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2008 art works 2009 art works 2010 art works 2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions 2012 art works 2013 Art works 2013 Exhibitions Design Exhibitions IN ENGLISH Visual Jazz

Ñ, that weird little letter which may well define the Spanish language, and its role in an undefined coffee table

logo enieThe most popular and competing Western languages in the world are English and Spanish.

For the Spanish speaker, the letter Ñ (roughly pronounced N-ee-A ) is like a symbol of this language´s uniqueness.

In Argentina, the top selling literature, arts and culture magazine, edited by CLARIN (the country´s most popular and largest selling newspaper) is properly called simply “Ñ”.

Yes, just a letter, but one that is the symbol of a whole language.IAB_PAG_6_Ñ_25MAYO2013

This magazine is published every Saturday and has average weekly sales of approximately 80,000 copies. Ñ, together with the LA NACION´s newspaper ADN (DNA in Spanish, and a different and perhaps more modern way of asserting where its cultural roots are), are the 2 most popular cultural magazines in the country.

I have been privileged enough to have been featured in both at different times, and it is always a proud moment when I can see my work reproduced in such prestigious and popular publications, and particularly when I find myself surrounded by articles on truly amazing local and international artists.

Last Saturday (May 25th ) I was surprised to find my latest intervention, and what has become so far this year´s one of my most popular works (my “Crystal coffee table with color pencils”), being featured on page 6.

renieIt is always fun to see how a writer approaches a piece of work. I still remember a short article in the same magazine a couple of years ago, in which a journalist with immense generosity, compared and intertwined my work in my “Visual Jazz Series” with Julio Cortazar´s writings and his love for Jazz (for an explanation of how my art and music are interconnected, and particularly Jazz, check out “Jazz means freedom” at http://wp.me/pN8b8-9s  ).

This time the reporter took a more clinical approach, which oddly enough I feel it is the right way to look at the piece.

First of all, because only a live viewing will reveal a certain depth and 3 dimensionality, that cannot be explained through a photograph. Secondly, because the piece is intriguing and that fuzziness is better left for the viewer to unravel, rather than subject it to an explanation that can only partially encompass all that it has to offer.

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And I can only invite you, if you can, to have a look at it live at the Buenos Aires Design Shopping Mall, where it will be on show for a little while longer. And if you can´t, do not worry, at the very least I have some great pictures from the great Fabian Cañás which I have published here previously and on Facebook for you to look at and enjoy. I hope you do.

Until the next time.

Ignacio

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2008 art works 2009 art works 2010 art works 2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions 2012 art works 2013 Art works 2013 Exhibitions Design Exhibitions IN ENGLISH Visual Jazz

ART, SUIT & TIE

As everyone who knows me  (www.ignacioalperin.com) knows, I am a maker of art and a lover of both art and music, particularly jazz and all its variations.

I have always endeavored to put both artistic forms of expression together, looking to synthesize them into new creations.iab_suit&tie

I have managed to do my own thing, but my love for the works of great geniouses like Kandinsky, Picasso, Van Koenig, Rauschenberg, and Pollock amongst others, will show through.

In music, even though my tastes are usually expressed in terms of the great bebop and hard bop masters like Evans, Coltrane, Monk, Davis, Pepper, Bird, and the golden era of American voices like Ella, Sinatra, Bennett, Dinah Washington, and Nina Simone, I am quite eclectic. I love classical music, tango, blues, soul, hip-hop and I can find inspiration in almost any tune that I enjoy, no matter its style.

Like I always say, music deserves a great deal of the credit in my art. “Inspiration is easy to find when you are perched on the shoulders of genius” is my usual response. 

As I slowly entered into the realm of object design and sculpture, music was also there to inspire me, to make me “see”.

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As many of you have seen, I recently introduced my latest piece at Art Deco, an Exhibition of intervened objects by well known Argentine artists, which took place at the Recoleta district in Buenos Aires in late April.

My design is quite simple. An all crystal coffee table within which, just like a transparent jewel box, In which I placed a sculptural piece made up of more than 1800 Faber-Castell Goldfaber artistic pencils standing perpendicularly and making up a colorful and airy version of the painting that lurches beneath.

