire bedroom with her prints!What do you think?;-)
Prints
I´ve always loved prints, don´t you?! We´ve collected prints, especially lithography for quite a while now, but we need some small pieces of art to put on a tiny shelf in our bedroom. In search for some colorful and inexpensive decoration, I stumbled upon many gems on Etsy. The two first are funny, the following two are artsy, the fifth is vintage and I love it most and the sign is just too cool!Take a look!
Getting there
I haven´t written about our apartment in a long time, mostly because I´m so frustrated about how long it takes to get in order! Grrr!
We still need a bigger wardrobe, we need somebody to dig for the original floors, plaster the walls in the living room, the bedroom and the studio, renovate the bathroom, build some extra shelves, buy some art and redo half the kitchen! It´s gonna take forever and cost a fortune! I want a marble counter top and some nice lamps, as well as shelves.
Joey L via Lumas
I discovered Lumas in November last year, in Berlin. The concept is pretty cool- affordable art, meaning that a photography is available in a limited number of exemplars and its selling price rises along with the demand. We were supposed to buy one picture as a Christmas gift for the house, but the jolly season proved more expensive than we had foreseen. 😉
This week´s artist is Joey L. and his pictures of holy men of India is no less than amazing! Thought I´d share them with you!
I´m a Communist Biddy
I´m a Communist Biddy joins the ranks of great Romanian post 2000 movies and made me really proud to be Romanian. I have to say, the way Europe regards Romania, both due to the problems with the Roma and on account of the crimes committed by Eastern Europeans, pride is not the first thing I have in mind when I think of my mother country. Pride seems to be reserved for those with a great historical past or with a blooming economy. Luckily, this is where culture comes in. One shouldn´t judge a book by its cover and neither should one judge a nation by its reputation. And while Romania´s people are the ones who bring shame to their country, they are also the ones who save it from disgrace.
But let´s get back to the movie. I´m a Communist Biddy is a warm and humorous family drama sprinkled with bizarre elements of Romanian culture, the tuica drinking, the living in the past and the worshiping of all things foreign. The daughter who emigrated to Canada and then moved to America comes back with her fiancé Alain, whom her parents insist on calling Alin, since that is a common Romanian name and they can´t be bothered with foreign pronunciation. One of the presents they bring home is a sort of an egg cutter that shapes the egg into a square. This absurd device is perfect to illustrate the admiration Romanians have for all things fancy, although they might not have a function at all. The whole audience laughed as hard as they could at this recognition.
After a while, the family is let in on the young couple´s secret, that they are about to lose their home if they don´t pay 15000$ to the bank. The parents agonize about it and end up mortgaging their own apartment to borrow money from a Chinese pawn-broker.
All in all, the movie is not so much about Ceausescu and the old communist times as it is about youth, nostalgia and family values. And since the mother lived her best years under Communism, she idealizes the impact it had on people´s lives.
You should all see it if you get the chance! And while I´m at it, check out this short movie, too!
Source: http://www.oslokino.no
The Child´s Pose
Finally I got around to see the Romanian movie everyone is talking about, the one that won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin film festival. I´m not exactly a patron of the arts, but I love a good movie and I´m quite patriotic, too. 😉 Besides, I really feel that Romanian cinematography has reached new heights, I for one liked each and every one of the movies that won prizes lately.;-)
The Child´s Pose directed by Calin Peter Netzer depicts the Romanian society in such vivid colors of tragic and comic that one can´t help but be sucked into the situation. An affluent family tries to save their only son from the prospects of jail after having killed a child when speeding to overtake another car. The scene is very authentic, you get to see fragments of daily life, interpersonal relationships, the importance of social status, of being well-connected, of keeping up appearances. A bitter mother trying to control her son´s life, including his choice of partner, is struggling to get him to acknowledge her efforts. The son, exhausted by his mother´s interference, is trying to find a path of his own to reach maturity, by accepting responsibility. An honest portrait of Romania with all its levels of corruption, glam and glitz, morality and amorality. Highly recommended!
Source: http://www.cinemarx.ro
Our new hallway
Finally I can show you our new hallway! We´re so happy with it! We still need some shelves (String) and some posters or photography, but all in all, it´s quite nice!;-) And check out our new George Nelson lamp! I´ve been drooling for it for ages!
life in a bubble 