Deszcz by Tomek Bagiński

This Tomek Baginski is a absolutely talented artist.
This short movie is about are human condition, the loneliness and the absurdity of this loneliness and our existence.
Very tragic.

Witold Wojtkiewicz - phenomenal artist

Witold Wojtkiewicz - A Knight’s Tale – pastel of paper (from the cycle Ceremonies, 1908- 09)

Witold Wojtkiewicz is the most original polish painter from the XX century. Probably he is absolutely unknown for the world outside Poland the day today. But in 1907 his art aroused enough interest of André Gide and Maurice Denise to organise in the same year an individual exhibition at Galerie Druet in Paris.

This are the words that Gidé wrote about the impression that Wojtkiewicz art made on him at the exhibition in Berlin, the first time that he saw it: “[…] his exhibition led me to the conclusion that he was quite alienated in his country.[..] This was obvious. The exhibition brought together works which although not devoid of value, gave us nothing new. […] when the astonishing significance of some of the canvases stopped us. They (the canvases of Wojtkiewicz) illuminated the slightly darkened room not with the brightness of the colours, as if the easy of profaner they may seem grey, but with the strange harmony of the tone, the painful fantasy of the drawing, and the pathetic and emotional interplay of colours”.

Gidé's words faithfully described the situation of Wojtkiewicz in Poland art climate of the time. The artist Wojtkiewicz was quite aware of the clearly different separateness of his art. It seems to me that he even emphasised it with his eccentricity and his unapproachableness (his impeccably foppish style of dressing).

He didn’t live a long life; born in 1879 in Warsaw, died in 1909 in Warsaw. Some people called him the precursor of surrealism; it could be true. His art was a phenomenon completely distinct in its time. It is distinguished by its advanced deformation of reality, which aims at emphasising the sadness and sometimes the absurd fictitiousness of human existence. In his art he combined grotesque with lyrics. His behaviour was always injected with a large dose of irony, as well as self-irony. His art, individual in every aspect, derived from his poetic imagination, was shaped, reached full maturity and was extinguished in less than seven years.

For me he is one of the exceptionally original artists; the one with the magical, unrepeatable poetic language of imagination. Maybe he was after all more a writer and a poet than a painter?

I posted here four images of his paintings from different cycles. All of them are more of less surreal, fantastic, with an atmosphere of strangeness and tension of the scenes. All of them represented the creative act of an extremely personalised vision of the world.

Witold Wojtkiewicz - Marionettes – oil on canvas (from the cycle The Circus,1907)

Witold Wojtkiewicz - Winter Tale, Tournament – tempera of canvas
(from the cycle Children’s Poses, 1908)

Witold Wojtkiewicz - Abduction of the Princess – tempera of canvas (from the cycle Children’s Poses,1908)

Green Comet Approaches Earth

This is not a Fantasy but this is such a fantastic story......

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

February 4, 2009: In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day.

And one day, he did.

Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory. Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first.

Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now," says Ye.

Amateur astronomer Jack Newton sends this photo from his backyard observatory in Arizona:

"My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet," says Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on Feb. 1st."

The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.

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Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C₂). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.

In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.

To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am. The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here are some dates when it is especially easy to find:

Feb. 6th: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity. [sky map]

Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects. [sky map]

Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]

Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says. "The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."

Somewhere this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where that might lead...?

"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself," says Ye.

Here is the link again http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/04feb_greencomet.htm

Surrealism - Visual Festival: Reality in a Blender

I found a video with surreal and quasi-surreal images, paintings, photography and digital art by different and diverse artists.
This is not a bad one. Enjoy it!

"The Afterlife of Buildings" - Zacheta

When visiting Poland in December 2008, I went with my young friend Gosia (who wants to attend the Art Academy in Lodz, Poland this year) to see the new exhibitions in Zacheta, in Warsaw. The Zacheta National Gallery of Art is the oldest exhibition site in Warsaw, with a tradition stretching back to the mid 19th Century. It is located in the heart of Warsaw. (The Zacheta building was one of the few to survive in Warsaw’s city center after the destruction of the Second World War).

They were a few very interesting exhibitions: such as “Welcome to Disco Zacheta - The Afterlife of Buildings” and “Up against the Wall”.
Personally I liked the first one the most. “The Afterlife of Buildings” project was recently presented in the Polish Pavilion of the 11th International Architecture Biennale and it is a provocative presentation of 6 important buildings constructed in Poland in recent years. The curators and artists consider what will happen to these buildings in the future, once the function for which they were constructed is no longer appropriate.
Some of the six buidlings are: the Warsaw University Library, the airport terminal in Warsaw and the sanctuary at Lichen (the biggest church in Poland).

What futures await all the buildings under the new circumstances of the new time? These buildings are important and prestigious today. They are presented in the form of pictures ‘before’ and ‘after’ these great changes. I have to tell you that the future is surrealistic! This project is absolutely amazing. You have to see it!

Zacheta, Warsaw, Poland – address:
pl. Malachowskiego 3
00-916 Warszawa
tel. (48 22) 827 58 54
fax (48 22) 827 78 86
Gallery opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12 a.m. – 8 p.m.Thursdays entrance free.

Merry Xmas from Betelgeuse and Mintaka

Xmas Greetings from Betelgeuse and Mintaka!

As long as space endures,
And as long as sentient beings exist,
May I, too, remain
to dispel the misery of the world.

SHANTIDEVA

Fantastic art & fantasy art & surreal?

Not doubt I am an alien from the end of a rainbow.

A new dream

(My new digital painting - mixed media: traditional oil painting, photography, photo shop)


I would like to spend my life gazing at the stars up in the sky wondering about ………..it is a surreal painting, fantasy art, fantastic art, imaginary art.........