 It strikes me that every person, whether young or old, who has stood in front of the finished table ends up drawing out a big and happy smile. The color pencils create a link to something very familiar, something warm within each one of us, and initiate the communication with the viewer immediately.

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The idea of using pencils for this intervention came to me as I watched a Tony Bennett documentary a while back. I already had the crystal table and listening to that genius sing made me close my eyes, and suddenly I saw it. It was like a clear box full of candy, the idea of the beautiful color pencils used as objects d’art instead as of instruments was born. I know others have explored this avenue, but I think I have managed to make it both artistic and utilitarian, with a cool twist. I am happy with the results and with the reaction of the public. It has been a wonderful experience.

And to me, it is important that my art also has that COOL factor. It is a style and it is a message. Art is not something rigid, stuck somewhere in an impregnable limbo. It is something to be enjoyed. My art is a message of fredom and cool, for all to enjoy, in any way they wish to enjoy it.

And of course, preferably at home, after acquiring it!!!  🙂

And talking about cool, enjoy the images of my latest work while you listen to  the new 60’s Jazz scene B&W video of Justin Timberlake’s latest (featuring Jay Z). It seems that JT, just like me, also likes doing his thing with a Suit & Tie.

Until the next time!

Ignacio

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Art and Design: Ignacio Alperin Bruvera 

Photos: Fabian Cañas.

Painting accompanying the table in photos: “Let´s get away from it all” (2012) by Ignacio Alperin Bruvera, 100cm x 100cm.

Let´s get away from it all 100x100 (2012)

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2008 art works 2009 art works 2010 art works 2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions 2012 art works 2013 Art works 2013 Exhibitions Design Exhibitions IN ENGLISH Visual Jazz

A crystal table filled with an object made up of 1800 color pencils in an artistic intervention (from the Press Release)

Argentine contemporary artist Ignacio Alperin Bruvera has been in the news lately.

 An already established artist with international exhibitions on his resume, Alperin has explored the pictorial side of music withCount Basie and Frank Sinatra his long standing “Visual Jazz” series.

A lover of art and music since an early age, particularly jazz and all its variations, he has always endeavored to put both artistic forms of expression together, looking to synthesize them into new creations.

The result is a well recognized style, art that has a hidden and well rehearsed structure within a sea of improvisational skills, rhythms, colors and cadences.

 His art is very personal, baroque at times, simplified and beautifully succinct at others. His works takes on many forms, and yet his hand and his vision is always recognizable.

 Alperin was born in Argentina, grew up in Australia, and circumstantially lived and traveled thIAB_UNTITLED_80X70CM_(2012)smlrroughout Europe, America and South East Asia.He professes an early love for masters like Kandinsky, Picasso, Van Koenig, Rauschenberg, as well as admiring the clinical genius of Leonardo. His musical tastes were centered around Jazz, blues and classical, but his heart was mostly with the great bebop and hard bop masters like Evans, Coltrane, Monk, Davis, Pepper, Bird, and the golden era of American voices like Ella, Sinatra, Bennett, Dinah Washington, and Nina Simone.

 He says that the music deserves the credit for his art. “Inspiration is easy to find when you are perched on the shoulders of genius” he often asserts

In recent times he has slowly entered into the realm of object design and sculpture.

Diving into art and design: The Table

IABCRYSTALTABLE2013-5 

He recently introduced his latest piece at Art Deco, an Exhibition of intervened objects by well known Argentine artists, which took place at the Recoleta district in Buenos Aires in late April.

His design is exquisitely simple. An all crystal coffee table within which, just like a transparent jewel box, he has placed a sculptural piece made up of more than 1800 Faber-Castell Goldfaber artistic pencils standing perpendicularly and making up a colorful and airy version of the painting that lurches beneath.

 IABCRYSTALTABLE2013 AND PAINTING-1

The result is a masterfully creative piece, almost constructivist, full of tridimensionalities, nuances, shadows, and optical illusions. There is substance and lightness, color and darkness, and above all a joyful sensation of being in front of something that is creative and new, yet familiar.

