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Sand Animation

Ukranian artist (and polymath) Kseniya Simonova seems a little Bjorky, in a good way. By this I mean I think he creativity is off the chart tectonic, like a meteor of ball lightning. If you read her About Me, you’ll see she has a bunch of degrees in carious subjects. She’s a genius for sure. It’s nuts.

The level of performance over expectation may not be as great as Susan Boyle, but it is much higher than the Natalie Imbruglia Mime (and he was great!). This video features Kseniya Simonova’s appearance on Ukraine’s Got Talent, which I’ve never seen but assume is better than 90% of US programming.

“You are always nearby” is the name of this piece. It is about the Nazi invasion of the the Ukraine, and what it did to the people. It’s rough. The music is absolutely essential to the experience. The camera cuts to the audience, and the judges, a few times, and everyone is in tears. A comment from the actual YouTube page is enlightening. I know I have a Vimeo vid embedded. It’s because it’s better quality.

The whole animation reflects the events of the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945 which devastated hundreds of cities and villages in Ukraine, Belarus and Western Russia and killed 20 million people . At 1:40 your can hear the voice of a radioman announcing German invasion of the USSR. Since there was practically no family in the Soviet Union who would not had lost at least one family member to that war, it’s still hurting. That’s why people crying. I hope this answers your question.

Watch it and tell me what you think. I think it’s the Coolest Thing Ever.

Война from simonova.tv on Vimeo.

"A Dream Deferred Is A Dream Denied." - Langston Hughes

Banksy Strikes Again. No Christ This Time.

Banksy has once again popped up in my Tumblr.  Last time it was in Rio, painting Christ the Redeemer. I don’t know how old this one is, but it’s awesome. I love his doodles. They hold truth.  Langston Hughes used words, Banksy uses images, and perhaps one day we’ll all use our heads and realize that we need no masters.

Happy Monday, people of Youdopia. The indispensable, awesome, and quite possible cream filled, Daily Grail led me to this article about Synaesthesia in art. New Scientist is the origin of said article.

Did you know that David Hockney had synaesthesia, and Kandinsky probably did.  If you’ve every tripped balls, you have likely experienced synaesthesia. It’s when sensory input stimulus is expressed by the “wrong” sense. You know the smell of bacon, right? Well imagine seeing it as a purple orb, wafting from left to upper right. If you’ve ever ” seen” music, you know what this is.

In this video, one is shown the artwork of synaesthete artist, Carol Steen, while you hear what sounds like either an outtake from the Death Wish 2 soundtrack, or possible late 70′s Lou Reed.  The video is pretty lame, considering the subject, but maybe I’m just being a dick.  Maybe it’s the Coolest Thing Ever.

A little wisdom from Uncle Bob. Robert Anton Wilson changed my world as profoundly and Deeply as Siddha Yoga and Led Zeppelin combined. Taste this tidbit from the Man not long before he died. Fnord, and 23 skidoo, monsignor. Every man and every woman is a tsar, Youdopia. There is much to learn from Robert Anton Wilson.

This little piece about Jimmy Page’s collection and passion for Pre-Rafaelite Art was found while researching the article about the Templar Tomb. It is an interesting aside that Mr. Page is quite the Magus.
Anyway, check it out. It’s from The Earthy Paradise.

It turns out that gifted Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has a thing for Pre-Raphaelite art! I read the news on Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood yesterday and decided to do some more research into Jimmy Page’s art collection.

I can’t say that I’m that surprised…if you’ve ever listened to Led Zeppelin’s music, you’ve probably noticed that the band was heavily inspired by Medieval/fantasy themes. Lead singer Robert Plant’s favorite book was the Lord of the Rings and it’s evident in their music. A number of their songs reference material from Lord of the Rings, including “Over the Hills and Far Away,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Battle of Evermore,” and “Ramble On”, with “Ramble On” being the most explicit.

Jimmy Page has stepped beyond admiration for the medieval and has become an avid collector of Pre-Raphaelite art (including at least one painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti). All of this has come into the news in the last couple of days as Page plans to auction one of the tapestries in his collection at Sothebys–the final scene from Edward Burne Jones’ Holy Grail Tapestry (pictured above).

The piece is expected to fetch around $2 million at auction. It was originally designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and woven by Morris and Company’s tapestry weavers. It took three weavers a full two years to complete. **edit**I guess it depends on who you ask. The New York Times reports that the 24 foot wide tapestry actually took eight men two years.

According to Page’s art dealer-to-the-stars, Paul Reeves, (who has many hats, it appears–he also designed clothing for the Rolling Stones and Beatles, but has been a full time art dealer since 1976) Page is forced to sell because the wood panels on his Thames Mansion are too weak to support the tapestry. It seems more likely that he is in financial trouble, since he also plans to sell a gigantic set of Arthurian round table and chairs, and two sideboards at the same auction.