iDrawing

Down Under

2012-02-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of drawings from the aquarium for the project I'm working on about the species of the Long Island Sound.

Portrait of a Great Man

2012-01-31T21:57:00.000-08:00

This is a busy and exciting time for me and my fellow artists from the Dalvero Academy, as we're preparing for our group art exhibition opening in just a few months at the Mystic Seaport, CT. Here's a portrait of the director of Mystic Seaport's Preservation Shipyard, Quentin Snediker, who has been a major source of inspiration, information and support to us. Stay tuned for the details on our show! It's coming soon...

Quentin Snediker, Director of the Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport, CT

Man's Torso

2012-01-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

The Capitol Hill

2012-01-13T23:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! 2012 was inaugurated by a drawing class with Dalvero Academy. We spent a few beautiful January days in Washington DC, mostly visiting museums. Here are some memories from the National Mall.

View of the Capitol in sunset

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument in sunset

Mass at the Russian Orthodox Church in New York

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

I had an opportunity today to witness the Vigil on the eve of St. Nicholas feast
at the Russian Orthodox Church in New York. It was really beautiful...I quietly drew on my iPhone in the corner.

the Vigil on the eve of St.Nicholas feast *Drawn on my iPhone.

Winter Has Arrived...

2011-12-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

...on my website's landing page >

Blue Note Jazz

2011-12-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

"Christmas from the Blue Note" concert has inaugurated the holiday season for me. I played on the iPad while enjoying the music.

Christmas from the Blue Note ft. Combo Nuvo *Drawn on my iPad


Singer Abby Dobson *Drawn on my iPad Drawing Playback!

Playing Scales

2011-12-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

I just completed another great life drawing class at Dalvero Academy. As my teachers Ronnie and Margaret say, studying the model for an artist is like playing scales for a musician.

Thanksgiving Flowers

2011-11-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

This series was inspired by the Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass, and done at the San Francisco's Botanic Garden in the summer of 2011. Hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

Something's Brewing In Here

2011-11-19T23:33:00.000-08:00

Some drawings from the visit to Seattle's Hale's Ales Brewery this past July with Dalvero group of artists. Our evening started with delicious, hearty dinner and a list of 'homemade' ales to chose from. The actual brewery was right there behind a glass wall. A good-looking guy was busy amidst the cisterns: turning dials, hosing, opening and closing lids, pouring liquids and making lots of steam... Naturally, I couldn't help but look and draw him.

And...I also thought their logo could use some updatin'.

Other memorable places I've visited in Seattle were the Gas Works Park (drawings here), Pike Place Market (drawings here) and Seattle Space Needle (drawing here) during the Gay Pride Parade (drawing here).

Drawing Music :: Medeski Martin & Wood at Terminal 5 with Antibalas

2011-10-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Happy 20th Birthday, MMW!

“Music is about creating a vibration, an energy. It’s healing and transformative.”

~John Medeski

My long-time favorite Brooklyn jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood, whom I grew up listening since seeing them live for the first time as an opening act for Morphine in PA in the late 1990's, is together for 20 years already. They just celebrated it at Terminal 5 yesterday, sharing the stage with Antibalas. Whoa. That was more like a musical explosion than a concert. Antibalas ignited, then MMW took stage and played fan-selected songs that are so dear to heart. And then MMW and Antibalas played together. I didn't count exactly how many people were on stage, but it was around 15. The musical jam was outrageous. I drew as much as I could, which was not easy in a tightly packed club, being pushed and bumped from all sides by intoxicated (both by music and substances) fans in their Halloween costumes. It was something…Happy 20th Birthday, MMW! Thank you for your music!

p.s. It was MMW's customary Halloween performance and musicians wore all kinds of funny costumes.

MMW's drummer Billy Martin


MMW's John Medeski, wearing a sumo wrestler costume and wig.

MMW's Chris Wood, wearing a wig.

Antibalas singer and percussionist Amayo with the wind section.

Antibalas's Amayo and Yoshihiro “Yoshi” Takemasa

Jam!

Antibalas's Amayo and Jordan McLean

MMW and Antibalas together on stage

Waiting For The Curtains To Part...

2011-10-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

...before the [sold out] Amon Tobin's ISAM live projection mapping show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on October 25. The show took my breath away. Along with the breath, the hearing and sight were also temporarily gone, as it was a complete sensory overload. If interested, check out the trailer here

Drawn on my iPhone

Occupy Wall Street Freestyle

2011-10-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

I joined my friend past weekend for an awesome night of freestyle by Symphonics at The Bowery Poetry Club. Inevitably, the hottest jam dealt with the protest. The guys on stage rhymed webs out of _occupy____oc_oc_occupy_ to the funky beat and jazzy, buttery chords. I had the iPad on my lap and "freestyled" this iDrawing.

Drawn on my iPad

NYSE

2011-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

A small detour tonight led me to the New York Stock Exchange building. It's so beautiful, especially at night. The barricades and police clusters remind that Occupy Wall Street is just a few blocks away.

Occupy Wall Street :: NYC Liberty Square : Right To Assembly

2011-10-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Liberty Square to see what is happening for myself. Occupy Wall Street started a month ago and is now a world-wide movement. It was peaceful, relaxed and ambiguous. I walked through the crowd making drawings, looking to collect sentiments and moods. I found that majority of people there didn't really know how to feel about what was going on around them. Some said to me they felt the protest should be happening in Washington, not here. Some said it's like the 60's are back. It seemed as though the main event was photographing and video taping. Every other person around me had some kind of camera or recording device in their hands. The police were surprisingly kind-one lady cop even said to me "am I in your way?" when she saw me drawing behind her. I couldn't believe it!

"Mike Check! Mike Check!" Human microphone sound amplification system: one person shouts a phrase and the crowd repeats. A bonding experience. And an exercise in trust. How do you know that the next speaker is going to say things worth repeating out loud? All the speeches, by the way, were read off smart phones, not paper.

cameras everywhere!

The "Occupiers" lounged on mattresses. One of these two guys was on a laptop, the other was smoking.


Oh, the characters you meet!

"Occupy Lego Land" guy said to me: "Just trying to put a smile on everyone's face"

What people have to say. *some are actual photos of posters.

My friend Audrey Hawkins posted a great blog entry on the event with her drawings. Take a look.

