Finally in Kiev.

Yeah, I am finally in Kiev. Back to my home town, after almost 3 months of infinite grayness and weird weather. Omg, Kiev You have no idea how I`ve missed you... 

My last three days of life where and allegory to hell. Had loads of things to do and no time at all, this is one of the reasons  why I haven`t posted anything in here. The second reason is that I am really sick, and I can`t even think. My doctor prescribed me antibiotics today... 

But, you know, I can`t stay in bed for an entire day, so we went down to the National Museum of Arts. I was really happy to see that their exhibition was dedicated to one great but not really known Ukrainian Painter of the 60-ies -- Liudmila Yastreb. She has lived only 35 years, But has done a multitude of very interesting works, and has been the generator of ideas in the group of painters in Odessa. She was a part of the nonconformist group of painters. 

I would like to add here, that Soviet Nonconformist Art  has been classified as a movement outside of the Social Realism movement. It is often referred as 'unofficial art' or 'underground art'. Soviet Nonconformist Art has seen a real uprise after the death of Stalin. With the arrival of Khrushchev into power, a more free and comfortable atmosphere has been discovered, and the fear for being rerpressed for his/her 'nonconformist art' has ceased to be so severe. Here are a few words by a Russian Curator, author and museum director on the nonconformist party: 

"The duality of life in which the official perception of everyday reality is independent of the reality of the imagination leads to a situation where art plays a special role in society. In any culture, art is a special reality, but in the Soviet Union, art was doubly real precisely because it had no relation to reality. It was a higher reality.... The goal of nonconformism in art was to challenge the status of official artistic reality, to question it, to treat it with irony. Yet that was the one unacceptable thing. All of Soviet society rested on orthodoxy, and nonconformism was its enemy. That is why even the conditional and partial legalization of nonconformism in the mid-1970s was the beginning of the end of the Soviet regime."

(From:Bakshtein, Joseph. "A View from Moscow," Nonconformist Art: The Soviet Experience 1956-1986, eds. Alla Rosenfeld and Norton T. Dodge. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995, p. 332).

Liudmila Yastreb has exhibited her works in private places, such as hidden apartments. She has tried to paint with different techniques in order to find her own unique on. I am now falling asleep, please enjoy the pictures.))

Metronomy - The Look

Little hint to Spring mood. Enjoy!

  Metronomy - The Look by 1FTP
(picture from http://thegirlygirlcorner.tumblr.com)

Support Japan! Shinmai Creator`s Project

I am back to my blog. In the last 24 hours, a lot of events have occurred. I think that the most shaking event for the whole planet is the earthquake in Japan. And these news have seriously knocked me down. 

Today, I would like to drive your attention to the Japan Fashion Week which takes place in Tokyo. Japan Fashion week has been established in 1985, but is known to have taken its current form in 2005. I would like to shed light on one of the fashion projects of  Japan Fashion Week, which is known as SHINMAI Creator`s Project. "Shinmai" stands for "new rice" in Japanese, and is used as a metaphore to express the idea of new fashion talent. This Project selects 3 new fashion designers to be shown in each Japan Fashion Show. It provides a chance to the "new rice" - young talents, to enter the industry and to be shown. According to the Japan Fashion Week website, each designer will have its own show (21.03.2011) and will also be able to expose his/her collection to public from 21st to the 24th of March, 2011. This year winning brands have been selected from 11 countries. This proves the internationalism and the prestige of SHINMAI Creator`s Project. I think, it`s quite important to add that the selection committee is composed of Mr.Richard Collasse (who is the Representative Director and President of Chanel), Mr. Nobuyaki Ota (Director of Japan Fashion Week), and Mr. Akira Okuda (Managing Director of Onward Kashiyama clothing manufacturer which produces clothing for such brands as Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Joseph, Opening Ceremony, Calvin Klein and many others).

Let`s now get back to the winners, and here they are:

-Yasutoshi Ezumi, a designer born in 1981. He has taken the course of Textile Design in The University of Arts in Central Saint Martins and has worked for such brands as Alexander McQueen, Aquascutum , Tsumori Chisato...

Let`s have a look at some of the pictures. 

(All pictures are taken from http://www.yasutoshiezumi.com)

- Van Hongo by Izumi Hongo. 

Izumi Hongo has studied Architecture in Japan and Fashion Design in Antwerp. The desighner has participated in multiple exhibitions across the globe and especially in Netherlands and Japan. 

Here are picture of the latest collection Autumn, Winter 2012. 

(Pictures from http://www.vanhongo.com)

And the last winner is Fernanda Yamamoto. 