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From the author:

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It strikes me that every person, whether young or old, who has stood in front of the finished table ends up drawing out a big and happy smile. The color pencils create a link to something very familiar, something warm within each one of us, and initiate the communication with the viewer immediately”.

The idea of using pencils for this intervention “came to me as I watched a tony b wit LGTony Bennett documentary a while back. I already had the crystal table and listening to that genius sing made me close my eyes, and suddenly I saw it. It was like a clear box full of candy, the idea of the beautiful color pencils used as objects d’art instead as of instruments was born. I know others have explored this avenue, but I think I have managed to make it both artistic and utilitarian, with a cool twist. I am happy with the results and with the reaction of the public. It has been a wonderful experience.”

To me a color pencil is like a time machine. It is one of the very first objects that we consciously remember from an early age. It is a magic wand that explodes in colors and lines. It is something that accompanies us throughout our lives. A great grandfather in his 80s will pick up a box of color pencils and for a moment, he will be a 2 year old again. That is the time machine aspect I refer to. It is a connection with something very essential and very warm within us, and a vehicle that takes us to whatever point in our lives we want to go.”

A gentleman told me at the exhibit that whenever he opened a new box of color pencils with his grandchild, the smells and the sounds of those colorful wooden sticks would just make him happy and warm all over. Something like that is what I was looking for with this intervention and those who view it. I hope I managed to achieve it”.

Art and Design: Ignacio Alperin Bruvera 

Photos: Fabian Cañas.

 Painting accompanying the table in photos: “Let´s get away from it all” (2012) by Ignacio Alperin Bruvera, 100cm x 100cm.

Follow Ignacio on…

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ignacioalperin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Contemporary-Artist-Ignacio-Alperin-Bruvera/147225685298260

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2010 art works 2011 art works 2012 art works Arte solidario EN ESPAÑOL Promoting your Art Visual Jazz

Feria de Arte Navideña Solidaria 2012

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Como todos los años, desde el 18 hasta el 31 de diciembre se realiza mi ya tradicional Feria de Arte Navideña Solidaria. Este año a beneficio de Unicef. Presento unas 35 obras aproximadamente, a precios super accesibles y con importantes descuentos, listos para convertirse en un regalo muy original.

Esta época del año es un excelente momento para regalar, o regalarse, arte original. No solo los precios de las obras son muy razonables, y al mismo tiempo colaborás con la excelente obra que realiza Unicef en Argentina a quien se le dona un importante porcentaje de todo lo recaudado, sino que también estás regalando algo único, original, e irrepetible.

Regalar arte no solo es una muy buena inversión, si no que también es hacer algo especial por la gente que queremos. Y como regalo empresarial, tiene el valor agregado de ser un regalo que le recuerda de nosotros a quien lo recibe para siempre.

Entrá ya en   http://arteferianavidad.wordpress.com/, fijate qué es lo que te gusta, escribime, preguntame, y atrevete a hacer un regalo muy especial para alguien muy especial.

Te esperamos!

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2010 art works 2011 art works 2012 Exhibitions Exhibitions Promoting your Art Visual Jazz

ART SALE 2012

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The concept of affordable art has been around for a while. In Argentina there are a couple of main exhibitions dedicated to the idea of bringing a new fresh public into the world of art and getting them to see the beauty, the enjoyment, and most of the times, the great investment that is collecting original art.

Art Sale is one of those two and I am very happy to be a part of it this year.

Located in the very posh Puerto Madero district of Buenos Aires, most exactly in the Madero Mystic River Boat, Art Sale 2012 will bring together some of Argentina’s best artists together with a growing number of emerging artists.

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Last year the public took advantage of the prices and the whole event was almost sold out. Long cues of avid collectors and first time buyers flocked over the four days of the Fair and went home with great works at even greater prices. Not all the paintings shown are at “sale” prices, but every artist must present at least one painting at a very affordable price which means that there will be at least 80 paintings at fantastic prices during the event.

If you are in Buenos Aires or are planning to be here next week, I recommend you take a nice scenic walk along these old XIXth Century wharfs converted into a very trendy neighbourhood in the 1990’s and which, with the years, have blossomed into one of the most glamorous areas in town.

