100

I secretly LOVE hula seventy blog. It is DEFINETLY the 

MOST inspiring, nurturing, exquisite, amazing, beautiful blog EVER. It has made me cry and laugh out loud more than once,  it has inspired me, given me ideas, taught me things... and a HUGE LONG etc. I say secretly because I have written MANY letters to Andrea, its intellectual owner, but never dared to post them,  thinking it was too dumb, rare, awkward, and she could envision me as a freak by declaring love to a BLOG. What I love the most, I guess, is all that she does/likes/has is like a wished mirror of me. Not that I want to be ANOTHER, or different, but I can´t believe there are two souls that see/thinks/does things so alike. ( Except from blogging, area in which I fail tremendously!)

Last week she made another wonderful LIST that I considered myself memed ( is it memed? ) anyway, here it goes...

1. chocolate

2. smell of my kids

3. mozarella

4. wine

5. typewriters

6. Lp´s

7. art books

8. shoes & boots

9. antique jewelery

1o. new notebooks

11. calligraphic ink pens

12. leather bags

13. earrings

14. cookies

15. crayons

16. pizza

17. white bed sheets

18. antique linings

19. silverware

20. bracelets

21.  rings

22. old desk supplies

23. photographic paper

24. nail polish

25. Botticelli´s paintings

26. incense

27. candles

28. old cameras

29. love stories

30. ipod

31. lipsticks

32. must de cartier

33. cannon g9

34. ex votos

35. fashion magazines

36. 50-60-70´s furniture

37. velvet

38. spanish fans

39. vanilla cupcakes with frosting

40. old photographs

41. dictionaries

42. nature books

43. art museums

44. nyc

45. vintage stores

46. lavander

47. fresh spinach

48. baking

49. pajamas and night gowns

50. roses

51. long hair

52. black eye liner, smokey

53. french

54. scarves and gloves

55. brushing my teeth

56. corals and shells

57. dreams

58. music boxes

59. trees, all kinds of big trees

60. silver things

61. jackets

62. children stories

63. internet

64. flip flops

65. body and face creams

66. scones 

67. bare foot

68. forests

69. bicycles

70. peackoks

71. mountains

72. mediterranean blue

73. plane tickets

74. big paper store bags

75. art supplies

76. vases

77. bed covers

78. boxes 

79. diaries

80. tableware

81. kitchen utensils

82. smell of fresh laundry

83. gourmet stores

84. fiat/seat cinquecento

85. new cities

86. supermarkets

87. words

88. calculators

89. round stones

90. ivy

91. blogs

92. other people photos

93. my photos

94. music

95. old peuter objects

96. lilies

97.  st. germain scented candles

98. mac book pro

99. purple

100. secrets

MUDE

Mude, mas comece devagar,
porque a direção é mais importante
que a velocidade.

Sente-se em outra cadeira,
no outro lado da mesa.
Mais tarde, mude de mesa.

Quando sair,
procure andar pelo outro lado da rua.
Depois, mude de caminho,
ande por outras ruas,
calmamente,
observando com atenção
os lugares por onde
você passa.

Tome outros ônibus.
Mude por uns tempos o estilo das roupas.
Dê os teus sapatos velhos.
Procure andar descalço alguns dias.

Tire uma tarde inteira
para passear livremente na praia,
ou no parque,
e ouvir o canto dos passarinhos.

Veja o mundo de outras perspectivas.
Abra e feche as gavetas
e portas com a mão esquerda.

Durma no outro lado da cama…
depois, procure dormir em outras camas.

Assista a outros programas de tv,
compre outros jornais…
leia outros livros,
Viva outros romances.

Não faça do hábito um estilo de vida.
Ame a novidade.
Durma mais tarde.
Durma mais cedo.

Aprenda uma palavra nova por dia
numa outra língua.
Corrija a postura.
Coma um pouco menos,
escolha comidas diferentes,
novos temperos, novas cores,
novas delícias.

Tente o novo todo dia.
o novo lado,
o novo método,
o novo sabor,
o novo jeito,
o novo prazer,
o novo amor.
a nova vida.

Tente.
Busque novos amigos.
Tente novos amores.
Faça novas relações.

Almoce em outros locais,
vá a outros restaurantes,
tome outro tipo de bebida
compre pão em outra padaria.
Almoce mais cedo,
jante mais tarde ou vice-versa.

Escolha outro mercado…
outra marca de sabonete,
outro creme dental…
tome banho em novos horários.

Use canetas de outras cores.
Vá passear em outros lugares.

Ame muito,
cada vez mais,
de modos diferentes.

Troque de bolsa,
de carteira,
de malas,
troque de carro,
compre novos óculos,
escreva outras poesias.

Jogue os velhos relógios,
quebre delicadamente
esses horrorosos despertadores.

Vá a outros cinemas,
outros cabeleireiros,
outros teatros,
visite novos museus.

Se você não encontrar razões para ser livre,
invente-as.
Seja criativo.

E aproveite para fazer uma viagem
despretensiosa,
longa, se possível sem destino.

Experimente coisas novas.
Troque novamente.
Mude, de novo.
Experimente outra vez.

