The Lamborghini Aventador J, Geneva 2012

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The Lamborghini Aventador J (Photo by GT Spirit) at Geneva 2012.
I could die just looking at it.

I cannot wax more lyrical than Sam Smith who wrote in 2011 about his driving experience with what he called a “hellfire sexplosion” of a car that is the Lamborghini Gallardo in his article at Exhaust Notes.

And this year in Geneva 2012, the Lamborghini Aventador J was unveiled.

Lamborghini Aventador J, back.

At 6.5L with 700 horsepower and its V-12 engine untouched from the Aventador LP700-4 – this piece of blinding passion and desire embodied in a deep glowing lava of metal takes creativity in luxury sports cars to completely unchallenged dimensions that makes the future passé.

The Aventador J is a multi-layered construct of contradictions in practicality and design. Open air and without a hard top, the insides of this superfine piece of engineered art is exposed purposefully to all natural elements and an untold number of bugs, as if in challenge to the Gods themselves, since there is also no windshield to its 217-mph top speed. Thus embodied in its very design, the Aventador J literally forces you to live in all out Italian extreme – all or nothing!

As a metaphor for good leadership, I was once told, “It isn’t enough that you own a Lamborghini. You need to know how to drive it!”, the thoughts resonating with Lamboghini’s own “Every weapon needs a Master!”

Indeed.

Audrey Kawasaki’s She, and the third aspect…

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It is difficult to put to words, the emotions that surface from within when viewing Audrey Kawasaki’s work. I can’t help but see parallels of her work to Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s pre-Raphaelite art, whose art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism – Bocca Baciata (1859) for example.

For those unfamiliar with Kawasaki, she is an LA based artist influenced by both manga comics and the Art Nouveau scene in which she grew up. The figures she paints captures and personifies an inner Lolita. Often a girl, She expresses a haunting and sensual melancholy that is sometimes avertive and sometimes daring.

I thought it marginally humourous to find that heavily pensive part of myself being reflected, even personified, in Kawasaki’s works. Admittedly, I am by far not as sultry as that She in Kawasaki’s works, still the renditions of Her gave me a interesting insight into the third aspect of a portrait, that of the Model who can often times be overlooked in the process of Interpretation, while that of the Artist and the Viewer is often taken for granted.
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Swedish west coast inspirations in ceramic form

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro Vävra Keramik II 098

Sitting with some of my favourite items made by Helen Kainert at her boutique studio, Vävra Keramik that is located just before Marstrand along the Swedish westcoast.
JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

Driving along the Swedish westcoast in the area of Kungälv towards Marstrand from Gothenburg, a red house with two flags at its door post with a friendly sign that said ‘pottery works’ loomed large, and we couldn’t help but pull into its sand filled driveway to check-out the creative assortment of ceramic pottery works inside, meeting with owner and artist herself, Helen Kainert.
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In the footsteps of Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer at Skagen, 2011

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Skagen 2011

At the very, very northernmost point of Denmark is Grenen, the point where the two
seas of Skagerrak and Kattegatt meet. Here you can literary stand with one foot in each sea.
JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

In a landscape of muted pastels that continued to appeal even under the grey of the rain clouds hovering above, I felt it was surprisingly heavy and tiring to walk in the shifting sand of the long beach that led up to Grenen. An aspect that might not be immediately apparent when just looking at the famous paintings by Peder Severin Krøyer of the Skagen Painters that have Grenen as a theme, just north of the northernmost fishing village Skagen at the very tip of the Danish peninsula.

Krøyer was probably the most well known of the artists that lived and worked here from the late 1870s until the turn of the century, and it is his paintings too, amongst all Skagen artists, that attract me most. In fact, a reproduction of one of his most famous paintings, Hip Hip Hurra!, of a summer party held in Michael Ancher’s garden in 1884, adorns one of our guest room walls at home. Ancher belonged to Krøyer’s circle of artist friends, though with a different temperament altogether.
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Miró, Miró on the wall …

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From Castell de Montjuic silent large-calibre guns overlooks the sea and port as well as the metropolis of Barcelona itself. On the west side, stands an ornate memorial to General Francisco Franco. An unintentional but vivid commentary on the history of Spain and Barcelona as good as any history book would offer.
JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

The headline pun is, of course a play on the words from the English translation by D. L. Ashliman of the definitive edition of the Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Berlin 1857), tale ‘Snow White’, in which the Queen asks her magical mirror “Mirror, mirror on the wall / Who in the land is fairest of all?” The tale takes a dramatic turn when the mirror tells her an unwanted truth.

In a similar manner, the period around the early 1900’s was extraordinarily volatile when it came to artists and architects communication with the public. Many of the art movements that enriched the early 1900’s in Europe were protests against those in power that for their winnings sake drew the world into war. Various kinds of repression caused new ways of commenting on society to appear.
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Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, in Barcelona, more or less

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Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion is but a short walk downhill from the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, or the MNAC. It’s situated at the foot of the Montjuïc hill. The outdoor café outside the Museu Nacional offers a much needed refreshment.
JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

Just below the Museu National on Montjuïc, towards the Placa d’Espanya and on its original site lies the newly rebuilt Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, originally the German Pavilion, built for the 1929 world exhibition held here in Barcelona.

The Pavilion is to me, a fundamental architectural monument from a time when the hope towards a unified and better Europe prevailed. Even beyond the field of arts history and architecture, the German architect and designer of the early 20th century, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969) was known for his works being some of the most influential of the time. He was one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style.

He coined the phrase “less is more” in referring to clarity of shapes and thoughts. So influential were his ideas from the early 1900s that today, these clean lines are visibly noted in the design of just about every current shopping mall or airport in the world. It could even be argued that the very typography of this blog, looking as it does, could be traced back to him.