San Francisco :: Japanese Tea Garden

2011-09-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

A day's worth of playing with abstraction - shifting shapes and colors - at the beautiful Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco.

Torii Gate

Lantern

Pagoda

Ravens

San Francisco :: Sausalito : Travel Posters

2011-09-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

One day trip to Sausalito in July...


Rocks, Sail Boats, Mountains

Houses on a hill

Relaxing by the fountain

San Francisco :: The Golden Gate Bridge

2011-09-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

...man, was it windy! As I walked on the bridge, it swayed and thumped under my feet. The cars and buses zoomed by within inches, and the annoyed bicyclists tried to make their way through the crowd of tourists. The wind was pounding so hard that it made me completely disoriented and somewhat deaf for the entire day that we spent at the Golden Gate Bridge. The pages of my pad kept trying to run away with the wind, and the soft pastels on paper quickly turned to flying dust. I finally hid underneath the bridge amidst wild flowers and was able to relax a little and take in the beauty of the surroundings. Here are a few of my "windy" studies of the bridge.

San Francisco :: Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma

2011-08-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

...The play of light and shadow, the vibrancy of hues, the glitter and the twinkling...Only in Californian heat of July will you see such color...Dream a little dream.

Learning After Effects Animation :: My First Clip

2011-08-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

San Francisco :: The Largest Chinatown Outside of Asia

2011-07-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

The day spent drawing San Francisco's Chinatown was one of my favorite days of the whole west coast trip with Dalvero Academy. Maybe because it felt like I was not in America at all. Nobody I encountered that day spoke or wanted to speak English.

This particular Chinatown is the largest one outside of Asia, and the oldest in North America. First Chinese immigrants started to arrive in 1848. This Chinatown became a city within city, with it's own government, it's Old St. Mary's Church (the first Asian church in America), and land/dwelling ownership.

Every Chinatown has an entrance gate, so I went looking for one. This entrance gate was topped with fish, most likely a carp, the symbol of persistence needed to overcome obstacles. For the Chinese, the gates are symbols of barriers and crises that a person must pass during a course of life.

The Gate of Chinatown.

It was both strange and sad at the same time to see most of the Chinese people around me with the walking sticks. A lot of old people, slowly conquering narrow, steep sidewalks, a cane in one hand and a little grocery bag in the other.

Lost in the tight maze of authentic, shabby but colorful streets, my friend and I dived into a place that looked like a bakery. We sat down with our tea and pastry, looked around and realized there were only men there. Mostly old men, wearing those obsolete-looking 70's style glasses and hats of all sorts, reading Chinese newspapers and conversing on subjects mysterious to us. The napkin holders had lottery tickets in them. Every man that came into the shop had to first scratch a lottery ticket.

Inside the bakery/lottery shop. The man who would later come up to me.

The men noticed that my friend and I were drawing them and started loudly discussing us, pointing and laughing. I have no idea what they said. One of them came over to look at my drawing of him, laughed and gesticulated at me, not being able to speak English. He completely invaded my personal space and pointed his finger right into my face, but his smile and kind eyes somehow made it okay. After all, I was the one invading his normal daily routine.

After the bakery slash lottery shop, we went looking for a Fortune Cookie Factory. The Chinese really brought the idea of "luck" with them!

Facade of the Fortune Cookie Factory.

Woman hand-wrapping fortune cookies at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.

The factory was a shocker: in a small room, crammed amidst chachkas and boxes, there were two women there, literally hand-wrapping the little fortunes into the hot yellow circles of dough they lifted off the conveyer belt, one by one. The man at the entrance shouted at the tourists "50 cent! 75 cent! 2 dollar! 5 dollar!" He priced every move: want to photograph? that's 75 cents! want to stand there? that's 50 cents! buy a bag of cookies? that's 5 dollars! I shoved a few dollar bills at him so that he'd let me and my friend draw there. He kicked us out after about 15 minutes. My payback was this portrait of him! That's exactly what he looked like, too.

Owner of the Fortune Cookie Factory.

At the end of the day, someone from our group offered me a fortune cookie and I got something good, something about my happiness shining through onto others. I should have saved that one. Do you save your fortunes?

The contrast of the skylines.

San Francisco :: The Cable Car Turnaround

2011-07-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

After the three magical days in Seattle, we, the Dalverians, were off to San Francisco. The first drawing day was a special one: it RAINED all day long. A San Franciscan expat friend of mine said, there's a 0.1% chance of rain in July, and we got it! Apparently, according to local TV news, the rain has ruined weekend plans for many distressed interviewees. Well, it didn't stop us.

We got on the cable car at the Powell street turnaround, and were on the way to the Hyde Street Pier. It rained, allright, but that worked to our advantage, as the waiting line for the cable car was not too long. But then...about half-way to the pier, our car came to a screeching halt because of a fallen tree on the way... Eventually we got to the destination on a shuttle bus. The day was damp and grey, and finding cover on the pier to draw was not easy. Here's a drawing of the Hyde street cable car turnaround.

We went back to the pier for the 4th of July. The pier was barely recognizable on a hot sunny day, filled with insane crowds and street performers. But that's in another post.

Seattle's Gas Works Park :: The Strangest Park in the World?

2011-07-22T00:10:00.000-07:00

"Gas Works Park is easily the strangest park in Seattle,

and may rank among the strangest in the world."

~The Seattle Times newspaper

First time in Seattle. I came with no expectations, except for, maybe, running into Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on the street. Well...that didn't happen. But...Gas Works Park happened, and it was the most bizarre and fantastic park I've ever been to.

The centerpiece of the park on Lake Union is the last surviving coal gasification plant in America. Imagine a massive rustic metal structure of pipes, cylinders and cisterns. MASSIVE. Set in the midst of green hills (for kite-flying), surrounded by water with Seattle skyline on the other side, and sprinkled with gorgeous clusters of marina. Occasionally, you'd see a seaplane zoom above, and if you follow the seaplane, you might even catch it landing on water in a distance. The combinations of such contrasting aesthetics make Gas Works Park the most unusually beautiful place, and most surreal. No wonder Richard Haag, the landscape architect who made the park what it is, won numerous awards and recognitions.

The park opened in 1975. The Wikipedia says that "the original structures qualify as industrial archaeology and are the last remaining examples of a type of technology." The incredible structures that were once considered ugly and intrusive, seem "adapted" by the surrounding landscape of wild grass and daisies. The metal feels organic and carries a certain romanticism of the industrial era.