Você certamente conhecerá coisas melhores
e coisas piores do que as já conhecidas,
mas não é isso o que importa.

O mais importante é a mudança,
o movimento,
o dinamismo,
a energia.
Só o que está morto não muda !

Repito por pura alegria de viver:
"A salvação é pelo risco, sem o qual a vida não
vale a pena!!!! " 

Clarise Lispector

 

Edson Marques

liviandad de pensamiento

Every time I meet with my friend R. I leave feeling myself light and full of energy, positive and  hopeful! This is some quality that really I admire: the capacity of transmitting all these emotions/ feelings to people, as opposed to those people that drain your energy, thoughts and leave you like angry, tired and hopeless.  I have to learn how to not give my time and energy to the second type of people.  

dilemma

i am basically an artist that is at war with the art system. i debate myself whether i should continue or not producing art. for whom is this work intended to be made? who will actually see, enjoy, learn -and on the best case scenario, get something from that piece?  these questions have no answers. as i become more and more nihilistic, the needs of sharing ideas and putting new imagery out there looses meaning. but on the other way around, it seems i can never stop or quit making art. that is the dilemma.

back

i´m back

i have been traveling for 51 days. 

i have thought many many things

specially about belonging and being.

heard many stories

saw lots of people

seeming my life has moved so much forward i wonder if i can go back at any given moment to the place i left

i guess not

i wont make a priority of an option

my present is here and we only have this.

artwork by a recently discovered artist: eva armisén, wonderful.

it is like her thoughts are in my mind.only that she paints them

NO WORDS FOR NOW

BLOG WILL REST DUE TO VACATIONS. NOT THAT IT WAS OH!  SO VERY ACTIVE, BUT THE LACK OF WORDS AND THE TIME TO THINK HAVE ARRIVED

SEE YOU SOON...

buen humor mal humor

There have been many days my humor is terrible. Those days, all is black. I can't get a hold on my days, I seem to vanish time without accomplishing anything good, I don't treat my body well, I am frowned and upset, my smile has an inverted rictus, my patience is  ZERO, my cravings rase to unbelievable stages, my tolerance is non existent, my hope has disappeared, my courage is diminished.

One or two days ago I started to feel good again, about all: my self, my home, my life, my kids, my hubby, the daily life, my artwork, my cv, my food, and most importantly, my body.

I have been thinking along this buddhist idea of courage as faith. I think I sunk it all in. Suddenly I feel courageous, strong and willing. This is the spirit I cannot loose. 

springy mood

spring has arrived. i don´t usually talk about meteorology, but the seasons are something else. renovation is my thought for spring. i have decided to renovate instead of organize... to organize somehow means to start from scratch... to renovate means to work on something you already have....so, the springy amalia will renovate things:

-her garden: as of today, new sod has been planted, my "Bourle-Marx" corner has been planted, and 4 sempiverens. 

-her photo albums: as of today, 4 new york life albums were completed after 15 years of having all pics in a metal box.

-her portrait portfolio, needs to incorporate new portraits made of Tiffen, Oriol, Sandra, Daniella, Alexis, Ivette, Massimo, Adriana, Isabella, Teia & Aiden.

-her computer files/hard drives

-her bio, statement and cv

-her closets, by exterminating the unused/unclassified/unworkable stuff

-specific parts of her home: downstairs closet and photo closet being the worst, need the most attention

second, adrianas closet, 

third, my books from the room area

fourth, the little "tugurios" that i have around... messy little corners and piles of stuff

-the façade of the house needs some thought too...

so, before I faint of exhaustion due to the amount of work, I may post a beautiful sunflower that I have been caring for this past week.

Au revoir les enfants!!!!!

just like that

i guess i am turning out to be really repetitive, but time is passing by so fast i barely understand what to do. meanwhile, i try to organize my life, home, artwork, kids as to be more efficient,and obviously, without achieving any of them accordingly.

anyway... i never forget my blog, i know also, no body reads it, so its really for me and my own almost guilty pleasure.  that being said... i will stop apologizing myself for not updating, writing or posting regularly.

also, i figure, do people write blogs for themselves?or for the possible readers?... like with artwork, you never know...

so, how does it work?  posting or not posting, that is the question.

meantime i am so loving this freedom, and this, my favorite  blog.

photo by alessandra caputo

one month later

I can´t believe that a month just passed by like this! I haven´t been doing much but certainly haven´t had free time as well. This photo  of mine has just been acquired by a venezuelan collector. It is about the story of Pearl,  originally a large scale video projection. Pearl lives in a garden,  minding her own little life of fruits, leaves, trees and vegetables. Her only wardrobe is a bubble wrap pseudo wedding dress she holds while she runs because it is not sewn. Pearl reminds me of how women can cope with so many things at the time by keeping their heart and spirit focused into one little world of their own. 

