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2012 art works 2012 Exhibitions Promoting your Art Videos Visual Jazz

It´s more than a paper moon…

 

“It´s only a paper moon” is a classic song written in 1933 by Harold Arlen, with those wonderfully catchy lyrics by E. Y. Harburg and Billy Rose.

Incredibly enough, it had a pretty difficult birth, as the play for which it had been written bombed on Broadway. That should have been it, and the song should have been doomed to that big dumpster of anonimity in musical heaven.

But as it happens with so many great songs, it had to be redeemed by a keen eye and a great musical ear, and so it was that it became hugely popular on its own when it was picked up by two very classy acts like the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald, who recorded two wonderful versions, and none other than Nat King Cole and his Trio.

This painting is dedicated to this endearing song, particularly to Ella´s versions, and it is called “It´s just a canvas sky hanging over a muslin tree”, which is one of the lines in this very sweet tune.

Painted in 2012, mixed media on canvas, it is 80 cm x 60 cm, and it is hanging over my living room right now.

It’s whimsical, it is pure fantasy, it is nonsensical, but it is all true… if you just happen to believe in me… 🙂

"It´s only a canvas sky hanging over a muslin tree"
(2012) by Ignacio Alperin Bruvera, 60cm x 80cm.

 

I hope you like it, as well as the song.

Until next time!

Ignacio

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

La Ville Rose

For all of you who may have never been there, or even worst, may not have heard of it before, Toulouse  is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is a city in which I spent a lot of time when I was growing up as my brother was studying there, and so I would travel to this great area of France over the holidays, visit my family, and enjoy the city’s many charms and those of the surrounding country side.

It is a beautiful town. It lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km (366 mi) away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With more that 1.1 million inhabitants the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in France, after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille.

Toulouse is one of the bases of the European aerospace industry and its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and the third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon (thank you Wikipedia!).

Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution). It is now the Chef-lieu of the Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is also the Chef-lieu of the Haute-Garonne department.

This new painting, which will be shipping soon to Lisbon for my upcoming exhibition at Galeria Colorida during March 2012, is a small but heartfelt tribute to this lovely town often baptized as “la ville rose” because of its many red brick and pink buildings.

This work of mine received a great deal of inspiration as well from a gorgeous song by the great Ahmad Jamal, also entitled “Toulouse”, and which I am including below so you can listen to it while you look at this brand new painting. You may be able to see my painting then in a similar way to how I saw it as it emerged in my music filled mind. Or you can simply enjoy both the painting and the music!

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!

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

Have I been naughty or nice?

It’s the last Monday before Christmas and a good time to start looking into whether we have been naughty or nice. I guess, like most people except the very few, I have been both of those things but with a marked effort towards getting to be the latter.

Life is short and as the years start moving faster, regrets start piling up. As you can see I am not one of those “no regrets” type of people. I think we all regret doing certain things and, most importantly, I do believe that we should feel sorry about certain things we have done during our life. Most of us have had moments in which we have been hurtful, absent, or simply awful to others. So, as my first formal and public step into the spirit of the season, here is my heartfelt apology to all the people I have hurt this year, for any reason, and whether knowingly or not. To all of you, please accept my call for forgiveness and my promise of a real effort to be better in the future.

Now, one of the things I do not regret about 2011 is where I have gone with my art. It has been shaky at times, a little hard to keep up in terms of quality and quantity of work, but it has proven a breakthrough year in many respects. For that reason I would like to thank, following in my Christmas spirited line of thought, all those people who have helped my art along this year. From family, friends, admirers and critics, to journalists, the media in general, gallery owners, and buyers. You have all helped me along this difficult road of artistic expression and I am very grateful for your support, comments and criticism.

So, now let us turn to some new work!

This is another one of my new paintings from the second semester of 2011 and which have just been uploaded to my website at www.ignacioalperin.com.

It is called ”Blow by Blow”. Inspired by many of those golden years brassy tunes that are too harsh for the midnight hour but give us a hell of a kick in the rear at times of sorrow, or simply when we are a bit down and we need a nice shot in the arm.

To accompany this painting, I invite you to enjoy Duke Ellington live with his orchestra performing one of those cheerful songs and one of the titles which inspired my composition, this one called coincidentally “Blow by Blow”.

Looking through my videos (http://youtube.com/ignacioalperin) I would like to bring forward one from February this year about the “Making of” my Standard Bank Foundation Gallery Exhibition which took place in March- April 2011. I had forgotten how cool the music sounded. I hope you enjoy it too, either again or for the first time if you have not seen it before.

See you soon!

Ignacio

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2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions Promoting your Art Videos Visual Jazz

Yeah, Blue but compared to what….

First of all, I have been talking a lot lately about my UK agents in my notes and commentaries everywhere I am found online (Facebook, Twitter, here in my Blog, and so on). So you may ask, who are BLUE PERIOD.

As I said at some point before, this company is headed by partners Matthew Bremner and Dawid Kotur. They have developed a very professional, yet unorthodox approach to art promotion. They work in a direct and personal fashion with artists, in a manner far from the sometime promiscuous and occasionally harsh environment that is commercial art. They look into the soul of the artists, showing the new face of art as positively creative rather than obscure. Their work as an agency is an example of that, both for their transparency and their willingness to work with artists and their development in the rather complex commercial environment.  

If you want to learn more about them I would like to invite you to read  Matthew and Dawid’s interview by The New Wolf, and where they had the generous idea of featuring some of my paintings: http://www.thenewwolf.co.uk/2011/11/bluef-period/.  Also visit their website at http://www.blueperiod.co.uk.

Now to some more new art.

This is another one of my new paintings from the second semester of 2011 and which have just been uploaded to my website at www.ignacioalperin.com.

It is called ”Compared to what”, a jazzy and movement filled interpretation of the 1969 classic Eugene McDaniels song which today is better know both for a very nice John Legend new version, but mostly for a very funny, often infuriating, little skit on SNL. I hope you enjoy it. And as long as we are here, enjoy the original song…it’s very cool.

Until next time!

Ignacio

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

ONLINE PRESENCE, MEDIA AND REVIEWS

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2010 art works 2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions Exhibitions Videos Visual Jazz

Opening Reception and media impact of “Jazz Visual” the Exhibition at the Standard Bank Foundation, March 3rd to April 1st, 2011.

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2010 art works 2011 art works 2011 Exhibitions Videos Visual Jazz

Making of video with the setting up of the Standard Bank Foundation Gallery Exhibition in March