TETRO

I don't normally have contributors to my blog, but I thought that this post would be a good one to start with; it's written by my lovely wife).

"The other night, thanks to the generous help of my sister-n-law and a friend to babysit, we had the chance to go to cinema! What a luxury!

The film that we went to see was Tetro, Francis Ford Coppola's newest film shot in Argentina. The script is simple, it features two Argentine/Italian brothers who reconnect in Buenos Aires to explore their family's dark history. The film is definitely Coppola's best in a long time and the first script he has written himself since The Conversation. Though it's a family drama, it's chock full of suspense, humor, and " artsy" scenes (or memories) of the past. As one reviewer wrote about this new film "It's taken over 30 years for Coppola to discover what kind of films he should be making, art films."

And the acting is solid. It's star, Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66 & The Brown Bunny) is perfect in portraying the tortured soul of his character, Tetro. 18 year old Alden Ehrenreich, makes a really convincing debut as well and Maribel Verdu (Y Tu Mama Tambien), as always, was fantastic. It was a nice surprise to see so many Argentine actors as well. They represented well, De la Serna (The Motorcycle Diaries) and Bredice (9 Queens) were very funny, Susanna Gimenez (Argentina's answer to Oprah) was herself (thankfully), but my favorite by far was Mike Amigorena (Los Pells), he's hilarious!

Now it's entirely possible that you won't like the story or actors, but we're sure that you'll agree that the film's strongest asset is the cinematography. It was great to see such beautiful shots of Argentina! We've long ago noticed that Argentine cinema (in general does a pretty bad job of shooting exterior shots and lose the opportunity to show how beautiful the country is. Our favorites shots were one of the Obelisco (Argentina's cousin to the Washington Monument) and others of glaciers in the Patagonia. It seems to us, Coppola did a good job in portraying Argentina and the Argentineans without too many stereotyping them too much.

By no means do we think that everything about this film works, but overall it's entertaining and a film we recommend seeing. "

Argentina, Buenos Aires, La Boca, Benito Quinquela Martin and Cordoba

As I've already mentioned in an earlier post, my family and I recently got back from a 6 week trip to Argentina (Buenos Aires and Capilla del Monte, Cordoba) to introduce our newly born son to my wife’s family and old friends.

It was a great trip, really important for the family to meet little Luca at such a young age, but I have to say it was definitely tough to go from winter/spring here in the states back to fall/winter there. By the end we were more than ready to come back to summer!

What did we do while we were there?

we rented an apartment (for the first time) across from BA's morgue (not on purpose)

We took the subway (alot) to see art.......

In the neighborhood of La Boca. (If La Boca was turisty before, it's insane now!)

there we saw El Che and Evita...



 

and we went to the Museo de Benito Quinquela Martin (hugely popular argentine painter)

we had plenty of meat


saw more art at La MALBA.....


Botero

Cordoba

then we went to Cordoba and enjoyed the outdoors....

and of course we had more meat!

Like I've said before, if you haven't been to Argentina, go!!!

Cava Mezze Mural

By the time my show, La Vida Intensa at Hillyer Art Space, was in full swing, I got an email from an Interior designer doing work for a new Greek restaurant on Capitol Hill. Apparently she had picked up one of my postcards at my tent during last year’s Arts on Foot (another lesson in getting out there to be seen) and wanted me to paint a mural for the new place. The opportunity was too great to pass up even though we were busy packing for our trip to introduce our son to my wife’s family in Argentina, so I accepted.

It had been a while since I had painted a mural, so it was interesting to have to think again about what paint to use, how to get up there (scaffolding), and how to transfer my final drawing onto the wall. In the end everything went smoothly, I finished in one week; one day before we left for our trip and three days before the restaurant opened.

For those of you interested in checking out the mural and want to sample the really delicious food, head over to Cava Mezze on 8 st SE in Capitol Hill (just a couple of doors down from the new Matchbox).

Argentina and The Rolling Thunder

ARGENTINA: Just got back from a wonderful 3 week trip to Argentina (Buenos Aires and Capilla del Monte, Cordoba) to visit my wife’s family and old friends for the holidays and, believe me, going from summer to winter in less than 24 hours has been a shock!.

After almost 2 years since we’d last visited, it was really great to be back in BA and to enjoy the rivers and scenery in Cordoba!

Every time I go back I’m reminded of how differently Argentines live their lives (as compared to here in the States). Argentines (in general) seem to work to live, while we (in general) seem to live to work. I don’t mean to idealize it (both Argentina and the US have their pros and cons) but it’s a good place to be.

What did we do while we were there????

we watched BA get ready for Xmas

we cooked a pig for the new year's eve dinner ......

had fun with sparklers (on new year's eve)

and saw some good art!

El Mudo by Argentine sculptor Juan Carlos Distefano

If you’ve never been, then go! You won’t regret it! Lots of asado, maté, argentine gelato, and (of course) futból!

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THE ROLLING THUNDER (a children's book):

What am I working on?

In my Recap of 2007, I mentioned that I’d been commissioned to illustrate a children’s book about the Rolling Thunder. I spent most of December working on the layout and drawings for the book. Now that those have been approved, I’m on to the finished paintings and should be done by the end of January. For now, I thought let you see some of the drawings.