meanwhile back home

Friends are having a garden party. The building - still under construction - adjacent to the garden, and kept as a backup party room in case the weather will turn, needed some dressing to make it more festive and hide the unfinished parts. So I offered to do it with my collection of textiles gathered from many travels troughout the world, textiles my brother, mother and grandmother brought from Mozambique, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania ... and many more countries I can't recall right now. I cherish these pieces of fabrics since my brother and grandmother are no longer among us. From time to time I will use them to create a different atmosphere, and this party definitely was a good occasion to do so.

So, in my car they went to go to their destination ...

It will take a few hours to put up the textiles on the unfinished ceiling.

At night the room will be lit by the Good Mood Lights.

My party dress has bits of African fabrics, I just love these vibrant colours, and to my surprise the next morning ....

... I found caterpillars in my garden wearing the exact same colours. They seem to love the rue - Ruta Graveolens and their colours are a perfect camouflage on this plant which will soon be naked. I think they are the most beautiful caterpillars I've ever seen. This one is a small one that needs to grow a bit more. It will turn into a beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly - Papilio Machaon . Can't wait until 5 of these gorgeous butterflies will honour my garden.

Jean Tinguely - part 3 - Méta-Matics

click on arrow to start video

Meta-matic drawings vary enormously, entirely according to how the machine is set up and used. No two drawings are ever completely identical. How close the felt-pen, or whatever is being used, is fixed to the paper, is an important factor, but the fluidity or otherwise of of the colouring agent, or the texture of the paper, will also play a part. The operator can use pencil, ballpoint, airmail stamps, invisible ink . . . The decisive thing is how long the machine is allowed to run without interference, and how long with each separate colour. But however it is set up, it is impossible for the machine to produce an ugly drawing.
Hultén 1975, p. 82.

L'appareil à faire des sculptures - The engine to make sculptures

All posts on Jean Tinguely HERE

Museum Tinguely in Basel Switserland

Jean Tinguely & Niki de Saint Phalle - part 2

Niki de Saint-Phalle and partner Tinguely worked together on many projects. Here are a few of them on display at the Tinguely museum in Basel.

great inspiration for a chair project

The Cyclop

This sculpture is actually the model of the 22 meters high sculpture Le Cyclop in Milly-la-Forêt in France, build together with befriended artists.

It started as an illegal constuction, now it is open to the public.

We got there on a bright sunny morning, when we left it was pouring.

All posts on Jean Tinguely HERE

Jean Tinguely - kinetic art - part 1

museum Tinguely in Basel is a must for lovers of the unusual and of kinetic art. The place is stacked with moving sculptures that rattle, shake, blink, move, squeak, ....
Most of the sculptures are on hold until a red button is pushed to start the movement ... and the noises.
For those who can't stand squeaking sounds I recommend to turn the volume down.

click on arrows to start videos

in the last video I focused on the shadow play, just as interesting as the work itself.

All posts on Jean Tinguely HERE

Daniel Schwarz - Fire & Iron

On the Autobahn from Zürich to Basel we suddenly decide to leave the highway and take the smaller roads in the countryside. It seemed more than just coincidence that we decided to do so just at that point.

The first village we reach has large steel sculptures alongside the road, we definitely had to stop to see where these came from.

Signs lead towards a house and large studio hidden in the green hills.

We go and see where the loud noise of working tools come from.

The artist and artisan at work is Daniel Schwarz

- explaining how he shapes the iron on a beautiful worn out log -

- showing us his impressive works made in various techniques in the studio, garden and exhibition area.

He makes custom build works together with garden designers

Gets inspiration from various artists like Giacometti ...

... Dali ... and others

- work in progress, the painting is the first part of a triptych -

Currently participating in Skulptura 2009 - Kunstort Glarnerland - Switserland

Valay Shende - sculptures and installations

sculptures by Mumbai based artist Valay Shende
profile HERE
more works HERE

pictures taken at Galerie Kashya Hildebrand in Zürich during the exhibition Indian Encounters

Jean Pirnay - sculptures and installations

Impertinences au Monastère

exhibition at Espace Mon'Art

ancien monastère - Malmedy - Belgium

Jean PIRNAY

Norbert HUPPERTZ

6th of June - 30th of August

detail of The hold-up of the century - le holdup du siècle - Der Raubüberfall des Jahrhunderts

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the US (1801-1809) declared, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

details of The Sorrow of Belgians - Le Chagrin des belges - Der Kummer der Belgier
the theme of the first work is continued in this work, a big Belgian bank and the lost savings of thousands of people

details of Malmedair

on the left Motherhood - Maternité - Die Mutterschaft

detail of Motherhood
would families break up less easily if men and women would carry the pregnancy together?

detail of For Having Loved Too Much - Pour avoir trop aimé - Um zu viel geliebt zu haben
only half of the installation

detail of The Inaccessible Leg Of Lamb - L'inaccessible gigot - Unerreichbare Keule

detail of Terrestrial Suffering - Souffrance terrestre - Irdischer Schmerz

detail of Without Words - Sans Paroles - Ohne Worte

The Family - La Famille - Die Familie

The artist uses stones and rocks in almost every work. He fell in love with them as a child when his mother in the cold days of winter would wrap heated stones to keep him warm in bed.

previous post on Jean Pirnay's work Mémorial du Mépris HERE

Jean Pirnay's blog : http://essailibre.skynetblogs.be/

unique design in jewelry

Friends Of Carlotta in Zürich is a delightful jewelry gallery. More than 140 contemporary jewelry designers have unique items on display.

Use this link to view some of them.

colourful African design in Zürich

Lea Kray owns the delightful little shop Joy Jewels in Zürich. At least once a year she travels to Africa to collect African items made by local artists and artisans. Some of these are unique and one-of-a-kind pieces. The shop sells both traditional and new design.

It took me a very long time to choose one of the African wax fabrics, I simply wanted all of them.

Heidi Lerch - sculptor & painter

A walk through the old town of Zürich brings nice discoveries.

A small gallery caught my attention because of the colourful work displayed. Heidi Lerch exhibits and works on her artwork here. Acrylics on canvas and painted constructions with wood, I really loved this.

Heidi Lerch was in the middle of creating a new series of works, behind the gallery is her studio. Her latest works are not to be photographed right now as she is still working on the new concept.

Her site is not up to date yet, but she will work on it.

http://www.heidilerch.ch/