Gas Works is the venue for numerous music festivals and shows. Part of it is turned into a playground, and, apparently, houses a whole community of homeless folk.

A place like this makes me contemplate the future, and the technological advances. Will there be a park built one day around a giant computer server room? Or better yet, will there be a virtual park built within a giant server room, making the Nature as we know it obsolete. That's possible.

Seattle's Pike Place Market

2011-07-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Named "the Soul of Seattle", Pike Place market was born in 1907 with the philosophy of "Meet the Producer". To this day, it's the foundation of the Market.

The Pike Place Market is important as it reflects the national wave of immigration and remains a place for hope and opportunity for new residents.

Unbelievably fragrant flower stand with peonies, poppies and irises. I've never seen such gorgeous bouquets for just $10! The girls were wrapping huge bouquets in white paper and selling them like hot potatoes.

In late 1800's, immigrants from Japan began arriving in WA state to work in mining, lumber and railroad construction. Japanese made up 80% of the farmers and produced 75% of the region's berries and vegetables, and 30% of the milk. The Pike Place Market gave them the opportunity to have small owner-operated business. During the WWII, Japanese immigrants suffered through discrimination and labor camps, as well as prohibitions to buy land and become citizens. The Market stood empty. Only a handful of farmers recovered their land and returned to the Market after the WWII.

Today, the Market is a booming, colorful place filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, fish, flowers and hand crafts.

"Meet the Producer"

Seattle's Gay Pride & The Space Needle

2011-07-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

To continue from the previous post, here are more drawings of the Seattle's Gay Pride 2011. The parade rumbled through the city and terminated at the Space Needle, where I was drawing.

Commemorative stamp for Seattle Gay Pride 2011

And it turns out, the iconic tower of Seattle, the Space Needle, will celebrate it's 50th birthday next year. It was originally built for the World's Fair of 1962 and had over 45 million visitors since. I put together a commemorative stamp for the Needle's 50th anniversary.

Visiting the West Coast :: Seattle's Gay Pride Parade

2011-07-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 days since I returned from an amazing trip to Seattle and San Francisco with Dalvero Academy's group of artists. As I slowly get back in sync with New York time zone and pace, I will start posting drawings I brought back with me.

Here's one to start with: an icon of Seattle, the Space Needle, during the 2011 Gay Pride parade. The day before I heard the news about legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, so I can only imagine the intensity of this parade in Manhattan. Seattle's pride celebration was fun! The Space Needle was topped with the rainbow flag for the day.

Drawing Music :: "The Star-Spangled Banner" Origin Story

2011-06-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Mystic in June

On the last drawing trip to the Mystic Seaport, CT, my friends and I found ourselves in the midst of the Shanty Festival. Sea shanties were shipboard working songs.

It's a yearly event at Mystic. Everywhere I turned, there was music. Performers and folk singers from other countries came as well. They came to share their folk traditions through music. A beautiful thread that connects history to the present, and preserves the storytelling from the age of sail.

Probably the most curious thing I found out during the festival is … the origin story of our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Who knew that the melody of the anthem is an old popular British drinking song?! When the time came to pick a melody for the United States, someone said "Hey, let's use this one! Everybody knows it!" As a matter of fact, the melody is so hard to sing (it spans almost 2 octaves), that it was a sobriety test in pubs. If you could sing it, it meant you weren't drunk enough. Bah!

Singing popular British drinking song that became "The Star-Spangled Banner"

It was hilarious when the man who told us this story and began singing the original, stood up half-way into the song and said: "I feel like should be standing up while singing it" He placed his right hand over his heart and resumed. He sang with powerful and bright voice. He was definitely sober. (That's him above)

Here are a few portraits of other performers.

Man with Banjo

Fiddler

Guests from Netherlands

Denise with mandolin, singing a medieval ballad

Theater :: "The School for Husbands" by Moliere

2011-06-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my friends and I went to see Moliere's "The School for Husbands", performed by the fantastic New York Classical Theater. What they do is called panoramic theater. The location becomes the set, and the audience follows actors from scene to scene. This is the fourth* panoramic play I've attended over the past 2 years. It's so much enjoyment! And it's free. And it's in the midst of weeping willows of the Central Park, lit by the setting sun and distant flickering of the city. A stunning setting for a beautiful happening. You get a feeling that you're in on a secret with the crowd that showed up at an appointed hour of 7 o'clock at 103rd street and CPW. All of a sudden, flamboyantly costumed actors materialize and suck you into their dialogue. From that moment on, you're mezmorized for the next hour. The smile does not leave your face. And when it's over, you wish it would start all over again. It's that good.

The performance of "The School for Husbands" takes place the entire month of June, Thursdays/Friday/Saturday/Sunday nights at 7pm if it doesn't rain.

* Here are the other three panoramic plays I've seen and drawn in the past 2 years, all staged by the New York Classical Theater in New York:

"The Rover"
"Richard III"
"Hamlet"

Electro-Swing Party Poster

2011-05-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Deejay Spinach organizes awesome electro-swing parties in NYC called "Swingin' Penguin". He asked me again to make a flier for the upcoming event in July. The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" animation was a major influence on the design of this series. Remember the clip "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

New England Riverscape

2011-05-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

The boating season is in full swing on the Mystic River of Connecticut. It's such a lovely place to be, especially in springtime.

Welcome to the Monkey House

2011-05-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Anandapur Royal Forest in Disney's Animal Kingdom has an elaborate abode for the fuzzy inhabitants. "Anandapur" is Sanskrit for "place of all delight". Can you spot the gibbons?

More Spring Buzz :: Carp and Cherry Blossoms

2011-04-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Carp from the Japanese Garden pond at the Brooklyn Botanical.

In Full Bloom

2011-04-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Ahh, long-awaited Spring has finally come... Blossoming apricot tree branches from the Brooklyn Botanical are the proof!

Drawing Music :: Ecstatic Music Festival's Grand Finale

2011-04-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few drawings from the Ecstatic Music Festival's closing concert at the Merkin Concert Hall that took place on March 28 of 2011. Drummer and composer Bobby Previte premiered 'Terminals' with So Percussion, Zeena Parkins (harp/electric harp), John Medeski (piano, Hammond organ), Jen Shuy (er hu, voice) and DJ Olive (turntables, computer).