I will be there from August 1st (for the pre/sale for sponsors) and then from August 2nd when it opens to the public until the 5th, showing and selling my works. On Sunday 5th of August I will be painting live from 2pm until 8 pm, so anyone interested in having a nice coffee and seeing and talking about what my Visual Jazz is all about, will be most welcomed! I may even let you participate in the painting if you like! 🙂

And talking about the paintings, I haven’t decided exactly which paintings will be there, but here are 3 of the  possible choices (sorry about the quality of the pics but I have not had a chance to get them properly photographed yet!).

If you are going to be in Buenos Aires over the next few days and you would like to receive a listing of my paintings at art sale with prices, just send me an email and I will be more than happy to send it to you.

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I hope to see you there over the next few days, from Thursday 2nd to Sunday the 5th.

Until next time!

Ignacio

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2010 art works 2011 art works 2012 art works 2012 Exhibitions Exhibitions Promoting your Art Videos Visual Jazz

Visual Jazz 1 (part of the promotion for my UK Exhibitions in 2012)

The first of the videos prepared to accompany my work in my exhibitions happening this year in London, starting with Parallax Chelsea in May 2012, and following closely in July with the Blue Period organized Exhibit in Chiswick.

It is a compilation of some of my best known work together with jazz songs, videos and performances which have inspired this highly colorful and movement filled Visual Jazz series. 

I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

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2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions Exhibitions Promoting your Art Visual Jazz What is Art

Of abstractions, elephants and chimps

I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with a very well-known and prestigious attorney, someone who is also a dear friend. Our conversation shifted at one point towards art and the different characteristics of artistic expression. At one point he said to me, more or less, “I got stuck in classical figurative painting as something like a definition of what is art (he is something of a collector). I would love to understand more, but right now  I have to admit that I find it too difficult to grasp or understand abstractions, expressionism, and other forms of avant-garde  artistic expression”.

And in reference to my work, he added “I can see there is an intention in what you do, I can see that there is deliberate work in placement, shapes and colors. I even like some of it because I find the shapes or colors agreeable to me, but I can’t see what it is …do you see something when you paint? Are you following a picture or a pattern?…I imagine you do but I can’t grasp it…

Obviously the first thing that came into my mind is my friend imagining a happy chimp throwing painting on a canvas…which is obviously not what he meant, but one can only wonder if in the minds of many, and after so many years of exploring the boundaries of artistic expression, there is still an established image  of elephants painting with their trunks and chimps throwing and eating paint as part of the abstract movement.

I admit that, even if a great deal has been written over the years, it is still difficult to explain to someone what abstraction is all about, even if the word is pretty self-explanatory.

My work is mostly, music inspired abstract expressionism, although some figurative interpretations filter in every now and again. In that regards, expressionism as an artistic form is a little easier to convey.  For a start, the word itself implies a certain “intention” in what one does. Even if sometimes that same purpose may be obscure to most except the author, there is a primary objective of “expressing” something, be it feelings, textures, experiences, colors and so on. It can also be said that all art is an expression but that in itself, will only make my task even harder so I better not digress!

But abstraction can be anything. A blank canvas is abstraction as much as one with hundreds of hours of work on it.

There are obviously many formal definitions of abstraction as a concept. One of the most widely used would go basically like this: “Abstraction (from the Latin abs, meaning away from and trahere, meaning to draw) is the process of taking away or removing distinctive traits  from something in order to reduce it to a set of essential characteristics.”   

The fact is that what is essential can be 99.9999999% of the original idea as much as 0.000000000001% (or less) of that same concept. So it is still a very wide notion and open to millions of interpretations.

A more philosophical description could be that abstraction is the thought process wherein ideas are distanced from objects.

“Abstraction uses a strategy of simplification, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus effective communication about things in the abstract requires an intuitive or common experience between the communicator and the communication recipient. This is true for all verbal/abstract communication.”(Wikipedia)

I have had the wonderful experience of studying philosophy and I find this problem a great example of how difficult it is for us humans to accommodate to new paradigms (I am being very generous by calling abstract expressionism something new, but still it generates almost as much controversy today as when it first appeared as a mainstream form of artistic expression so many years ago).