44 things to do at 44

Photo by Marco Caputo

1. learn how to edit my videos on final cut pro

2. cook creative new dishes

3. play more, laugh more with massimo & adri

4. exercise regularly

5. eat well, avoid sweets & breads

6. go to barcelona, again

7. get my portrait portfolio together and my portrait business running

8. go to buenos aires for "the" solo exhibition that is cooking itself

9. watch wonderful movies

10. read wonderful books, read a lot

11. go to da gym, even if i don´t prefer it

12. speak less, do more

13. worry less

14. save

15. become greener

16. practice sewing

17. go to the studio regularly

18. write

19. make photos

20. videos, too

21. write interesting art reviews, get them published

22. continue yoga

23. organize my photo & video files

24. cherish friends more

25. change my sofa

26. keep plants growing well

27. practice my  calligraphy

28. listen to new music

29. update all family photo albums

30. help uri with business, organize files, accountant, etc

31. clean up computer files, make backups

32. take care of my hair 

33. smile more and not frown as much

34. soften my voice

35. my words too

36. bake yummies every week for the kids

37. cook more with the kids

38. go to paris

39. read the divine comedy until the end ( of the book)

40. art related activities... more

41. (space for silence)

42. be kind to myself

43. leave past behind

44. love more

44 , i am grateful for

health

massimo

adriana

oriol

my home

my books

my music

my books

my dad

my mom

erica

marco

ale

my shoes

alejandro y alfonso

caracas

barcelona

ny

miami

napoli

lolly

amaliapolimei

ideas

water

trees

green

elephants

choroni

margarita

arena

caracoles

dentists

cameras

sleep

delicious food

chocolate

the body

my computer

faith

love

fear

light

the opportunities

dreaming

navidad

finally, relaxing days ahead. christmas and routine break!!!

post art basel

it was good while it lasted but now its good its gone!
I don´t know why I can´t succeed on posting pics.

artbaselmiamibeach

next week is art basel miami beach. the BIG event in this city for all art related things to happen.
i usually get nervous and start putting into perspective all facts regarding art fairs, commerce in art, curatorial issues, etc...
but the saaaaaad part is that, i still don´t have a good gallery, i will not have an important participation and one more year has passed.... but as I try to convince myself... ITS ONLY AN ART FAIR¡!¡

i like ny in june, how bout you?

11 years after we left,for the first time since we moved out, we traveled toghether - for 3 days- to the city were we met and lived. we loved it, we thought of coming back, pros and cons, tried to imagine how it would be, how we could work it out, etc...
I don´t know if I have the strenght to start all over again, and again.... its either staying in the US, probably moving to NY in some years from now or go back to Europe, and stay there. I get tired just of writing it!!
Here some pics of our lovely honeymoon.

I have not stopped and looked at "things" since a long while ago. I stopped looking at the small, lovely, magical details that surround us. The apparent triviality of a rose. The kitsch of a sunset. The little wonders of life. Stopped voluntarily as I stopped reading fiction. That was years ago. Too much reality after, slowly I´m making this huge effort to stop, look and find some petit things that are wonderful just to look at. Fiction is also attractive somehow. I think that this looking and finding is somewhat fictions that I find on my daily life. So welcome all these little things. Back.

FONTAINEBLEAU inspiration

I realized some days ago that this painting has been in my mind since I can remember. My father had these very fine art books that I somehow browsed in frequently. One day I scratched the paintings according to my taste, crossing the plates out with a giant X if i disliked or a check mark if it pleased me. This painting was so ambiguous. Why is she holding the other's lady nipple? Somehow disturbing. A few weeks ago, I remembered this and decided that i will make a tableaux vivant with this image, re-creating it and video & photographing it. I think it belongs to the line of thought that my work deals with the alter ego and the notion of beauty in contemporary society.

celebration

these are the remains of the day... a wonderful celebration, lovely blue sky and turquoise sea...
the best party...

mourning

I can´t - even in my deepest thoughts and feelings - imagine how the families of the 30 something people killed -students mostly- feel now. You send your kids to school every morning, hoping you will see them at noon. You send your kids to college and they just get killed by a wacko nobody noticed, that had severe issues of violence, sickness, weirdess, etc.

Many ideas come to mind. It makes me think of how we sometimes prefer not to get involved on issues. Many of the teachers of this crazy guy did notice violence in his words and attitude. Why nothing was done? Did he pay his tuition promptly? Is that all that matters? I can´t help thinking on the interests institutions and people have. It is obviously a hard thing to point out extreme people, specially in a country where we are so aware of issues of discrimination and racism. But I want to believe, for the sake of the future, there has to be a way of protecting, controlling and scanning for possible major unstabile persons.

The reactions in tough situations are also so delicate. How did Virginia Tech not implement some safety measures to the rest of the students after the first two killings? Why did they wait two hours? How could he go to the TV channel meantime and send the video, etc.... and then come back. How come he could go back in...

How safe is safety? How is security an issue to be implemented in schools, universities etc???? How do we separate the security issue from the paranoia? .... How come things like this happen only in USA? Violence exists all around but these extreme sick murder cases - Columbine, etc... only happen here. How come there are still supporting the permisive laws for weapon buying? When is the government going to stop promoting violence by supporting violent wars, preaching about them? etc... I just have no words and too many questions.

My deepest prayers go to the families and the unfortunate that got killed.
We are definetly living in the era of fear.