Mikaloyus Chyurlenis

"To live with the eyes opened wide for all beautiful things... To forget where from and where to you come, what's your name. And to stare by the eyes of a child..."

 Mikaloyus Chyurlenis was born on September 22nd, 1875. 

He was a musician, an artist and a poet. He dreamt of the unity of all arts. He wrote: "Everything exists as the beautiful combination of colors, as the sounding of the miraculous accord..."

He shared the fate of many great talents: Chyurlenis was truly recognized only after his death. 

Winter Tales By Vladislav Yerko

The winter is coming, and Christmas is nearby... Even if there is still no snow in the place where you live your mood is slightly turning to the holiday tune. It's the time to put out our favorite tales about the winter and miraculous things happening in this season unjustly considered to be the dullest and less likes by masses.

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" is a really enchanting tale of love, devotedness, adventures and magic. It's one of the longest and most captivating books I read when I was 7 or 8 years old. And I really enjoyed it. I am not going to recite this fairy tale - I'll just say that every children's book should have great illustrations in order to become loved by both young and adult readers. "The Snow Queen" is lucky in this sense because the most prominent artists make illustrations to it.

And one of this fairy tale's editions was illustrated by the wonderful artist Vladislav Yerko who is probably a bit of sorcerer himself. Just have a look at some his illustrations to "The Snow Queen":

Some information about the artist: Vladislav Yerko (born in 1962 in Kiev, Ukraine) is the artist and the author of widely recognized illustrations to books by Paolo Coelho, Carlos Castaneda, Richard Bach as well as to books for children, such as "The Snow Queen" and "The Misty Albion Fairy Tales".

Vladislav is not a public person despite of the fact that his more popular and well-known colleagues call him the best artist and editors are proud of working with him. Books for children, illustrated by this prominent artist regularly get the regional and international awards and the Ukrainian publishing house "Sophia" has recently issued the album of Yerko's illustrations to Paolo Coelho's books which the writer himself considers to be the best ones in the world.

Non-glossy Amsterdam by the Dutch Impressionist

I hope all of you have ever seen photos of Amsterdam. They present the city as something sunny, doll-house-like, cute and forever cheerful, making it an ideal touristic attraction. And, yeah, milliard bikes, soft drugs, Red District, and backpackers with their huge cameras here and there. Internet is full of pictures like these:

Here is a cheerful cyclist crossing the one of numerous canal bridges. They haven't just shown a great crowd of other cyclists with their bells ringing, trying to get through  dense tourist groups. 

Here is Rokin, one of most disgustingly crowded places in A'dam... Looking like the paradise, I think, they've shot it in the 6 a.m. at the morning. 

I live in Amsterdam and I must say that such views can be seen rather rarely. I mean blue skies and the absence of people (especially in the case of Damrak - the street leading to the Central Station cannot be empty in any place of day and night). Most days, A'dam weather is much more gloomier and there are a lot of chances that you will be soaked in the rain when you arrive here even in the midst of summer. And the weather changes very often, so you need all kinds of clothes here. 

But what is the real, not glossy, not touristic A'dam? I think, the art shows us more of the real Dutch capital than any pictures from guidebooks and touristic web sites. Especially if this art is Impressionistic.

George Hendrik Breitner was the well-known Impressionist artist and one of the first pioneers of photography in the fin du ciecle Netherlands. He made very real-life pictures of A'dam, especially at evenings and autumn-winter seasons. They look quite realistic and I must admit that I see the A'dam the same as Breitner saw it - in the brown-gray-dark palette.  Here are his works - that I could find in the Internet. However, if you are in A'dam, you can see them in Stadelijk Museum which has recently been opened after the long restoration. 

The Dam Square and the Nieuwekerk. 

Only horse-driven trams have disappeared and have taken place to the electricity-driven ones of the other blue-white design. 

Rokin as it was in the end of the 19th century. Less crowded, but still gloomy. 

A'dam in the winter. A very cheerful winter scene with beautiful ladies in furs. 

