El Templete, Habana Vieja (with water from the Malecon). Ink on hand.book paper. Habana, Cuba. April 2012.
Example of Moorish (Mudéjar) Architecture in Habana Vieja. Ink on hand.book paper. Habana, Cuba. April 2012.
….
“Music is a total constant. That’s why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment.”
‘Habana is very much like a rose,’ said Fico Fellove in the movie The Lost City,
‘it has petals and it has thorns…so it depends on how you grab it.
But in the end it always grabs you.’
“One of the most beautiful cities in the world. You see it with your heart.”
Enrique Nunez Del Valle, Paladar Owner
Habana’s real essence is so difficult to pin down. Plenty of writers have had a try, though; Cuban intellectual Alejo Carpentier nicknamed Habana the ‘city of columns,’ Federico Llorca declared that he had spent the best days of his life there and Graham Greene concluded that Habana was a city where ‘anything was possible.’
…
ARCHITECTURE
Habana is, without doubt, one of the most attractive and architecturally diverse cities in the world. Shaped by a colorful colonial history and embellished by myriad foreign influences from as far afield as Italy and Morocco, the Cuban capital gracefully combines Mudéjar, baroque, neoclassical, art nouveau, art deco and modernist architectural styles into a visually striking whole.
But it’s not all sweeping vistas and tree-lined boulevards. Habana doesn’t have the architectural uniformity of Paris or the instant knock-out appeal of Rome. Indeed, two decades of economic austerity has meant many of the city’s finest buildings have been left to festering an advanced state of dilapidation. Furthermore, attempting to classify Habana’s houses,palaces, churches and forts as a single architectural entity is extremely difficult.
Cuban building – rather like its music – is unusually diverse. Blending Spanish colonial with French belle epoque, and Italian Renaissance with Gaudi-esque art nouveau, the over-riding picture is often one of eclecticism run wild.
Nadie’ en tus arquiadas
En tus piedras llore’
Tus plazas me acogieron
Respire’ en la sombra de tus arboles
Sufrie’ por su cara
–los abrazos olvidados en la rena
estan alla’ hasta otro viento–
En tu son
Tu sol
Comprendi’ tus ojos infinitos
El calor the tus brazos dorados
Me calento’
En la noche el agua va corriendo en las fuentes–
Todavia estare’ alla’,
En los pasajes y las calles,
En las escaleras y las puertas serradas,
y en tu corazon de sal.
La Habana, Cuba, Avril 2012
…
Havana
I swam in your porticoes On your stones I cried Your piazzas welcomed me
I breathed in the shade of your trees I suffered for his face –the embraces forgotten on the sand there remain, until another wind.
In your sound Your sun I understood your infinite eyes The heat of your golden arms Warmed me
In the night The water will continue to run in the fountains I will be there still, In your passageways and streets, In your staircases and closed doors, And in your heart of salt.
Well, this is no good! August is almost here and once again balmy summer days flew by with traveling, urban escapades and some R&R…while the postings have been mighty sparse.
I have been a curious tourist in my own city and state, and, in between summer courses, the roamings included a visit to Joshua Tree National Park, Much Ado Abouth Nothing, a tour of the Getty Villa in Malibu, an evening dreaming of Cuba and its Architecture and finally, a retro movie under the stars. There have also been some further experiments with jewelry design. And many caffe’ shakerato’s. And many of foreign movies. And declutterings, of tangibles and intangibles. I have been busy.
I am back from my adventures for good now, just in time to be blindsided and crushed by Amy Winehouse’s death (more on this later).
I have some shots to share from my travels, the challenge now is not to turn this into a photography blog (after all it is called *sketch* bloom) so i will be back tomorrow with more sketches and plan to alternate photos with drawings and collages for the next few posts.
It’s good to be back, renewed and energized. I hope this month was good to you too.
{new} Favorite drawings, paintings, collages and handwork on SketchBloom
The funambulist. Ink drawing + digital collage. August 2011.
July 27, San Diego Museum Of Art. The Age of Enlightenment – Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breuteuil, Marquise du Chatelet by Yinka Shonibare- Ink on hand.book paper
Coffee Carrier (delle). Graphite on paper. Kuwait. January 2010
Ink and watercolor on paper and tracing paper. A bit of digital manipulation. Feb. 09,2011.
Mare Mosso Act II. Graphite drawing by Gianni Aiello. Collage. March 18,2011
Platonic Solid Exercise. Graphite on Paper. 2007
Watercolor on paper. June 3, 2010
Watercolor and Graphite. November 12, 2009
our very own coffee cart @ NewSchool: Cafe’ A la Carte
Pilot pen on paper. January 2011
Graphite on paper and magazine cutouts. December 27, 2010. Miti and Gianni Aiello.
Ink on Paper. December 2010.
Pilot Pen on Paper. November 2009
Ink on hand.book paper. Paris, 2011.
Twomoons Wax Proof-modeled after concept sketch
The Fortress of Lost Time. Graphite on paper and magazine cutouts. December 27, 2010. Miti and Gianni Aiello.
Final Twomoons Piece, Summer 2008
Queen Califia’s Garden, Totem/Sculpture. Ink, color pencils and markers. 2009
Ink on Paper. December 2010.
Felt tip on paper. March 22, 2011.
Ink on Paper. September 2009
Casa Del Fascio, contrast corrected thru Photoshop, Como, 2007
Earth Henna, Eucalyptus Oil. May 2, 2010.
Miniature Pomegranate. Watercolor on chocolate wrap. Kuwait. January 2010
Mare Mosso Act III. Graphite and pen drawing by Gianni Aiello. Collag and pastel. March 19, 2011.
Ink on tracing paper. Kuwait, January 2010. The scene at the bottom is what I saw-or decided to see- at The Avenues, the most popular malla in Kuwait City. There is nothing like seeing photography and drawings from a trip abroad to make you realize all reality is subjective, and we choose to see what we want to. We just don’t realize it in our own backyard.
Pencil and Watercolor on canvas
Earth and Water. Beads and yarn. June 24, 2011
Barcelona Chairs by Mies Van De Rohe, 1929 @ the CED Library in Berkeley
Persimmon- very quick pastel rendering. November 12, 2009.
The Sun, the Moon, and on there being no abstracts in life. Pencil, ink, watercolor on 4″X5″ canvas.2009
Baggalini Red.
Waiting for Godot | Static Head. Digital Collage. May 5th, 2010
Collage, Pilot Pen on Paper
Ink on Paper. Calabria, Italia. September 29, 2011.
Dr. Gregory House. Watercolor on Paper. June 3, 2010
