Art and Stuff

Meet 52 year old bricklayer-turned-architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre. He is the creator of the wild Neo-Andean style.

Though many westerners draw comparisons to Las Vegas, Mamani clarifies that the shapes, colors, and patterns he uses are drawn from Bolivia’s pre-Columbian history. In particular, the aguayo, a bright woven cloth of the Aymara, an indigenous group that Mamani is a part of, inspires the architect’s designs….“My designs are a modern expression of our culture,” he adds. “Since Evo Morales [the country’s first indigenous president] became president, things have changed a lot. We feel proud of being Aymaran.” (source)

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A lovely 600 kilogram (1,322.77 pounds) walrus is summering in Oslo. She’s especially partial to climbing into boats for naps in the sun. Dubbed Freya, for the Norse goddess of love, fertility, sex, lust, beauty, sorcery, gold, war, and death, our girl has also been spotted around Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the Shetland Islands.

You’ve probably already seen the vid of sea lions on the beach in La Jolla Cove, California.

Charlianne Yeyna, who captured the scene, said “Like, they are still wild animals and you need to give them their space. I think that this shows that they are not to be messed with.” (source)

By the by, male sea lions can weigh up to 454 kilograms (1,000 pounds). I really wouldn’t want to get one pissed off at me.
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Thanks to the plague and Nf2, I’m gonna miss this brill exhibit—The Birth of Punk.

Punk was quite a broad category in the 1970s, and the exhibit does an impressive job of showcasing album covers, posters, flyers, photographs and videos from a wide range of bands including The Dead Boys, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, Suicide, The Dictators, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. (source)

In my hearing days I listened to a shit-ton more than just punk but that was a big piece of the musical pie (my tastes included just about everything EXCEPT country). The Birth of Punk is only up through the end of this week so if you’re down in NYC, stop by and take a few snaps for me. Grazie.

One of these days I won’t be such a shut-in. I’ll travel again, see more of my friends, maybe even paint. Meanwhile, Ten and I can do a drive-by of the mural Breathe Life 2 that’s up now outside Madison Park High School in nearby Roxbury.