My documenta

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The genius of Leonardo da Vinci

The former post office in Rotterdam hosts an exhibition about Leonardo da Vinci

A self portrait of Leonardo

The Vitruvian man... the perfect picture of a man

Some examples of Leonardo's studies in anatomy

Some of Leonardo's flying machines.... fortunately nobody ever tried them out

Four man were supposed to stand on the platform and turn the spiral to lift the helicopter

A pioneers bridge simply assembled by assembling logs

Diving suit and the first example of water skis

A tank to be manned by 4 man

A cannon powered by steam

There are no originals, but there are lots of reconstructions of the machinery invented by Leonardo and drawn on the 1600 pages of his preserved notes.

The second attraction of the exhibition is the location, the old post office

which still has a paternoster

and a lot of art deco decorations

this is not an official museum so everything is a bit makeshift

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Disguise and deceipt

The art of Marcel Odenbach.

At the moment, the "Kunsthalle" in Bonn houses an exhibition of the artist Marcel Odenbach. The works are partially overpainted collages where the background paper of the collage makes a reference to the big picture itself.

On first sight, "Hey man" is a black and white copy of the American Flag. If you look closer, the paper used for the collage shows pictures of Native American Chiefs murdered upon the conquest of the American West. This in contrast to the white parts of the flag, where paper was used, which had the American constitution (equal rights, liberty....) printed on it.

"My home is my castle"

Another picture called "Sitzfleisch" shows a portrait of the Congo dictator Laurent Kabila. If you look closer, the details reveal the portraits and scenes of mass murder and homicide, he has caused.

There is also a series of collages of scenes of different european countries with the shape of the country cut out

"Der Lack ist ab" (1990)

This type of art really forces you to visit the exhibition. Details are not visible in the catalogue or when you look at one of the big size paintings on your computer. You have to go close and a lot of details and allusions will jump into your eyes.