Contrasto

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“Contrasto” is an anual event in my neighbourhood.  

It is promoted by an active group of neighbours, and promotes socializing through music (plenty of music) , small workshops, activities for children, art exhibitions, a market of home-made artisanal products, eating, drinking and dancing until 10pm.

There is an active participation of all the neighbours.

This year I had the idea of a “Get wings ! ” project.

 I made two pairs of wings and hanged them. People could be photographed in front of those wings – instant photos were taken with a “mini-Instax camera” and the subjects collected them by the end of the day. Different results, this camera is quite tricky and very sensitive to light variations, but the idea was appreciated and the participation exceeded my expectations.

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“Boxing Clash #2”, an amateur boxing match between Portuguese and Italian teams in a Gym near Lisbon, Lots of enthusiasm, some agressivity and violence to an acceptable level (no serious injuries, no bleedings). Not being a fan or an expert, it was an interesting experience to me. I was surprised by the high number of women watching the match – and by their vocal incentives to the fighters.

Mud

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A walk yesterday along the south bank of the Tagus, on a calm morning with gray skies and little sun. Low tide leaves large areas of mud along the shore, covered in green slime. On the muddy surface an old fisherman is making repairs on his boat, probably as old as he is. Further ahead, a goose walks proudly, dominating his territory.

The river (again)

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Another trip along the Tagus, with a Zorki-1 camera, an Industar-22 manual lens and a roll of Eastman plus-X (the camera, the lens and the film have been out of production for years). Old stuff, but it works.

Living next to the river makes us familiar with it, but it ends up becoming a banal presence for many people.   We can contemplate it, run along the shore or, simply, turn our backs on it, ignoring it.

Or not even use the chairs that allow us to so easily look at it.

The days are numbered

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An  exhibition of photographs by Daniel Blaufuks at the Museum of Architecture Art and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon. I selected two of many photos exposed. A few hundreds of small instax photos, isolated or paired, with hand-written, printed or glued captions.

From the introductory text by João Pinharanda :

“We created time and immediately felt hemmed in and devoured by it. Memory is a betrayal of time. We have always tried, without success, to escape it, to negate its erosive influence – a Sisyphean task in which Blaufuks, who exposes to the world the weight of the myriad epochs and memories (family, personal, historical, political, cultural, …) he carries, participates.

Some more information here https://maat.pt/en/event/daniel-blaufuks-days-are-numbered

Two new paintings

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I have just finished two oil paintings. Two examples of too much imagination  – deserving a much better painting technique…

”The Acrobats” (oil on canvas) with three ascending figures coming from nowhere and pushing themselves upwards.

 And “Thaurokathapsia” (oil on plywood), a modern imaginary version of a lost Minoic art.

The Acrobats

Taurokathapsia

By the river

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Saturday afternoon, South bank of the Tagus. People gather there to meet, eat and drink.

Some people prefer to be left alone. A moment of rest to settle ideas and feelings

Others  choose to dance. A group of friends, or more probably an informal dancing class. They bring their own music and dance in pairs. One of them directs the others, giving instructions before each music sometimes correcting their movements. They seem to take this quite seriously – but they share and communicate a lot of joy.

Some people make and play their own music…

… while others sit and talk, probably about the good old times

Time portals

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An exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution and the end of the colonial wars in Africa. Seven artists created images on very large semi-transparent canvases, installed in the abandoned buildings of the largest ship repair industry in the Lisbon area.

There is visible light from the roof windows coming in through the canvases.

Things as they are

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From “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), a fragment from part XIV.

“…A candle is enough to light the world,

It makes it clear. Even at noon

It glistens in essential dark.

At night, it lights the fruit and wine,

The book and bread, things as they are.”

For those interested, the complete Wallace Stevens poem inspired, in the seventies, the series of etchings “The Blue Guitar” by David Hockney – well worth to be seen.