A designer from Brazil, a Graduate of Parsons The New School for Design. Her Last Show was held in Sao Paulo Fashion Week. 

(photos from Takahashi/ Agencia Fotosite) 

I really hope the shows will take place and I wish good luck to these three designers!

I think I can now go to bed. And try to read my books. Hope you have enjoyed my post. A la prochaine!

A bit of Retouching

Alright, I`ve decided to come back to my favorite passe-temps.
Hey, everybody I have gone through a lot of things in my life. But I am back and I have decided to change a bit my blog. From now on, it`s gonna be a blog about art, fashion, music, movies... Whatever,  as long as it is 'culturally and aesthetically thought provoking'.


In the following days, I am going to:
1) Put pictures from the FIAC 2009 exhibition.
2) Show you some Ukrainian artists
3) Show my pictures from the London Art Fair 2011.

And yeah, Woops... almost forgot..
A few pictures to give you a taste...

London`s Graffiti.

Here we are....

Yes, yes and yes again. Loads of people, buyers and sellers? No, no, no art-lovers and art dealers, or as some people say nowadays gallerists. :)

Independence Day, Ukraine!

Dear friends, I am sorry for putting this up. But this represents so much for me. Yesterday in one of the central gardens of our city Kiev, our ex Prime Minister, Yulia Timoshenko had a meeting. I have not been there but I have found one of these pics on Facebook. This picture is quite realistic, and it is partly characteristic for this woman. She stands right on her position, and she looks more powerful. But first of all I think this is what we call, to stand out of the crowd! This is more of a shoe story picture, but the idea is here! Congratulation for an amazing picture!

Dina Goldstein - Fallen Princesses

You might have seen these photos already. But I just found them. This is a very simple idea - but I found it fantastic. Dina Goldstein, a photographer from Vancouver deals with the idea of future. We all know that a fairy tale end, is an end of infinite happiness. However, this photographer presents us a more realistic end of fairy tales. I found it amazing. And my favorite picture is with Snowy. The idea of a tragedy, and despair reigns. It is one of the most representative pictures.

1)

I never really adored Cinderella, but here the picture looks extremely sad. Alcohol...

2)

Oh Belle! What are you doing to yourself dear?

3) 

Macdonald`s wild find you everywhere Little Red Cap... You won`t escape it...

4)

Rapunzel and Cancer, what could be worse than this?

5)

And finally my favorite photo with Snowy. And her family. Her husband drinking bear, and watching TV. Her dog swallowing stuff . And kids everywhere...

The question I am going to address to my female readers... Is it the life we dream about? Does it represent the fairy tale "happily ever" promises? 

For more photos, please visit the web-site itself:

http://www.fallenprincesses.com/.

Thank you very much Dina Goldstein for what you have done to us!

Kurt Cobain at the Seattle Art Museum

Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock. Kurt Cobain 

So here it is. The Seattle Art Museum has opened an exhibition which is dedicated to an icon of the 90`s, to Kurt Cobain. Different Artists from the 90`s to the present are going to show and explain to the viewers how did Kurt Cobain become such an important person for the generation. In this exhibition you may find a little video with no music by Gillian Wearing where the artist dances on herself while listening to Smells Like Teen Spirit. Or a selection of black & white images signed by Charles Peterson. These images underline punk spirit of the first concerts by Nirvana. The exhibition seems being quite interesting for everyone. And does not limit herself to a social context.

Kurt Cobain thereore has become a part of a small circle of pop-rock singers which inspires creative minds of contemporary artists. Like Michael Jackson or Prince for example. 

All additional information about the exhibition, as well as the video, or a slideshow may be found here:

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/interactives/kurt/default.asp

PS: SAM (Seattle Museum of Art) has an exhibition of the media works by Andy Warhol ongoing at the same time.

image from: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/interactives/kurt/default.asp

Need Help

Dear Friends, I am really sorry to disturb you again today, but I will ask you, whoever you are to post at least one web-site which you check to get art news. Thanks again. 

First Step

This is a picture of Oomka (Умка) in a Russian cartoon 

Hi everyone! My name is Oomka, and I am almost 12 hours old. Oomka is the name of a little white bear in a Russian cartoon but it is also how my boyfriend calls me. The main goal of this blog will be to shed light on the news in the world of art. I am not pretending to be a journalist, or an art historian but rather I am trying to show to everyone where does the art world go today.  Therefore as a little white bear I invite you to travel with me on my piece of ice in the ocean of incredible art news. And I apologize for any grammar mistakes, and will be happy to correct them. As unfortunately English is not my mother tongue.