The new short film by Blu

I love this.
The new short film by Blu; an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.

Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)
www.blublu.org

Music by Andrea Martignoni
Produced by Mercurio Film
Assistant: Sibe

Surrealist Naoto Hattori

I stumbled across this beautiful print by Naoto Hattori Japanese surrealist at my friend's store, DISRUPT in Surry Hills today. The image blew me away. Something about it, enchanting, beautiful yet horrific at the same time which stirred up weird emotions prompting a series of impulse purchases...

Hattori was born in Japan and moved to NY to study Illustration. His style can be quite dark and mystical and yet each piece has a sense of realism with the degree of accuracy he paints which makes me feel like he's seen these images before, just on another universe. He captures skin tone perfectly.

I found this quote from him (Portsort.com) which I really like:

"Why was the surreal painter so important back in his day? Why did the royal residence hire those artists? Not because of their love for surreal paintings, just because the camera had not been invented yet. Now we have a computer, a video.. and numerous other things, so that contemporary art became abstract and people rely on a computer and tend to forget to about the traditional art. I'm young but I just want to show them that surreal style of painting is still not dead. I keep making fresh pieces and amaze people through my vision," says Naoto.

See why I like this guy? Hence I bought all these prints ;)
Check out his website here

How hard it is being good...

I tell you what, cutting out certain food groups (albeit unhealthy) along with alcohol and caffeine does suddenly dawn upon the realisation that without them you are practically a social outcast.

Obviously this statement is exaggerated, however let me put this in to perspective.

Every morning quite ceremoniously, my colleague and I would head out to our local favourite cafe where the baristas know our names and always make us smile (Single Origin) to get our super strong coffees to wake our minds and start our day. This is no more.

Friday night, a friends birthday. I paid a visit, stayed sober although surrounded by chocolate cake and cheese plates the experience was incredibly tortuous. That said, I still enjoyed the company and being the only sober person there - had the privilege of driving my friends new BMW home at the end of the night.

Saturday night. This was harder, much harder. A group of us, mostly from the UK (which tends to = Trouble) went for dinner at Dragons Den in Darlinghurst for a delectable meal, well at least it would've been delectable if I didn't have to resist certain elements of the banquet i.e. red meat. Then comes tip toeing the alcohol issue when the bottles get passed round and I have to hide my wine glass. As a consequence, I had numerous people coming up to me saying "So you're not drinking" which translates to "What the hell is wrong with you?" and "Well done" which translates to "Ha, you're missing out!" Not that anyone had issues with me not drinking but it certainly did mean that nearly every conversation I had with people circled around that decision and although I was happy, I did start to realise that my state of mind was getting further and further away from everybody else's.

Anyway, so far physical changes I've noticed following the first week:

1. I no longer crave caffeine: my addiction may have been curbed(!)
2. Using the bathroom more regularly
3. More spots: apparently this is the toxins leaving the body
4. More energy: this could be part of the lifestyle
5. Slimmer around the hips!
   

I guess as a distraction for me, I am managing to focus my energies in an old rekindled hobby, painting. I'm currently working on my first conceptual piece using acrylics on canvas. Its quite exciting for me and I am enjoying it much more than I expected.

Anyway, watch this space. More more exciting news to follow.