So Percussion and Jen Shuy

Zeena Parkins on harp and So Percussion's Josh Quillen

John Medeski

Bobby Previte

DJ Olive and So Percussion's Eric Beach

Jen Shuy playing Er Hu

Congratulations and thanks to composer and Ecstatic's curator Judd Greenstein for his first [amazing] music festival! It lasted from January 17 untill March 28 and showcased a constellation of most unusual and interesting musical explorers. I attended a few shows. Here is a recap, with thoughts written and drawn:

Judd Greenstein with Olga Bell

Roomful of Teeth

So Percussion with Dan Deacon

Theater :: The Rover

2011-03-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

The New York Classical Theater must be the city's best kept secret. They do FREE stagings all over Manhattan during warmer months of the year. The 12th season has been opened with the Restoration comedy "The Rover" by Aphra Behn inside the World Financial Center complex. The spectacle is called "panoramic theater": the location becomes the stage set, and the audience follows actors from spot to spot every 5-10 minutes.

"There's no sinner like a young saint."

I've attended "The Rover" twice, and did some reportage drawings. I was really impressed with the cast and the powerful performance. Last year's "Hamlet" and "Richard III" set the expectations very high. "The Rover" was delightful, fun and funny, from the plot and language to vibrant costumes and musical arrangement. It's a story of love, lust and jealousy.

Couldn't help but favor one character: Angellica Bianca, the courtesan "who never loved before". Her evil laugh was hair-raising. Here she is, striking a pose.

The rover Willmore tells her:
"Though I admire you strangely for your beauty, Yet I condemn your mind."

There is a parallel between the courtesan, Angellica Bianca, and the playwright, Aphra Behn: not only do they share the same initials, but also, according to Aphra, both "playwright and prostitute are entertainers of men."

________________________________________________________________________

NEXT UP:

The School for Husbands by Moliere

Central Park (at West 103rd & Central Park West)

Thursday through Sunday, June 2 - 26 at 7:00 pm

Jacket in Repair

2011-03-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Subway Commuter

Drawing Music :: Ecstatic Music Festival : Judd Greenstein & Olga Bell

2011-03-07T23:28:00.000-08:00

"Heritage": Composer Judd Greenstein performing Sh'lomo.

drawn on paper + iPhone

Another beautiful Ecstatic Music Festival event! This time, it was the festival's curator himself who was on stage. Judd Greenstein, an immensely talented New York-born-and-raised composer, presented 4 movements from Sh'lomo. The work tells the story of King Solomon and the Jewish people. Judd Greenstein brings his heritage and the wisdom of ancestors to modern life through shimmering voices of singers and his pulsating music. Truly ecstatic.

I left humming the last musical phrase from Sh'lomo. Turned out, I was not the only one...

Stage full of musicians. Judd Greenstein's Sh'lomo.

drawn on paper + iPhone

Singers from "Roomful of Teeth" performing Sh'lomo's 1st movement "These are the Sons of Israel".

drawn on paper + iPhone

Composer Judd Greenstein performing Sh'lomo.

drawn on paper + iPhone

Judd Greenstein shared the stage with Olga Bell, a Moscow-born/Alaskan-raised/New York-based musician and composer. Olga presented an ambitious piece in 7 movements that told the story of Russia's frontier lands. It is titled Krai and is sung in Russian. Similar to Judd Greenstein, Olga draws on her heritage, folk fables and even an ancient Orthodox prayer.

Musician and composer Olga Bell (left) performing Krai.

drawn on paper + iPhone

There are more Ecstatic Music Festival shows coming up >

Spring Ahead

2011-02-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Spring 2011 has arrived on my site's landing page.

Spring Past

2011-02-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

I found this drawing I made three springs ago at the Central Park's Bethesda Fountain and it made me smile. There's nothing quite like an early spring day in the park, when it's still cool but the sun is warm, and the people pour outside for their Saturday stroll. The air is filled with sounds of jazz, children's laughter and fresh leaves ruffling in the breeze... Hurry up, Spring!

Drawing Music :: Ecstatic Music Festival : Roomful of Teeth

2011-02-21T01:02:00.000-08:00

Choir Roomful of Teeth

Last night, my artist friend Audrey and I were in for a real treat at the Lincoln Center's Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center. The curator of an on-going Ecstatic Music Festival, composer Judd Greenstein, invited us to draw during the concert of "Roomful of Teeth". Great name for an impressive choir of 8 young masterful singers and their artistic director Brad Wells.

Brad Wells, The Artistic Director and Conductor for Roomful of Teeth

The four women and four men comprising "Roomful of Teeth" are classically-trained vocalists who mesh both academia and folklore in their repertoire and techniques. The choir performed numerous pieces by young composer/performers Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs), William Brittelle & Caleb Burhans, who were also present.

Conductor's Hands

For the second part of the concert, "Roomful of Teeth" collaborated with Merrill Garbus, a very interesting musician.

Merrill Garbus / Color of Rain

Merrill, among other things, studies vocal techniques from around the world. She's like the voice and song anthropologist, focusing particularity on Central African style. Last night she said she'd like to dedicate the performance to the women of Central Africa. Merrill had a red drum by her side. She'd record a quick loop at the beginning of each new piece that would become the rhythmic backdrop. As for the vocalizations that were produced - well, they were incredible. From yodeling to throat singing, interlaced with opera-like solos and harmonies to make one all goose-bumped, the vocal tapestries lingered in my head long after the show was over.

Merrill Garbus with a drum and ukulele, weaving a vocal tapestry

Merrill Garbus with four women from Roomful of Teeth

What is it about the human voice that gets you from the inside like no other instrument? It must be the one sound we relate to alike, regardless of culture and upbringing. It's recognizable from the moment we are born. No, even before that, from the womb. The power of human voice rises above all other sounds. It's raw emotion.

Blossoming voices

As I listened, I kept thinking of how to illustrate this vocal performance. It's not the actual singers, but their singing that I was drawing. A voice rather than the person. I couldn't help but draw leaves and flowers. It felt right. The voices blossomed and swooned into imaginary bouquets and floral arrangements, or grew like wild green masses.

