Month: April 2016

One of the advantages of having a daughter, who is an art consultant, is that I am compelled to learn more about art. Alona currently lives in Paris and travels extensively to different art shows around the world, such as London, New York, Venice and many other destinations. It sounds glamorous, but for her it is very hard work. She looks for paintings or sculptures from specific artists, to satisfy the requests of her clients. Her work involves negotiations on both ends, and logistics with money and delivery. But someone has to do it, and it seems that she is very good at it. She studied art history at UC Berkeley, and received her MBA from Columbia University. After several years managing her own successful gallery in New York, she moved to Paris.

Some years ago she visited San Francisco and we attended a local art show in Fort Mason. This year, The San Francisco Art Show opened yesterday, at the same location. One of the exhibits there was a plexiglass box, containing a used can of paint and injection syringes. After learning that this piece of art cost $100,000, I expressed my surprise rather loudly. On hearing me, Alona was aggravated by my ignorance. Apparently, it was the work of a well-known artist, represented by an important art gallery (Today this artwork probably costs 10 times the price, or more). Her advice was very simple — before you open your mouth – go and study. Through the years, I became more tolerant and even learned how to appreciate modern art, which is defined from the works of Impressionists from around 1880 up to until the 1970s. The works of art created after 1970 are called contemporary art. You can learn a lot about art by reading books written by Calvin Tomkins, including, “Lives of the Artists” where he writes about contemporary artists. Just as a reminder, when the Impressionists developed their technique, they were ridiculed, lived the lives of starving artists, and today their works sell for millions of dollars.

One of the side benefits of our vacation in Knokke-Heist, which I wrote about in the last two weeks, was our proximity to Maastricht, a city located in the Netherlands. There was an annual European Fine Art Foundation’s (TEFAF) Art Show that luckily coincided with the dates of our visit. After Alona joined us from Paris, we drove there, and in a few hours we tried to visit 600, primarily European art dealers, who showed various kinds of art from different time periods and different varieties, including paintings, sculptures, porcelain, and decorative art. To give you perspective, San Francisco Show has about 70 exhibitors. I found most of it to be overwhelmingly beautiful, and then I noticed the guy who was delivering champagne in his cart. I felt that my head was already spinning without any alcohol. Enjoy and Share.

Enjoy and Share.

P.S. One of my questions while visiting any art exhibition in a gallery or museum is, whether it is permitted to photograph. At the show in Maastricht, there was a sign that prohibited photography, but most people ignored it and most used their smartphones/cameras. I do not care to copy the works of art; but rather, I like to create my own interpretations with the help of the visitors, who just happen to be in my field of vision.

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When my wife Elfa planned our vacation in Berlin to celebrate her brother’s 80^th birthday, she checked if it was possible to add another week somewhere in Europe through the RCI timeshare exchange.  When Knokke-Heist in Belgium showed up as an option, she had no idea where it was and why to go there.  But after some research, she discovered it was not far from Bruges, which she has wanted to visit for a while, we decided to go there.  It is a town of about 35,000 people, located along the North Sea.  Although the water is cold, it has beautiful beaches, which draw a lot of visitors and the people nearby with second home condominiums.  I cannot imagine how crowded it can be in the summer, but on a Sunday on our visit, with the outside temperature in the low 40s, the streets were packed with people visiting high end stores, strolling on the promenade along the water and crowding the restaurants, including their outdoor patios.  The restaurants offered tasty food, priced comparatively to good restaurants in San Francisco.  The only reason why we were able to get a timeshare exchange for a two bedroom spacious apartment, was because it was not in their high season, and quite cold.  Because of the humidity, when the temperature dropped below the 40s in the evening, it was not enjoyable to be outside and we were just wishing to be back in San Francisco, where our warm sweaters and coats can go back in the closet.

Driving from Knokke to Bruges took less than 30 minutes, and parking our rental car in the underground parking (a note for your travel plans), it felt like we came out into the 16^th century.  The recorded history of Bruges goes back to 840 A.D.  The earliest known artwork – The Last Judgment is a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, created after 1482.  Bruges is a very good example of how through the history fortunes of the geographic locations change, but the beauty preserves its true values.  The name means “bridge” because it had many canals.  In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it was center for wool trade and became an important trading destination and one of the leading ports in Europe.  It was well known for weaving and its population grew to 200,000 people, around 1400 A.D.  And then the decline started.  By 1900, the population dropped to 50,000.  After 1965, the original medieval city experienced a renaissance.  You can see images of the results on the web.  International tourism has boomed, and new efforts here resulted in Bruges being a designated European Capital of Culture.  It attracts two million tourists annually.