Breitner's works, despite of their gloominess, are rather lively, because they always depict people on the streets. Hasty strokes of the painting brush reflect the perpetual movement of the city. And I think these pictures really show A'dam as it was in the past and it is now. We can only replace ladies in elegant dresses with hipster girls and horse-driven trams with more modern ones, plus add bikes and we'll get the real A'dam as I see it now, in the mid-October. 

Rob Gonsalves - magic realism with Escher's touch

I've found some astonishing works of the well-known Canadian artist Rob Gonsalves. There are real wonders considering their composition, perspective and setting. They are mostly dream-like and they remind me of those dreams which look like reality but some small details of them are fantastic and you don't notice any strange thing while dreaming, but when you are awake and trying to remember your dream these details suddenly appear in front of your eyes again and they immediately strike you as unbelievable.

Some people like to compare Gonsalves' works with bizarre geometric fantasies of Escher. Similarities between them do really exist, because Rob Gonsalves uses tools of perspectives freely and abundantly. But Gonsalves' pictures are more dream-like and colorful, they remind us more of childish dreams than of dark adult fantasies. I think they are worth of seeing. And I must warn you - once you see one of Gonsalves' masterpieces you won't be able to stop gazing on them for, say, ten minutes. I've even uploaded one of his pictures as the wallpaper for my desktop and I'll never be tired to stare on it.

Meet magical images of this outstanding artist:

The girl, sending blue balloons in the cloud-loaded sky thus creating the good weather...

Unfinished Puzzle

The girl from the puzzle who meets the boy, trying to complete this puzzle. 

Deluged 

The naughty boy who despises the umbrella-wearing rule of others and who has dared to climb the tree and to see the sky in order to predict whether it'll be rain or not ...

Tree House in Autumn 

The magical builders who reconstruct the humble tree house in the middle of October, among orange trees, and who turn it into the solid mansion. 

Sail ships gliding through eternal sea under the long automobile bridge. Some of them seem like waves themselves...

Nocturnal Skating 

Falling stars in the midwinter night turning into fantom skaters with lanterns... The path between the clouds turns into the frozen river. 

The Sun Sets Sail

The mysterious bridge which, together with clouds, gives birth to mighty sailing ships... 

White Blanket 

Snow turning into the cosy blanket prepared for those who are  weary and ready to hibernate...

Still Waters 

People who turn glass pieces into the mirror pond...

Bedtime Aviation 

Children who are able to fly in their dreams, their bed covers turn into mosaic fields and a toy airplane becomes the real one... 

More images of Rob Gonsalves are here: www.robgonsalves.com

Conceptual art in St-Petersburg: What does this mean?

Around 3 years ago, people strolling along St-Petersburg streets could see these strange paper posters attached to walls. Each of them contained some short but intriguing and mystifying phrase. Startled people started to take photos of these papers and to post them on Internet, while asking each other: "Do you know what all that means?".
Here are these strange posters. Imagine you walking on the street and seeing these things:

"Better than nothing" is worse than "just cool". 

Tourists are freaking performance

The winter's come, the winter's gone, but summer is the summer. 

You remember, you are proud, then tell us what you're proud of

(It refers to the famous slogan of the social advertising campaign launched before the anniversary of the 1945 victory of Russia over the Nazi Germany: "I remember, I'm proud". It was the real epidemic campaign -  so-called "Georgian ribbons" (orange and black striped ribbons of color of the highest military Russian award, St. George's order) were spread among all people, distributed in schools, workplaces, just on the streets. People attached them on their cars, bags, clothes, to show that they remember veterans, but due to this immense popularity it soon became a vice: teenagers decorated themselves by these ribbons, but they didn't know anything about the Great Patriotic War). 

I'll buy, I'll sell, I'll get profit

However, the secret was quickly disclosed, because the author hadn't even thought of remaining anonymous.
Agon_noga is the street art activist from St-Petersburg. His works created in the conceptual style, aren't aimed for high artistic value. Their purpose is the close interaction with viewers. So, the artist fully achieved this goal.

