BEAUTY: Interior Design--Dorbolo' Gubane by Visual Display

Italian design firm Visual Display recently completed a store front for the bakery Dorbolo' Gubane located in Cividale del Friuli, in northeastern Italy, very close to the Slovenian border. As the name implies, this bakery specializes in a type of northern Italian bread called Gubane which is a rolled sweet bread filled with nuts and raisins. Usually enjoyed at holiday times like Christmas and Easter, Dorbolo' Gubane offers this delicious treat year-round. And in the most gorgeous of settings. Visual Display CEO and founder Giorgio di Bernardo created a stunning marble temple to bread using local grey stone and polished brass in a minimalistic approach. It seems like this sweet bread would taste even better in such a setting.

All photos: Camilla Bach
https://camillabach.me/
Styling:Sara Bertolini
https://www.instagram.com/sarabertolini_setstylist/

Visit their site to order on-line! They only ship to parts of Europe.
https://www.gubanedorbolo.com/

And for more interior beauty, visit Visual Display.
https://www.visualdisplay.it/en/dorbolo-gubana-boutique.html

For Valentine's Day: In Love 2022

"The Actor" by alt-J

Indie rock group alt-J have released a fascinating song with quite an effective groove called "The Actor," out now on their new album "The Dream."

In a statement about the song, the band said, "Hollywood, 1982. Another hopeful young movie star arrives in search of The Dream. What follows is a tale of desperation, drugs and death in LA’s most famous hotel. It’s 'The Actor'."

Bricked up a kilo
Paneled down in the back door
All the while I'm riding
To auditions I'm not getting

Why do I keep on returning to you?

All American jawlines
One moment going over scene lines
Grind the scripts like teeth

Why do I keep on returning to you?
Cocaine, cocaine

Swarm TV cameras
Click and stumble at the Chateau
Later, I hear John's
Body got carried out
Ice cream was a code word
Told to me by a code man
These nice hotels
I don’t know your clientele

Why do I keep on returning to you?
Cocaine, cocainе
Cocaine, cocaine
Why do I keep on returning to you?
Givе me some ice cream
Give it to me now
Oh, now

I'm in the deepest end of an empty pool
(He's never gonna make it)
(He's never gonna make it in LA)
I'm in the deepest end of an empty pool
Cocaine, cocaine
I'm in the deepest end of an empty pool
(He's never gonna make it)
(He's never gonna make it in LA)
I'm in the deepest end of an empty pool
(He's never gonna make it)
Cocaine
(He's never gonna make it)
Cocaine

https://www.altjband.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Charles Cajori

I recently discovered the work of the late painter Charles Cajori (1921 - 2013) and fell in love. Look at these dynamic shapes, the movement, the amazing color palette. His work is just a pure, glorious expression of creativity itself.

https://www.charlescajori.com/

Restaurant Kamakura Village

If you are in or near--or are going to be in or near--Nagano Prefecture in Japan in the next 2 weeks or so, you might want to hurry over to Restaurant Kamakura Village in Iiyama. This charming restaurant set up only from late January to late February features 20 individual snow huts or igloos in which one dines on a local specialty hot pot called Noroshi Nabe made with vegetables, local mushrooms, and an Iiyama specialty: Miyuki Pork. Lunch or dinner reservations are available!

And visitors may visit the Shinto Shrine at the end of the walkway in the outdoor restaurant. A red Tori gate marks the entrance to this special snow hut. Inside is an offering box as well as a woven rope called a Shimenawa. Made of rice straw or hemp, these Shimenawa are sacred in the Shinto religion and are used for purification and to ward off evil spirits. In the Kamakura Shinto Shrine, one is placed on some small trees so as to attract the spirits that dwell in them. Kindly, one does not need to be a restaurant guest to visit the shrine.

If you'd like to go, there are only a few more weeks left! Visit the Nagano Prefecture website or the city of Iiyama website for more information:

https://www.go-nagano.net/en/
https://www.iiyama-ouendan.net/en/special/kamakura/

BEAUTY: Photography--Julia Fullerton-Batten

Wonderful, award-winning fine art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten created a very touching photography series when COVID started. Called Looking Out From Within, it features Fullerton-Batten's neighbors she saw on her evening walk. The series resulted in a book of her beautiful, highly theatrical, and exquisitely lit portraits.

Her website describes her inspiration and execution:

Covid-19 came. Life changed around the world. For ever. Award-winning fine-art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten felt she couldn’t sit around helpless. During her evening permitted exercise, walking around her local neighbourhood, she noticed people looking out of their windows onto a newly desolate world. This was sufficient for her to formulate how she would visually portray the disturbing effect of the Covid-19 lockdown had on people’s everyday lives, not only of those in her West London neighbourhood but of millions around the world. Little did she know that she would still be shooting her project over a year later.

Her idea was to photograph her neighbours imprisoned in their homes as they gazed forlornly out of their window onto the surreal, silent and stark world outside. She chose to photograph them during twilight to further enhance the poignancy of their situation and isolation. Julia advertised her idea on social media and in a local newspaper. The response was so large that she was reluctantly forced to be selective in her choice of subjects. She contacted them by phone and email to arrange details of setting, clothing, face mask and agree a date and time. Her subjects were invited to dress up and use props to share their narratives. She also asked them to answer a few informal questions about their lockdown experience, in order to add to the poignancy of their situation and provide a heightened emotional content to their stories.

The result is her series titled Looking out from Within. Fullerton-Batten explains that she has found the most important part of these images to be how they provide a magnifying glass to reflect upon what the pandemic and lockdown meant to us all. The loved ones we lost, the extended isolation from our families and the huge sacrifices that many have made. She was sad to lose one of her sitters shortly after she had photographed him.