Caleb Burhans on electric violin

Big thanks to Judd, and also Joan from the Kaufman Center, for this opportunity. It was an unforgettable evening! I wish I could attend it all over again. And have a recording to listen to.

....................................................................................................................................

There are a number of amazing shows still coming up in February and March. Do check them out. Music is changing and the Ecstatic Music Festival is dedicated to all things emerging and never heard before. >>

....................................................................................................................................

Here are drawings from another cool Ecstatic Music Festival show I attended last month >>

Spring Moment

2011-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

Subway Commuter

Drawn on my iPhone

Cupid and Psyche: The Ultimate Love Story

2011-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

In light of approaching Valentines Day...

Cupid and Psyche (after Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss)

There is an epic tale from antiquity of Cupid and Psyche.

The story begins with Venus (aka Aphrodite) being so jealous of the beauty that mortal Psyche possesses, that she asks her son Cupid to pierce Psyche with a golden arrow to make her fall in love with some vile creature. Cupid (aka Eros & Amour) messes up his task and instead scratches himself with the arrow upon Psyche's awakening. He falls deeply in love with her. Venus, enraged, places a curse on Psyche that keeps her from meeting any suitable husband. Cupid, upset, takes revenge on his mother Venus: as long as the curse lasts, he won't shoot any arrows. People and all living creatures stop falling in love and mating, the Earth quickly grows old and Venus's temple falls, for no one is worshipping LOVE any longer. That shakes up Venus enough to cut a deal with Cupid: if he goes back to work of shooting his golden arrows, he could have Psyche.

What happens next? A whole lot. The long tale is filled with treacherous relatives, jealousies, curses and revenges, a plunge into the Underworld. But... not without a happy ending! Cupid and Psyche get married and give birth to daughter Hedone, the goddess of "sensual pleasures" in Greek Mythology. Here's the full tale by Apuleius >

So, if you find your love life is difficult, just look at what the Greek Gods had to go through! As William Shakespeare wrote, "A course of true love never did run smooth."

Happy Love Day. It's worth celebrating. Any day, any time, anywhere...

Constant Exchange

2011-02-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Energy can change from one form to another but cannot be created or destroyed.

Law of Conservation of Energy

When trying to keep balance, physically or otherwise, remember that you have to go down first in order to go up.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year in 2011, The Rabbit, also known as Lunisolar New Year and Spring Festival, is the "Chinese Year" 4709, 4708, or 4648. This is the time to wish everyone happiness, wealth & longevity.

A Color Study

2011-02-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Subway commuter

Drawn on my iPhone

Japan :: Silk

2011-01-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

It's fascinating to know that silk grows on a tree. A Mulberry tree. Silk worms make it.

The Song Is Born Within

2011-01-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

African drummers in Harambe Village, Animal Kingdom.

It's so cold and white outside...

More Snow

2011-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Subway Commuter

Greet The Sun

2011-01-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

Japanese Torii gates were built to greet the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. In these brutally cold New York winter days, I thought I'd conjure up some warmth with this drawing.

Drawing Music :: Sō Percussion with Dan Deacon

2011-01-23T02:42:00.000-08:00

So Percussion and Dan Deacon

On February 20, as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall, Sō Percussion collaborated with composer Dan Deacon for a night of unprecedented experimental music. Imagine: the audience was orchestrated to play their cell phones, and musicians on stage jammed with fizzing carbonated soft drinks. These are the highlights from that mind-blowing night.

Dan Deacon and the noise-making audience.

Somehow, when you consider anthropological origins of music, that show is not so far out all of a sudden. Contextually, it's a product of it's time and serves the same purpose as it did for, say, aborigines centuries ago.

Prehistoric music originated from imitations of nature sounds and animal sounds by humans for reasons of communication and survival. Language developed alongside, on a parallel path. Fast forward to 21 century and we still imitate our immediate surroundings through music and language in order to exchange emotions and ideas. In the case of Sō & Dan Deacon's sold out performance, it was cell phones (primary communication device) and sweetened carbonated soft drinks (big part of our diet). Imagine 500 strangers who synchronize their mobile devices to "perform" together, and who are told to yell-stomp-clap-sing-breathe together. 15 minutes into the aural madness, the crowd managed to get into a strangely tribal groove. The experience of this half-our mass noise production was quite…bonding, actually. Our group cacophony was the thing that made us one. It made us feel so good, in fact, that there were massive outbursts of laughter. Anthropologists wonder whether musicality was naturally selected over non-musicality as an attribute of survival. Why? Because it's a non-violent way to resolve conflict.

So Percussion playing with soda.

*Drawn on my iPhone

Composer Dan Deacon

Now, I'm not a sociologist, nor an anthropologist. I'm an artist whose job is "to make drawings, not sense" (William Kentridge said that.) I admire Dan Deacon for the way he thinks and plays with ideas (good pun?). As for Sō Percussion, they never seize to amaze. I love how daring they are in pushing the limits of possible. And yet they always manage beautiful harmonies and hypnotizing rhythmic patterns. Here are more drawings from that night.

So Percussion's magic

p.s. CHECK OUT a sweet review of the same concert by my dear friend Audrey Hawkins, with some stunning drawings

A Black Swan

2011-01-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

Drawing Music :: Taiko Drummers of Japan

2011-01-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Japanese Taiko drumming goes back to 7th century. Back then it was used to communicate commands during battles, or to intimidate the enemy. Taiko drumming was also the religious music of Buddhism and Shintoism. It was played to communicate with nature and call rain for good harvest.

Happy [Old] New Year!

2011-01-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

I am back! I've been around the world and visited many countries and cultures, from Japan and China to Africa and Indonesia...all inside the Orlando's Disney World.

In the honor of New Year festivities (tonight is the Old New Year, an Orthodox Slavic holiday according to the Julian Calendar), I'd like to share a curious fact I learned in China. The ancient Chinese invented gun powder, but it's first usage was to make...fireworks! So here's to all kinds of fun and peaceful pursuits in the new year!

The Temple Of Heaven, China

Keeping it real

2010-12-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

“Happiness Is not an idea of reason but of imagination”

-Immanuel Kant

The Bringers of Light

2010-12-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

Every year, Dalvero Academy's founders and my art teachers Ronnie and Margaret gather friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to draw the magnificent Neapolitan Angel Tree. A beautiful tradition. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and love to all the bringers of light in our lives.