Street art

Sometimes we've encountered with strange slogans written or printed on walls. Some of them can look like a complete nonsense, some of them are remembered by us and make us laugh. Some of them look strange, some are surprisingly accurate in describing of the current situation. It's the anonymous voice of the city - people who write it are unknown. It's like walls are speaking with passer-bys. I have several examples, made on Russian, but of course, there are a lot of them on English, German or Dutch, since the street art is well-developed in Europe...
Here they are:

The city has become absolutely ugly... Nothing like in the USSR.

This comment written on the dull grey concrete wall is very ironic and may be it reflects feelings of citizens. 

The wife who is an artist is the trouble of family.

I think, it's true to some extent...) Judge by myself (though I'm not an artist in the proper sense).

There wasn't any spleen - but then we downloaded "Hachiko".

The name of this sentimental movie during watching of which no one can avoid tears has become the synonym of all sentimental and tear-squezzing art. 

I'd been standing here for some time, and then I left...

The very good way to mark someone's previous presence in the certain place, so popular among teenagers and youngsters crowding in the public spaces. Better than banal "Vasya has been here"

"We are to grow spiritually. Or it'll be collapse".

The last warning, I guess...

Putin is an illusion.

The name of the current Russian president has also become the part of popular mythology. The man who's concealed his past and his personal life, but has become the symbol of relative wealth and stability cherished by ones and hated by others is the centre of attention. Myths circulate about him. And here we see the picture of the duck who's opened its beak just to say what many people think of Putin - that he's an illusion. 

Absurd art

I like the absurd humor because it makes me stop, think over and only then to burst out laughing. So, I've found some nice examples of such absurd caricatures, drawn by the plain pencil on the simple sheet of paper. They are not of much worth in terms of art, but they can be the real hit for those who, like me, love absurd humor and want good and non-vulgar laughing. These pictures are made by an artist from Riga, Latvia, and his approach seems to be a real new word in the area of humor illustrations.

Well, with the help of simple tools you can turn a loaf of white (or brown) bread into a trolleybus... But what for?!

"Aeroflot" is losing its customers

Antique cuckoo clock with pendant (while I was drawing the clock, the horse dreaming of - I quote - "becoming an actress" came to the cadre. 

Small people leaving in the tube of toothpaste say me what to draw but I rarely listen to them.

Katyusha

Staff of the State Drug Police use dolphins for the search of drugs in trains. 

Lips with ears are gazing at the meat pie. 

It is not easy to deliver potatoes to apartments if you have hooves instead of hands. 

AutoVAZ employees leave their hands at the factory gate. 

Sign: "Show your pass opened!"

That's all. Rice leaves the risotto. 

Friday cute cats

Everybody likes cats and kittens here, I guess. But nobody knows why we love them more than any other creatures. Anyway, I know just a few people who don't like cats or are quite indifferent about them. Others adore these furry creatures, though not everybody keep them at home as pets. I've had a lot of cats in my life, I've grown up with cats at home and my first poem was written about my cute black and white (but very wild-tempered) cat called Musya (she lived for almost 20 years, though she had a semi-stray lifestyle, living in the countryside, and she gave birth of enormous number of kittens which, I guess, have formed the distinct cat breed - cute, but wild and aggressive black-and-white cats which are impossible to keep closed at home). Now, I don't have cats at home and I regret it. But Internet gives the chance to see cats and kittens. I like these cat pictures my friend has e-mailed me. Here they are. And here are my comments:

Sleeping cat with these cute pink paws! 

A small kitten doing what I didn't like in my former cat's habits - walking on the table. And the cat watching her son with disgust from the window sill - she's educated in good manners)

A cliche romantic picture often used for Valentines - two cats-lovers are having a date on the roof and the full moon is shining.

A library or a bookshop cat) And he is also walking on the table! He can make this cup of coffee fall out. And also the remote cat is watching this youngster with disapproval. 

Everybody having a cat has seen the picture like this in the reality. It's cute but I can imagine the number of cat's hairs on this nice bed cover) However, this picture makes me feel comfortable)

A cat and small tiny kittens - a new version of Motherhood concept for all cat-lovers)