Armando, Fahne (1988)

A house without furniture, bare, with on the walls, the pale colors of flowers and birds of 250 year old chinese handmade wallpapers.  The Armando Collection has found a new home in Oud Amelisweerd country house. MOA is a ‘house of art’ set in a country park. Armando’s work cannot be viewed better than in this house, where the spirit of the past is still alive. MOA explores the essential and universal relationship between man and nature in the past, present and future.

Bakery and tea shop De Veldkeuken is located next to MOA. De Veldkeuken bakes its own bread and cakes using only organic ingredients. Most of it coming from the long-established kitchen gardens on the estate.

A true must visit, see and taste, Dutch treasure.

“Be light unto yourselves. Rely upon yourself; do not depend upon anyone else.”

Buddha’s last words may very well be misunderstood and misinterpreted by many since he spoke them.

Collecting and gathering money makes the world go round since ages. Is the end of money in sight, with cash bank transactions dropping 98% since 1985 and local banks closing?

Will today’s children grow up looking at banknotes like we look at shells? A colorful piece of paper, useless for payments, because paying is likely to be done with a fingerprint.

Giants Buddha’s and golden temples stand tall for ages, reminding us of the inherent Go(l)d we are. For the real gold rush no packing is needed.

Full article, including photo essay, published at Pantone View

In the spacious Hauser & Wirth gallery  in Chelsea New York artist Thomas Houseago exhibits his monumental walk-in sculpture Moun Room.

A white maze-like space (around 11x14x3, 5 meter), with walls made out of Tuf-Cal plaster, hemp and iron rebar.

A sculpture that inviting meditation upon movement or, when I was there, children to run around and play hide and seek.

More on my Chicago | New York art week here

In the streets of Chicago I bumped into the vibrant Amber Rae and her public art installation The World We Want.

She is traveling the globe with this interactive wall, inviting you to reflect on your vision for yourself and the world. One city at a time. Her first blackboards were set up in New York in September ’14. After that Boulder and Chicago. Now she is heading for Costa Rica.

“In an age of tech overload and rising unfulfillment, many of us have lost touch with what truly matters. We’re more connected to our digital devices than each other, and when our days are filled with notifications and pings, we don’t have the space to reflect on what’s most important.”

Amber (lover, writer, explorer, creator) invites everyone to get involved and publicly write your wish and commitment in white on black.

Inspired and do you want the walls in your community and country? Don’t wait or hesitate, but get in touch with Amber Rae

More on my Chicago | New York art week here

‘The only source of happiness is awareness.

The most brilliant copying will never raise awareness.

The most clumsy creation increases awareness.’

Peter Delahay      (1940-2014)

More than a color, gray is a state of being. As movie star Susan Sarandon puts it, “I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you are is the point.”

Gray is the color of transformation. Gray is beyond the age of play, but yet lives lighter than any other color. Gray is the color of consciousness and, like a butterfly, flutters free, free, free. It is friends with all colors, but doesn’t need other colors to be in harmony with life itself…

Full article, including photo essay, published at Pantone View

12 11 14, Pittsburgh

Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals

I was there,

I saw this,

I felt this,

I heard this,

It happened,

I love this!

Soul Matters…

Carnegie Museum of Art

November 1, 2014 – February 16, 2015

More on my Chicago | New York art week here

As a teenager Brian Ferry and David Bowie were my heroes. I secretly wanted to marry Ferry. While Bowie’s changing looks dominated my changing moods in dressing and inspired me to make my own creations.

Those days are decades ago and I felt no temptation to visit the David Bowie Is exposition when it opened in London in 2013, but when I was in Chicago and had some spare time ..why not..Nothing prepared me for the effect of seeing and hearing a youth hero in an art museum.

Out of context, in time and space, it took me by surprise. How deeply rooted his music is in my genes. I still have a Bowie in me….

A sunny afternoon in my studio. They say it’s All Soul’s Day today….

A flashback.

I travel time and go back over 20 years. To illustrate  ‘Your life is in your hands’ for my spring 1994 Just B. collection I asked photographer Miep Jukkema to make a picture of my hands.

Last month I had the opportunity to stay in the ‘Architecture and Art’ Nhow Hotel in Rotterdam.

Work of young photographers highlight corridors of the hotel and each one of the 23 floors has it’s own Eckhart Tolle wisdom quote on a bare concrete wall.

In my room I, not only enjoyed the view and silence, but also the beautiful black and white picture book by Ruud Sies, about the 4 years construction of the impressive high-rise building.

Both, the 44 floor building and the hotel, are designed by Rem Koolhaas/OMA.