I have always loved that mental adventure that is finding the proverbial “Gordian knot” to every issue. So if I may, I am going to try to contribute to enlighten this rich and wonderful controversy (although most probably I will only add more complications to it!).

If I may, I would simply say that for a figurative artist, his drawing of a certain scene, let us say one of the classical English hunting scenes made popular in the 18th and 19th Centuries, is in itself the end of the creative process. He or she will then work on his sketch, reproducing the colors, the shadows, the expressions of hunters, dogs, sky, fox and birds into a combination that will take you there as if you had been participating of that moment in time. His or her skills are amazing and the techniques used are a wonderful example of human ingenuity and artistic prowess.

For an abstract painter who looks at the same scene, there may even be an initial sketch of similar characteristics. But that sketch, instead of being the final rendition prior to giving it life with his or her paints, it is just the starting point from where that painting and the painter are going. He or she will work from there into a new scene that may be devoid of many of the details, that may just rescue some shapes and colors, or simply express something devoid of form but which makes the viewer generate, for example, adrenaline and fear.

And that may be the artist’s whole point. Wishing, perhaps, to generate in the viewer exclusively the emotions felt by the hunters and their horses, and perhaps the terror of the poor fox being chased in the woods.  That also takes imagination, skill and a different set of techniques that will allow only the essence the artist is looking for to be left on the canvas, leaving everything else for you to explore and invent in your own mind.

I don’t know if my explanation helps in any way, but I will ask my friend and I will let you know!

So, to my work now.

Here are 2 of my final works of 2011, both of them of the same size. As a matter of fact they do have a lot of detail compared to many of my more abstract expressions so it is very fitting that they are shown here within this conversation about abstraction and figurative painting.

The first one was started in 2010 and finished in 2011, and it is called “A winter flower garden”.

A 100cm x 100cm painting that I like very much. The second one is also lovely and it has a different feel to it, it is more like a scene after a spring shower went through it. It is also from 2011 and it is called “What a difference a day makes”, and it is based on Dinah Washington’s version of that wonderful song with the same title. You will see many things in common between both which were not really intentional, but make both paintings into a nice pair.  

I hope you enjoy them both, and the conversation that preceded them.

Until next time!

Ignacio

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2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions Promoting your Art Videos

A very puppy (and happy) Christmas!

 

Christmas is approaching. As a proud dog lover I wanted to include in my Christmas wishes, not only nature in general, but also our pets in particular. I know that some of my friends think that as humans we are above or in the pinnacle of the animal kingdom. “Animals are animals and they should be treated as such” is a common phrase denominator.

But for all of us who have had a closer contact with animals, whether in the wild or at home, we know that this view of ourselves as superior sometimes falls short of the mark when compared to our animal friends. Whether cats, dogs, horses, cows, pigs, elephants, bees or whatever your animal friend of choice is, we know from experience of the love, affection, intelligence and companionship that they provide us.

I have a phrase that may shock some. But the fact is that I always say that looking at my dogs’ eyes I do not see original sin, while I can see it in the eyes of most human beings I have met during my life. Animals are innocent; they are capable of amazing feats and of kindness and feelings that only those of us who enjoy “pet extended families” can understand.

I do not think it is just by chance that the story of the manger is framed by many of the domestic animals of choice at the time of Christ’s birth. The adoring company of sheep, goats, the faithful donkey that carried the pregnant Virgin Mary, the camels that brought the 3 Kings from the far east are all clear signs that our animals are as much a part of this story of redemption as we are (St. Francis of Assisi, just to cite an example, was a great believer in this all encompassing view of creation).

So, to my late dear Khamala who must be enjoying the green pastures of the Lord, and to my present day family members Zamba and Pancha, and to all of your family pets, farm animals and the animal kingdom in general, a very merry Christmas to you all from all of us as well.

  And I hope you enjoy this video I found. It is extremely cute.

Growl, meow and Merry Christmas to all!