Besides the beautiful buildings, it has another attraction – every second store sells chocolates.  Some offer to taste before you buy, others offer it in a liquid form.  I said, “Yes” to both options.  If the store did not sell chocolate or clothing, then it offered the highest number of beers I’ve ever seen.  In spite of the low temperatures, there were a lot of tourists and we had a very good time.

The next day we drove to Gent, which has even more old buildings, canals and bridges.  It is a student town.  It does not have same charm as Bruges, but it’s worth including in the list of places to visit in your lifetime.  In Gent, we encountered a movie set for some medieval production.  It looked very real, if not for the sound person in the middle of the crowd.

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P.S. I usually photograph others, it is the first time you can see the image of me with my wife Elfa and our daughter Alona enjoying delicious hot chocolate.  The tools and the horseshoe are made from chocolate.  I did not taste them.  Maybe I will, next time.

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After spending a week in Berlin (which I wrote about last week), our next destination was Antwerp, Belgium. We boarded the plane, and an hour later, were in a different country and a different world. We stayed at Hotel Rubens, on a small street in the center of the Old Town, literally a few steps from the famous Cathedral of Our Lady, which was built in 1521, surrounded by old buildings, boutiques, and specialty stores. Since this area caters to tourists, there were also a few familiar places, including McDonalds, Starbucks and Häagen-Daz (in spite of the European sounding name, it is an American ice cream company). At the Waffle Factory, they offer Belgian waffles, which were very light in taste, but had the same number of calories as their American cousins. Next door, was a place that sold Belgian fries, which were advertised along with Coca -Cola. The connection between the Old and the New World became less obvious when we ventured away from the center; though, everyone we talked to, spoke excellent English (Flemish is their native dialect).

I liked Antwerp from the first encounter. It was 100% opposite of our experience in Berlin. When we stepped out from our hotel, I noticed a man in a red hat drinking beer. He saw me, lifted his glass to greet me, then hopped on his bike and rode away. Belgium is known for its beer, as well as its chocolate. One store boasted that they have truffles in 25 different flavors. At home, I do not eat bread or sweets, but in Belgium, I have to admit, I had Belgian waffles covered with Belgian dark chocolate. After all, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

It seemed that the main form of transportation in the city center was by bicycle. There are no designated lanes. Bicyclists ride everywhere, in the middle of narrow roads or on sidewalks. They don’t usually wear helmets, and it seems that no one complains, and somehow everyone manages to work together (I have seen similar circumstances in Berlin as well).

The name Antwerp in Dutch means “hand thrown”, which comes from the legend I found on Eupedia.com. We came here for only two days, on the way to our next destination (which you will read about next week).

The following morning, before moving on, we visited the Rubens House. On the way there, we walked through the area with a lot of chains of famous American stores. The weather was chilly but a lot of people on the streets seemed to be having a good time. Our last lunch was in a small square in front of a church built in the 1600s. The trip was enjoyable and I strongly recommend adding Antwerp or Antwerpen, as the locals call it, to your list of places to visit.

From Antwerp we took a train to Paris. What surprised us is that there was absolutely no security control. We took our suitcases onto the train and stored them next to other passengers. The train stopped in Brussels. Passengers got out and in, carrying their luggage. After we returned to San Francisco, we learned about what happened in Brussels.

It seems that Paris and Brussels, and Europe in general is far from us. But the terrorist acts that happened there, affect all of us. Can we be protected? Should we not travel to other countries? President Ronald Reagan adopted and often repeated the Russian proverb – “Trust, But Verify.”

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P.S. Pictures cannot tell the whole story, but can serve as a good memory.
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I’ve visited Berlin many times. My wife’s brother and his family live there, and our first visit was in 1987. At that time The Berlin Wall, which was completed on August 13th, 1961, was still standing. (This period is very well portrayed in the movie “Bridge of Spies” with Tom Hanks and Oscar winner, Mark Rylance.) When we visited in 1987, we could not imagine that two years later, on November 9th, 1989, the Wall would be torn down and two East and West Germany would be reunited.

On this recent trip in March 2016, almost 30 years later, we came to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 80th birthday. March is probably not the ideal time to travel to Europe, since the weather can be cold (The average temperature was about 44°F.). But we were here for a special occasion, and tried to enjoy our trip. Berlin offers many opportunities for visitors, including art shows, museums, concerts, and theaters. Its population is about 3.5 million people, and a multitude of different languages spoken, as we explored the city. My brother-in-law’s family lives not far from the center of the city in a huge apartment complex, that also had short-term rentals which we were able to rent for €105 (U.S. $120.00) for a week (€13/U.S. $15.00 a day).