2010-12-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Subway Commuter

Drawn on my iPhone

Paris :: Part 7 : I Am Beautiful (Je suis belle)

2010-12-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Auguste Rodin made numerous studies of figures and re-used his models in various groupings. One chance combination in plaster of the crouching female and the reaching male figures (both of which were studies for the "The Gates of Hell") became the basis for famous bronze casts. One of the sculptures sits in a glass case by the window at the Rodin Museum in Paris. It's titled "I am beautiful", after Baudelaire's poem:

"I am beautiful, oh mortals, like a marble dream,
And my breast on which each sacrifices himself in turn,
Was made to inspire poets with a love
As eternal and silent as matter.'

The meaning of this sculpture is unclear. It's ambiguity and intensity is what made me fall in love with it. It is a union of two opposites: female and male, fetal and erect, closed and open, empathetic and violent, static and moving. It's as difficult and as beautiful as the tension between two beings, the culmination of emotional extremes in an interpersonal relationship. Instinctively, I know that I have lived through *that* when I look at the figures. I understand it. But...cannot put it into words. Such is the power of Rodin's sculptures: they are a mirror of all things human yet invisible.

Drawing Music :: Tricky @ The Brooklyn Bowl

2010-12-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

To add to my glorious lineup* of England's best musicians I've drawn recently in New York, here is Tricky performing at The Brooklyn Bowl on December 11!

"Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop culture."

* glorious lineup 2010 - check it out:

Robert Fripp @ the World Financial Center >

Bonobo @ Webster Hall >

Massive Attack @ Terminal 5 >

 Portico Quartet @ Coco 66 >

 Mount Kimbie @ Public Assembly >

Captivated

2010-12-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

NYC subway commuter

Drawn on my iPhone

First Snow

2010-12-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

NYC subway commuter

Drawn on my iPhone

Drawing Music :: Robert Fripp's Soundscapes

2010-12-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

Arts>World Financial Center program at the Winter Garden hosts really awesome free events. This time I went to hear Soundscapes by Robert Fripp. He's the famous English guitarist/composer, the founder of King Crimson.

PASTELS ON PAPER

When I saw King Crimson live in NYC about 7 years ago, Fripp sat sideways to the crowd. The stories about his stage fright (even though the man has been performing for nearly 40 years by now) are well known. Way back when he'd even sit with his back to the audience.

Naturally, part of me was curious to see Robert Fripp's solo performance: does he still turn his back? Or hide behind an amplifier? But no..he was in the middle of the huge stage, almost smiling. At the end he took deep bows in all directions, looking pleased and charming. The acoustics of the Winter Garden are perfect for that kind of ambient music. Fripp's Soundscapes have been described as "lush sonic tapestries with electric guitar and digital effects". It was beautiful.

PASTELS ON PAPER

Sketches of Spain: Barcelona in 2007

2010-11-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

I uploaded a gallery of drawings to Flickr from my first solo reportage trip to Barcelona, Spain, in the spring of 2007. These drawings bring such amazing memories back...

"I was nervously happy my entire stay, imagining the big globe and myself as a tiny dot across the ocean from home, parents, friends…on my own, DRAWING."

Take A Look >

The Landscapes Of My Thanksgiving Holiday

2010-11-26T18:19:00.001-08:00

On the bus to MA

Amherst fall landscape

Amherst sunset

Paris :: Part 6 : Le Musee D'Orsay

2010-11-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a drawing of the great hall of Le Musee D'Orsay with it's magnificent gilded clock. This once-upon-a-time railroad station is now housing most incredible 19th-century art, including impressionism, realism, postimpressionism, and art nouveau. Turns out the museum is only 33 years old. I LOVE this place like no other. There are giant Toulouse-Lautrecs (how DID he paint such huge canvases? "With a broom", jokes my teacher Ronnie, as she walks by.) There are Van Goghs, vibrating with so much energy that they practically emit sounds. There are Degas figurines-a whole wall of them! There is the famous Renoir's "Boating Party" painting that Amelie's neighbor kept copying in the movie. There's the Monet's "The Picnic" that Picasso studied over and over again with his numerous iterations. There are Bonnards, Cezannes, Daumiers, Gaugins, Monets, Vuillards...all those great impressionistic paintings are so alive in person, so beautiful, that their impact just overwhelms. I get very emotional there. I miss you, D'Orsay.

p.s. Happy Birthday, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec!

On Happiness:

2010-11-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

"The potter sleeps soundly, for no one would steal his clay."

Indian Proverb

(circa 2007)

Fashion Study

2010-11-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

Drawn on my iPhone over pastels on paper

The Beautiful Wood-Pile

2010-11-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Drawn on my iPhone over pastels on paper

Once at Mystic, I walk through the shipyard. It smells of wood. Wood is everywhere. Ship masts, tree trunks, chopped timber. A pile of cut wood is hypnotizing: planes run every which way under jumping sun rays. It's organized chaos, this beautiful wood-pile.

Masts and Restoration Shipyard Barn.

Pastels on paper, iPhone

Drawing Music :: Grinderman @ The Nokia Theater

2010-11-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

Nick Cave's punk rock band Grinderman shook the walls of the packed Nokia Theater on Times Square last night. Gladly for me, the mosh pit was subdued, but not without instigators. It was deafening and awesome. And 53-year-old Cave jumped and kicked like a 20-year-old. That crazy Australian.

Nick Cave. Drawn on my iPhone

Grinderman at the Nokia Theater, NYC. Drawn on my iPhone

Nick Cave. Drawn on my iPhone

Veterans Day Special

2010-11-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

November 11 is not only my Dad's birthday, but also a day of tribute to veterans. Veterans Day memorial services are always accompanied by bagpipes in USA. Coincidentally, I just stumbled upon 3-year-old drawings from the National Tartan Day that took place at the Grand Central station in New York in 2007. Even though the drawings were made at a fun cultural event and are light-hearted, I still want to post them as my tribute. A happy tribute made by someone who is lucky enough not to be touched by war.