Because of this, it is a little mind boggling that I found myself in the very building that in architectural form, presented this new ideology to the world, considering too that this was the fruitful result of a flow of ideas between the Russian constructivists, the Bauhaus design school in Berlin and the De Stijl group in the Netherlands, who no doubt also fetched energy and ideas from the modernists here in Barcelona.
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Purple proper, to the “spikning” or nailing of the thesis

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At Repro Centralen of Göteborgs Universitet, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

At the printing shop of Göteborgs Universitet to collect copies of my thesis. Purple wool dress by Warehouse and black patent flats by Prada.

It was to be a small academic ceremony today where I collected my thesis from the printers and have one copy nailed to the public notice board of the University of Gothenburg. The spikning or the nailing of the thesis is for two main reasons, the first of which is to encourage the public to read your work and the second, perhaps more important reason, is to show that your work hasn’t been plagiarized.

Design in dress and colours on outfits have always been important factors in my life. When choosing junior colleges in Singapore, I remember how all my other classmates chose their junior colleges based on entry grades and proximity to the home. I chose my junior college based on its uniform. So I ended up at Victoria Junior College in Singapore, second highest ranked after Raffles Junior College at that time, with its beige coloured unifrom accented with a deep wine coloured belt. And I felt perfectly fine about it. I thought a neutral beige would help my mind relax in its notoriously competitive school environment and the deep burgundy wine just happens to be one of my favourite colours of all time.

Spikning, nailing the thesis to the notice board for the public at the University of Gothenburg

Nailing the thesis to the public notice board at Göteborgs Universitet.

The ceremony consisted of drilling a hole at the corner of my 554 paged thesis and putting a nail through that, onto the notice board at the University of Gothenburg. A champagne bottle was popped and served in celebration, and as a thank you for the group who had joined in for this happy event.

In dress, I opted for a 60s looking purple sheath dress from Warehouse with a boat neck and capped sleeves, since it had clean lines and turned quite chic when paired with dark grey wool tights and a pair of black patent Prada flats.
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A visit to the Schönenberg Church in Ellwangen, Germany, by Kevin D. Cordeiro

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The Schönenberg Church, also the Wallfahrtskirche in Ellwangen, Germany.
Photo: Kevin D. Cordeiro.

The Schönenberg Church is a pilgrimage church that is also known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady. It’s a major church in the region of Ostwürttemberg in the southern regions of Germany. In years past, people made their pilgrimage voyages by foot in order to reach the churches and their sanctuary of prayer. These days however, pilgrims are more likely to arrive at their respective churches via buses. Just as well too since this particular church sits atop a 530 m climb.

Photo: Kevin D. Cordeiro.

The foundations to the church were laid in 1682 by Johann Christoph von Freyberg who was then the Bishop of Augsburg. The building’s architect was Michael Thumb Vorarlberger Munster whose design template for this church had great influence over other important buildings of Baroque design such as the baroque pilgrimage church of the Holy Cross built on Gottesberg hill in Bad Wurzach in 1709. Continue reading “A visit to the Schönenberg Church in Ellwangen, Germany, by Kevin D. Cordeiro” →

In black and white: Haus Schönenberg, Ellwangen, Germany

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In black and white, by Kevin Dominic Cordeiro, cortenography, Haus Schönenberg, Ellewengen, Germany

The compounds around Haus Schönenberg in Ellwangen, Germany.
Photo for CMC by Kevin D. Cordeiro © Singapore 2009

Haus Schönenberg is a charming hotel located in the small historic German town of Ellwangen that lies east of Baden-Württemburg. It’s a throw back in time in its architecture, standing next to the renowned pilgrimage church, Wallfahrtskirche.

By Kevin Dominic Cordeiro in black and white photography, Cortenography

While the hotel isn’t one that is too luxe, visitors will be won over by its rustic appeal. Those who love the outdoors and nature can explore the rather generous grounds of the place. Continue reading “In black and white: Haus Schönenberg, Ellwangen, Germany” →

Into the heart of the St. Peter’s Basilica – The Vatican City and its treasures in Rome

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Small treasures on this trip to the Holy See – fresh summer fruits and some time away from the mid-day sun. This particular café served a good range of lunches from pizzas to fresh fruit and ice-cream.

We parked our car in Rome and then in all of about 300 meters, it seemed we were standing right in the middle of a different state; the Vatican City.

The Vatican state and its structures, to me, seemed to blend seamlessly with everything else Roman. Large, majestic looking sculptures, passageways and corridors that seem almost too large for any efficient or practical use of space, making one feel almost insignificant when walking about. I can imagine the purpose of the imposing structures from ancient times, that people needed to feel the power of the ruling, for the masses to feel at once diminished, yet safe. The structures work to the very same purpose today, except with a different flavour.

As a tourist, it’s splendid with so much space to conquer during your visit. And the Vatican state allows you these conquests as it invites hoards of visitors into its arms, into its heart which is St. Peter’s Basilica and into its treasure filled museum wings. The high arches and open spaces aid in dispensing with the overly crowded feel; a feel that Venice for example, could not overcome.

A curious feature: an Egyptian obelisk stands in front of St. Peter’s church.

Though small as a state, by foot, the grounds of St. Peter’s Basilica are still vast, with an intriguing sight of an Egyptian obelisk in the middle. Its slightly skewed alignment to Michelangelo’s building is said to have been compensated by Maderno’s nave inside the Basilica. Continue reading “Into the heart of the St. Peter’s Basilica – The Vatican City and its treasures in Rome” →