This Is The Last…

I think its about time that I introduced to you to two of my favorite Icelandic photographers. Though their styles are very different as well as their subjects they both have passion for black & white photography. And there’s something about their pictures that is very dramatic and human at the same time.

Ragnar Axelsson, better known as RAX, has been working as a photographer for Iceland’s biggest news paper Morgunblaðið since 1976. He has had his pictures published in magazines like LIFE, National Geographic, Le Figaro, Stern and TIME. He has won several awards and held exhibitions well threw the world. His last book Faces of the north was published in 2004 and is truly one of my favorite books. In the book are pictures taken over 15 years in places like Siberia, Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland.

Nökkvi Elíasson is an amateur photographer that is mostly known for his amazing pictures of deserted farms. Some of his work has been published in local news papers in Iceland and he’s first big exhibition was held in Reykjavík Museum of Photography in 2001 with Brian Sweeney. His book Abandoned Farms is absolutely amazing and shows many of the Icelandic farms that are deserted in the country side.

The Art Gallery of NSW is hosting an exhibit on the works of French impressionist Camille Pissarro(1830-1903). While he is lesser known than his contemporaries Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pissarro is regarded as the father of impressionism and forwarding impressionist thought. Before visiting the exhibit I knew very little about Pissarro, impressionism and altogether thought it might be boring. But Pissarro’s work is completely breath-taking when standing before oversized canvases portraiting workers in French country sides and crowded Paris streets. In 1870 Pissarro fled his home when the French-Prussian War reached Paris and later received word that his home had been ransacked, and from 800 paintings only 40 survived.

Camille Pissarro was also an anarchist and sympathetic to the plight of working classes and the oppressed. On the evening that I visited the exhibit the Gallery held a lecture by Andre Frankovits, a human rights activist and fellow anarchist. Frankovits spoke about the political climate durring the 1880’s and 90’s in Europe and Pissarro’s thoughts as an anarchist thru letters he wrote to his children. The after effects of an industrial revolution and a depression were taking its toll on French workers and their families, and the state was making things worse. Frankovits told great stories of that time period and had an oversized audience very captivated.

Afterwards the Art Gallery held free screenings of 1940’s and 50’s French films based on the novels of Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant. Contemporaries of Pissarro with likeminded ideals who highlighted social injustices and their negative influence on human development. I watched about half of a very funny movie called ‘Pot-bouille’ (House of Lovers, 1957) and left to meet Anna for coffee.

The J. Paul Getty Museum is under scrutiny for buying artifacts from vendors who allegedly looted ruins in Italy. Attorneys for the museum have concluded that half of their antiquities collection came directly from the vendors in question. The list of stolen artifacts includes ancient urns, vases and a 5-foot statue of Apollo. The Italian government has recovered Polaroid photographs from a wherehouse in Switzerland that show the artifacts in their un-restored condition shortly after being dug from the ruins. Italy is requesting the return of 42 objects although it has been determined that the actual number of stolen pieces that were purchased is 82.

The situation looks rather grim for the institution as The Times has uncovered incriminating documents dating as far back as 20 years. These documents show that Getty officials had sufficient knowledge that their suppliers were selling merchandise that had probably been looted. In letters to The Getty dealers made open remarks as to excavation sites in direct violation with Italian laws. Among other findings is a Getty memo indicating that dealer Giacomo Medici informed the museum that three of objects they were purchasing were taken from ruins near Nepal after the government made it illegal. The list of documents goes on and on. Italian authorities have charged Marion True, The Getty’s curator of ancient antiquities along with Medici and another dealer by the name of Robert Hecht Jr. with conspiring to traffic in looted antiquities.

Here’s a couple of question I have for the brain surgeons over at the museum; Why would you keep a memo that says, hey your buying stolen goods? Memo’s are for running out of milk or conference calls. Haven’t you ever heard of burning the evidence? In case you kids didn’t know paper is flammable. Next time some guy in a long trench coat sporting a monstrous statue shaped erection asks you into an alley or the trunk of his car what do you say? You know you kids are pretty lucky that you purchased actual artifacts and didn’t wind up with some porcelain Zeus with a made in Singapore sticker under its left sandal. Keep that in mind the next time you might not be so lucky.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the museum its founder J Paul Getty opened up a wing in his Malibu estate back in 1953 to share his collection of Roman and Greek artifacts. Today the museum is located atop California’s Santa Monica Mountains. The founder’s love of art is not only highlighted by its extensive collection of sculptures, paintings, manuscripts and photographs but also by the walls that hold them. The museum is a masterpiece in itself designed by architect Richard Meier. Every corner of the Getty boasts of art including its beautiful gardens designed by landscape architect Robert Irwin. I sincerely hope the greed and poor judgment of recent Getty officials doesn’t overshadow its overall beauty.

You can read more about the investigation here

According to Ananova an enormous pink bunny has been erected on an Italian mountainside where it will stay for the next 20 years.

Viennese art group Gelatin designed the giant soft toy and say it was “knitted by dozens of grannies out of pink wool”. While it looks like a plush toy, on closer look you will see that its side is ripped open and its entrails are coming out.

Group member Wolfgang Gantner said: “It’s supposed to make you feel small, like Gulliver. You walk around it and you can’t help but smile.”

I heard you can walk around it, walk on it, and even walk inside its mouth and connect all the way to the intestines.

All of a sudden I have a major craving for Strawberry Quik.