Also, I realized that I have no idea why they play bagpipes during memorial services and googled it. One of the links offered the following:

"They sound right for the occasion. Bagpipes seem to have become associated with U.S. military, police, and firefighter memorial services on account of their connection with Scottish martial history. As early as the 14th century, Scottish warriors used musical instruments—mostly horns—to intimidate their English adversaries. (Indeed, contemporary accounts suggest that every Scottish knight carried a horn around his neck.) But it's not clear why this Scottish tradition in particular might have caught on among the U.S. armed forces while others have not. (You rarely see tartan-clad Army rangers, for example.) Perhaps the popularity of bagpipes at funerals is simply a matter of aesthetics."

If *you* happen to know the historical tie between US military and bagpipes, leave it in a comment, I'd like to know.

Drawing Music :: Bonobo @ Webster Hall, NYC

2010-11-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Simon Green (aka Bonobo) & Andreya Triana

If I knew 3 years ago I'll be seeing Bonobo live, I'd flip out. I still love his music-don't get me wrong-but a few years back it was more like an obsession. Let the numbers do the talking: according to stats on my last.fm profile, since 2006 to date, I have played 59,750 tracks. Bonobo ranks as my top overall artist with 639 plays. And that's not counting my ipod/iphone "on the go " plays. I remember hanging out on his myspace page (way before FB!) and leaving him "come play in New York!" fan posts. So he finally did!

Bonobo, aka Simon Green, a 34-year-old bassist-producer-composer-musician-DJ from Great Britain, brought a whole crew of amazing musicians along. Everything was played live, and it was SUPER. All expectations exceeded x100. I waited to see Bajka, the singer featured on "Days To Come" album, but was pleasantly surprised by Andreya Triana instead. The venue was packed. The crowd was in a frenzy. Hey, that was Bonobo! Live in NY!!! Thanks for coming, Simon. You are clearly loved here.

Drawn on my iPhone

Simon Green (aka Bonobo) He doesn't smile much.

Drawn on my iPhone

Simon Green (aka Bonobo)

Drawn on my iPhone

Simon Green (aka Bonobo) & Andreya Triana

Keep Studying

2010-11-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

"Seemingly the most easy of crafts, drawing is the one which reveals most tellingly our incapacity to sustain true vision and our acquiescence to the ready-made." ~ Rico Lebrun

November Rain

2010-11-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Madame Hauteur

2010-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Weekend Commuters

2010-11-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Pixel Woodcut

2010-11-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Hasidic Brooklynite

2010-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Morning Snooze

2010-10-27T19:18:00.001-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Hudson Views 2

2010-10-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Hudson Views

2010-10-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

drawn on my iPhone

New England In Autumn

2010-10-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend at the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. It's that gorgeous time of year when trees go through their fleeting autumnal fireworks before succumbing to the inevitable. There's something very special about the light in this corner of New England. Big skies over little white houses buried inside luscious masses of leaves, and the rippled mirror of the Mystic river that reflects it all. 

What To Say

2010-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Time Out

2010-10-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Pulling a "Charner"

2010-10-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

What happens when  you combine an ink-on-paper drawing with an iPhone drawing? My interesting and dear artist/friend Alex Charner did just that during our Paris trip in July-he photographed his drawing with an iPhone and continued inside the Brushes app. So I decided to pull a "Charner", too. What could be more fun than experimenting with art?! (thanks, Alex!) 

Here's a group of volunteers at the Mystic Seaport's restoration shipyard chopping wood on a windy Saturday afternoon. 

Drawn on my iPhone

My iPhone Drawings @ the MoMA in a Virtual Gallery

2010-10-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was a gorgeous summer-like day in New York. I was at the MoMA, anticipating the launch of the DIY Augmented Reality Art Invasion at 4pm. All that was needed was to figure out how to use Layar app. It took about 10 minutes of utter confusion, until the first signs of "it works!" appeared on my iPhone, in the room with Monet's Water Lilies.

The next hour and a half were spent roaming the museum and the atrium outside, discovering layers of virtual art galleries. My drawings were "attached" to the 5th floor, but technically could be viewed from any place inside and near MoMA by selecting the floor level within the Layar app. 

I was among 35 other artists who participated. I only met 2 while there, and one of them was Sander Veenhof, the mastermind / pioneer / curator of this exhibition.

It's a very exciting experiment (well-executed, too) that has amazing potential. This exhibition opened my eyes to the idea of phychogeography. 

"Developments in the field of phychogeography advance rapidly and radically. In former times the discipline required mental capabilities such as concentration and imagination, nowadays mobile phones provide us with easy-to-use viewing tools to percieve a multitude of fictive realities, anywhere we are, instantly. The technique causing this 'progression' is called augmented reality. It has led to an armada of virtual creativity of various kinds into our public physical space. Actually, AR has rewritten the scope of 'public space'. Physically walled private spaces, such as musea, are now open areas for anyone's objects and actions. To reflect on this and to investigate the implications for art intitutes, Mark Skwarek and I propose to infiltrate the MoMA with an augmented reality exhibition, curated and transmitted from a distance using GPS-driven Layer AR technology. A helpdesk will assist Conflux participants to collaborate and contribute a work to this "virtual DIY museum". ~Sander Veenhof (quote taken from conflux festival.org)

The 7 virtual MoMA floors will remain available/viewable permanently!

Instructions on how to see this virtual gallery: 
iPhone/Android: 
-Download (free) Layar Augmented Reality Browser app. 
-In your phone's general settings, make sure "location services" for Layar are "on". 
-Open the app, search for "art moma" and select "MoMA AR exhibition" 
 (Sander Veenhof / Mark Skwarek). 
-Open it, go to "settings": select "alternative positioning ON" / move "viewing range" to max / select floor 
-My iPhone drawings are on the "5th-2D" level. 
-You can explore all the floors from any location within the museum. 

Enjoy! 

watch video >
 read Opinions / NY Times >
read Wired >

 

my iPhone Drawings @ the MoMA in NYC on 10.09.2010

2010-10-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to announce that my iPhone drawings will be featured as part of the Augmented Reality Exhibition at the MoMA in NYC this Saturday, October 9th, starting 4pm, on the 5th floor. You will need to have an iPhone or smart phone with Layar AR app installed.
Details here: Augmented Reality Art Invasion

Love That Afro

2010-10-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Drawn on my iPhone

Paris :: Part 5 : Wine Tasting Notes

2010-10-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

...to continue with drawings from my Parisian trip in July, here are some happy memories from the wine tasting night. We met our sommelier Oliver inside the 17th century cellar that's adjacent to the Louvre and that once belonged to Louis XV.