Every morning I would go for a brisk walk (to warm up my body) with my small camera in my pocket. The sky was usually gray, the houses bleak, there were no leaves on the trees, and sometimes it drizzled. The outside world was not very stimulating. And then, on top of this, I discovered another issue – unfriendly people. I am accustomed to greeting people whom I pass by on my walks, with a smile, wishing them good morning. Not here – people looked down on the ground and did not return my smiles. But even worse, when I tried to photograph them, they angrily demanded to delete the image. In all my travels, I never experienced such an attitude. This alone would be enough reason to pack my bags and fly home or back to Cuba, where everyone is so friendly and photogenic. Instead, I came to a different conclusion. I decided to change my attitude. There was nothing I could do about the weather but to wear warm clothes. I also had an umbrella. As far as the people were concerned, I continued to smile and focused on finding color or contrast in the grey environment. Some people were still not receptive to my smile or to my desire to photograph them. But some smiled back. I even had conversations with young people who spoke perfect English and who did not mind being photographed. After visiting a contemporary art show located in a 5-story concrete bunker, and befriending our guide, I got an idea to create a “42 Encounters in Berlin” photography book, which I called “Transformation”, with the help of my new friend. The text of the stories is going to be written by young Germans. The photo exhibit of my images will begin a conversation about transformation. This project, which is in addition to other projects, I am currently working on, will take me to 2018.

Stay tuned. Enjoy and Share. Meanwhile, “42 Encounters in San Francisco” will soon be available for purchase.

P.S. I was roaming Berlin trying to find color for my images until one day, when we got home in the evening and went to see my brother-in-law, it was just in front of me. I stepped out on the balcony and was able to capture the most amazing sunset I ever encountered. To paraphrase the Biblical saying, “When you are ready to receive, it’s going to be given to you”.

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A few weeks ago, 63 million Irish people who live in Ireland, plus an estimated 50 to 80 million people around the world who have Irish forebears, as well as millions of those who do not, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. I wrote about the reason for this tradition recently, but what are the rituals to make this event special? Some of these rituals include, wearing green, and visiting pubs and bars (some celebrate St. Patrick’s every day). There is a story about St. Patrick, that while staying at an Inn, he was given a cup of whiskey that was not full. To teach the innkeeper generosity, he told him that the devil, who lives in the cellar, made him greedy. Since then, to keep the devil away, the cups were always filled to the brim. The custom became known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick’s Pot.

It turns out that Irish people are not the only people who celebrate the holidays with drinking alcoholic beverages.

Last week, the Jewish people celebrated the holiday called Purim. The tradition began shortly after the events that took place 2,500 years ago. At that time, many of the Jews were exiled into Persia (modern day Iran) and some lived in the city of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire. There, Haman, the envious royal vizier, plotted to rid the empire of all the Jews, planning the first holocaust. He convinced the Persian King Ahasuerus to issue a decree to get rid of the Jewish people, because they had different traditions and rituals. According to the story, which is called the Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther), Haman’s plans were miraculously foiled. His hatred for the Jews began when a Jewish man, Mordechai, refused to bow to him. As it sometimes happens in historical twists and turns, the King had chosen Mordechai’s adopted daughter Esther, for a queen, and Mordechai was honored. When she learned that the King issued a decree to kill the Jews, she admitted to him that she belongs to those people and that it is Haman’s hatred that caused the problems. Since the King could not annul his decree, he issued another one to hang Haman and to allow the Jews to arm and protect themselves. This led to the killing of anyone who wanted to kill Jews. But this was not exactly the end of the story. According to the tradition, Haman was a descendant of Amalek, who attacked the Israelites in the desert, when they left Egypt. It is believed that the German Nazis were also direct descendants of Amalek, thereby making them literal and biological “sons of Haman”. No doubt, happy endings like those deserve a celebration; therefore, Jews have a tradition to drink for the joy of being alive, until they can no longer distinguish who is Haman and who is Mordechai.

Both groups of immigrants, the Irish and the Jews, were discriminated when they came to America. Only when the groups united and became a political force, the discrimination subsided. And this deserves a drink. Of water in my case, since I do not drink alcohol.

P.S. One of the rituals of celebrating Purim is to listen to the reading of the Book of Esther, while children (and children at heart) dress up as Mordechai and Esther (and nowadays in other costumes), and each time Haman’s name is mentioned, they make noise by stomping their feet, or using a ratchet. These images are of some kids I met last week at my synagogue.

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