Monday with Miguelito
It's 9:12am on Tuesday as I type these words. My photographer friend Niko Alexandrou came to the show at Cafe Citron last night and got some great pics with his new camera. He just sent me a text message a few minutes ago instructing me to stop by the his hotel's concierge desk to pick up a CD he burned for me. So I'll have those pics up sometime when I get home tonight.
For now, here are some from earlier on Monday.
Normally I leave my sound system at Cabanas after my show on Fridays. It frees me up to go out with my friends afterwards (c'mon it's Friday night!). So when Monday comes around, I stop by Cabanas early in the day to pick it up. This particular Monday the weather was warm and sunny which put me in a great mood. Checkout this morning view of the Georgetown Harbour...
January 30, 2006 11:45am
I picked up the sound system and took it to Cafe Citron in Dupont Circle and headed to the National Gallery of Art to checkout the new Paul Cezanne exhibition.
January 30, 2006 12:45pm
I've been blabbing on and on about art the past few weeks which you probably don't care to hear anymore. Anyway, a security guard politely informed me that photography was not allowed in this exhibition. Oh well, I took this pic anyway.
January 30, 2006 1:02pm
What I'm learning from my art history readings isn't so much a bunch of facts to regurgitate later but really just information to understand why Cezanne is considered an important artist and a pioneer bringing visual art into the "modern" stage. Bear with me.
January 30, 2006 4:08pm
An up-close glance at his paintings show rapidly applied splotches of solid color instead of meticulously brushed gradual shades that give three-dimensional quality. The impressionist idea of the painters of this time was not to document strictly a visual record but to portray the overall sensory (visual and psychological) experience.
If you notice in the painting above, Cezanne used for the face and hands colors that are not normally associated with flesh. The choice of colors has something to do with the feelings that he's trying to portray.
The result of the impressionist approach is more of a flat two-dimensional quality that was a precursor to modern art and an influence on later artists such as Picasso. Here's an even better example at the National Gallery website.
It's not so much that Cezanne decided one day, "Hey, I'm going to introduce a new style that will foster in the new era of visual art." No, he just followed his artistic heart's desires and because he was well-off financially, he didn't necessarily have to think about what sells well.
OK let's get back to flamenco. Thinking about artistic pioneers like Cezanne kind of makes me think about what kinds of future developments we will see in flamenco. Who are the current artists that are experimenting with new ideas? Are there really new ideas in flamenco or are current artists just rediscovering old ones and presenting them in a new way? Just stuff to think about on this rainy morning.
This is a view just outside the National Gallery looking westward towards the National Monument...
January 30, 2006 4:28pm
Here are some of the pics from Cafe Citron taken by my photographer friend Niko Alexandrou. He was trying out a new digicam: Canon Powershot S2 IS
Miguelito. January 30, 2006 6:51pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
Mariya. January 30, 2006 8:32pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
Mariya, Miguelito and Gerard Moreno. January 30, 2006 8:36pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
January 30, 2006 8:37pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
January 30, 2006 8:41pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
January 30, 2006 8:49pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
January 30, 2006 8:50pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
January 30, 2006 8:57pm (photo by Niko Alexandrou)
I had a number of other friends in the audience including Jesus Montoya, Nora Lopez, Keith, Susan and Joy. My friend Steve Svoboda and his wife Courtney were there too. He lent me his Sony TCD-D8 Portable DAT Recorder