Oliver began his lesson with Champagne, and we slowly drifted through the Whites and Roses to the Reds. By the way, I learned that Rose is made from red grapes without the skins (and not a mix of reds and whites); Champagne is made with the mix of 2 red grape varieties and 1 white grape variety; I also learned that the most telling and important item on the French wine's label is Appellation. And, of course, I learned in practice the three techniques to make me look like the legitimate wine snob (that I'm not): 1-how to LOOK, 2-how to SMELL, 3-how to TASTE the wine.

Frankly, I still stumble when I have to order a bottle at a restaurant. I think I might need a few more lessons: the know-how on the wine je ne sais quoi.

Drawing Music :: Mount Kimbie

2010-10-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

*drawn on my iPhone

I went to check out a great dubstep duo Mount Kimbie at the Public Assembly in Williamsburg last night. It was a pleasant surprise to hear them live-with real-life samples of guitar and drum loops. These UK musicians filled the room with abstract and mellow ambient sound on top of slow dub beats. Felt like it should have been more of a sit-down kind of show, which is a strange thing to say about dubstep music.  

Drawing Music :: Portico Quartet

2010-09-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the music of Portico Quartet through the internet radio; I knew they were young musicians from United Kingdom and their music made me think of Steve Reich, The Cinematic Orchestra and The Lounge Lizards. There are also nostalgic, almost Rachmaninov-like melodies that thread through Portico's ambient, experimental jazz with hints of electronica. There are 3 hang drums (walnut-looking shapes on stands in the drawings below) that have unique sound. 

*Drawn on my iPhone

Two days ago I heard Portico Quartet is in New York, playing a show in Greenpoint at Coco66. Couldn't miss this one! Portico's live performance stunned me and my friends. There's a link below if you'd like to check out some new, beautiful sounds. This is their first US tour-they are pretty much unknown here (literally, less than 20 people showed up)-but I'm sure time will take care of that. Portico's new album Isla is solid good. It's exciting to have something so wholesomely beautiful, layered and sophisticated to listen to. Ahhh....

View a video of Portico Quartet

Looking ahead

2010-09-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

*Drawn on my iPhone

Album Cover for a Toy Pianist

2010-09-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently commissioned to do an album cover for a unique musician - a toy pianist! Her name is Phyllis Chen.

We first met virtually, after I posted my drawings of her from the Look & Listen Festival.

Phyllis knew exactly what she wanted on her album cover-a carousel. I was only happy to oblige-I love drawing carousels! So we met one drizzling weekend in Bryant Park and Phyllis rode the carousel while I drew. And...here's her album cover illustration. Can't wait to see the final package and hear the album. I wish Phyllis much luck with it.

Paris :: Part 4 : Notre Dame de Paris

2010-09-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

French for Our Lady Of Paris, Notre Dame is magnificent.

Since my childhood in Moscow, I fantasized about Notre Dame-a friend brought me a cardboard model of the Cathedral when I was about 10. The model I assembled lived on a bookshelf. Did I know then I'd be walking though this very Cathedral 20 years later?

Brooklyn-bound

2010-08-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

*drawn on my iPhone

Manhattan-bound

*drawn on my iPhone

Paris :: Part 3 : Montmartre

2010-08-21T01:29:00.000-07:00

Atop Montmartre sits a rare jewel Sacré-Cœur. Despite it's grandeur, this white church feels miniature to me, as if it's an exquisite brooch decorating the highest point in Paris.

The streets of Montmartre, by contrast with the lightness of Basilica, are dense with color, crowds, art vendors, cafe umbrellas and smell of crepes...

I stumbled upon a two-story white building that once was a studio where Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani, Dali and others have worked at some point in the 19th century. I tried to imagine Montmartre back then: a quiet, desolate bohemian retreat. You don't see a soul, just hear remote footsteps, a glass shatters, laughter. And then...Eric Satie's melancholy piano sets in...

Paris :: Part 2 : Le Tour De France 2010

2010-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

...Up until the day of the race, I couldn't imagine enjoying the event as much as I did.

During the last leg, cyclists make 9 rounds on Champs-Élysées, circling Arc de Triomphe, passing Rue de Rivoli (where I was "stationed".) And I was so thankful for those 9 rounds, because after 8 hours of anticipation, when first motorcycles of cortege appeared around the corner with roaring of the crowd, the Tour zooooomed by and was GONE in a blink of an eye! A few swooshes on the page...

Ahh...the cyclists were beautiful in their tension and speed. They looked like creatures made of mercury.

Similar to Olympic games of Ancient Greece, in honor of which wars between city-states were postponed for the duration of tournaments, Le Tour De France has an air of reconciliation. At least in my eyes. I tend to romanticize, but it's really a significant event-all cultures get involved. Turns out it was Revolutionary France that first emulated the ancient Olympics in late 19th century, for the first time since 426 AD. That event was called L'Olympiade de la République. Bravo, France!!

Paris :: Part 1 : Waiting For The Race

2010-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

I am back from a 2-week trip to Paris with new experiences to share with you, in drawings.

The brightest event was, no doubt, the last leg of Tour De France! Friends and I got out early to claim our spots, as the crowds gathered to cheer for the race. It was empty on Rue De Rivoli at 7.30 am. By 1 pm, the street in front of the Louvre was a stampede. Colorful array of flags and languages from around the world shook the air. The race was expected to pass us about 4pm, so there was plenty of time to people-watch.

Strangers made acquaintances with whoever was standing next to them, clinking their giant beer glasses and waving their national flags. A lonely American flag, hanging from the hotel window, was drowned in the sea of Norwegian, British and Spanish colors. The statue of Jean of Arc right in the middle added just the right spirit.

Iron lace

2010-07-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

*drawn on my iPhone

Paris Break

2010-07-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

*Drawn on my iPhone

Drawing Music :: In A Gallery

2010-07-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Selected 9 pieces from the "Drawing Music" series are currently on display at the ICO Gallery as part of the group show "Reflecting on History OR What Became of My Red Star". Olga Monastyrskaya, the curator, did a fantastic job of brining 15 Russian-born artists together in this show. There must have been well over 500 people on our opening night!

Here's to my first gallery exhibit-cheers!

Cooling out

2010-07-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

*Drawn on my iPhone