These images have won global attention and acclaim, winning numerous awards and have been hung in galleries and at photography exhibitions worldwide. She now brings the project together in a beautifully designed limited-edition artist book, which features full-page images and includes the sitters’ personal stories. The volume will provide an insight into the lives of people not only in Julia’s part of London, but also the lives of others throughout the world. It provides a record for posterity, holding onto the memories of what we have all been through. Above all, the book is a beautiful yet tangible object, important not only for its historical importance but also for the mesmerising fine-art photography that it contains.

You can buy signed copies of her book "Looking Out From Within" at her website:

https://juliafullerton-batten.com/books/

"Impossible" by Röyksopp and Alison Goldfrapp

Wow, what an amazing collaboration: Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp (Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland), previously here, and vocalist extraodinaire Alison Goldfrapp, previously here. "Impossible" is from the forthcoming Röyksopp album "Profound Mysteries" available on April 29th, 2022.

https://profoundmysteries.royksopp.com/

BEAUTY: Fiber Art--Mulyana

Currently on display until March 4 at the Sapar Contemporary gallery in New York City, Mulyana: Fragile Ecologies is a whimsical fiber art installation by Indonesian fiber artist Mulyana.

The Sapar Contemporary statement says:
Sapar Contemporary announces Mulyana: Fragile Ecologies, the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. Known for his whimsical knit and crocheted Mogus characters and his dazzling underwater landscapes, Mulyana’s latest exhibition Fragile Ecologies, features two life-size, hand-knit and crocheted costumes and a series of sumptuously knit coral islands in the main room of the gallery. As the viewer enters the gallery they encounter multi-colored coral islands and suspended Mogus figures representative of his oeuvre, as well as being treated to a video introducing us to new vibrant costumes on moving figures, that are filmed on location in the beautiful Indonesian landscape.

Masks and costumes are seminal expressions in many folkloric traditions that can signify heroic acts, define religious celebrations, channel spirits, or provide entertainment. Masks in particular are a metaphor for the facades we construct to conceal the ‘true self’ from our neighbors. For Mulyana the impulse behind the Adikara and Nayanika costumed figures is intended to achieve the opposite—for him, these avatars more accurately embody his personality than the Mogus characters are able to do. These figurative tableaus speak to the universal struggle of becoming comfortable in one's own skin and resonate profoundly as we grapple with this unprecedented era of isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic.

Mulyana’s work directly engages the audience: His immersive installations captivate viewers of all ages both with their fantastical portrayal of oceanic life and his attention to detail in the creation of his creatures. The enveloping experience underscores the precarious nature of complex ecosystems in the sea and examines the peril that this sanctuary is in, as a result of global pollution levels and climate change. Because of his commitment to sustainability, Mulyana incorporates repurposed yarn and support materials in his process to minimize new industrial material production, as well as recycling parts of his installations into new projects.

Mulyana’s generous approach to life is reflected in every component of his art making. He experiences the act of knitting and crocheting as a form of meditation and prayer. Guided by the belief that, “In God’s eyes, our earthly being will eventually meet the Creator in a beautiful place,” he views his artistic expression as a privilege, one that allows him to “show gratitude to the Creator who has blessed me with a sound mind and a healthy body for life on earth.” Based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, his founding vision was to establish a community-based practice. His earliest collaborators were a group of transgender women from the nearby village of Sorogenen. A dedicated community of artisans, they played a central role in developing the idea for his creaturely knit and crocheted sculptures.

On a macro level, Mulyana’s profound concern for the eroding environment and our collective lack of care for the natural world, parallels the importance of self-care on a micro level. His message encourages a holistic path to self-preservation amidst a chaotic and uncertain post-pandemic world. While Mulyana does not overtly reference gender and sexuality in his intricate installations, the diversity of his colorful environments and spectacular costumes allude to the fluidity of human identity. His commitment to promoting shared values emanates from his spiritual understanding of human dignity, an outlook that honors the totality of creation. By constructing elaborate, magical worlds, Mulyana hopes to ignite our collective imagination to cherish creation and reveal the beauty inside each of us.

http://mulyana.info/
https://www.saparcontemporary.com/exhibitions#/muleco

The Evolution of the Alphabet by Matt Baker

This amazing visualization from Matt Baker of UsefulCharts demonstrates how our modern Latin script used in English evolved from Greek, and other, much older alphabets.

Matt Baker says, "I originally titled the chart 'Evolution of the English alphabet' and many people commented that there is no such thing as an English alphabet and that the chart should be titled 'Evolution of the Latin alphabet'. Actually, both titles are correct. Obviously, many European languages use the same Latin script. But some use a slightly different number of letters. When one is referring to the set of Latin letters used for a particular language, it's ok to refer to that set as the '[language name] alphabet'. However, in the end, in order to be more inclusive, I decided to change the title to simply 'Evolution of the Alphabet' and use the row titles to make it clear that it is the evolution of the standard Latin script that is being shown (as opposed to say, the Cyrillic or Hebrew scripts)."

You can see how the chart begins with something called the Proto-Sinaitic script which was derived in Canaan, around the biblical Land of Israel. It was repurposed from Egyptian hieroglyphs that were commonly seen in the area (its name comes from Mount Sinai). This Proto-Sinaitic script influenced other Semitic languages: it was the precursor to the Phoenician alphabet, which was used in the area of modern-day Lebanon and spread across the Mediterranean, becoming the basis for Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and of course, Greek. The first forms of the Archaic Greek script are dated circa 750 BCE, which then grew into Latin, with Archaic Latin script appearing circa 500 BCE. The evolution into Roman script, with the same recognizable letters used in our modern English, occurred 500 years later in 1 CE. Fascinating.

https://usefulcharts.com/blogs/charts/evolution-of-the-english-alphabet