Donato Giancola - The Taming Of Smeagol
One of the most beautiful Tolkien-inspired paintings I’ve ever seen. Giancola is a genius.
Nice. Looks just like one of those renaissance paintings.
The mighty once dwelt here.
Before it became F. R. Hidalgo, it was once Calle San Sebastian, because it leads to San Sebastian Church. If today it is an odd agglomeration of slum shacks, worn out 19th century houses and thugerry, before it was the home of Quiapo’s local aristocracies. Today only the Bautista-Nakpil house remains strong.
As a former surfer, Paul Bobko had plenty of time to observe waves of all shapes and forms. It was during this time that he found his inspiration for his series Water Landscapes-Suspended Energy.
About the project:
In his magnum opus, Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon introduces us to the German concept of Brenschluss in the telemetry of the flight of the V2 rocket. The rocket is propelled by its engines and travels along its parabolic arc. At a certain point the engines turn off, this flameout is called brenschluss. At brenschluss the rocket’s ascendancy is checked by gravity, and before it begins to fall to its target on earth, it hesitates for just a moment. After this moment gravity and momentum alone, not a rocket engine, define the inexorable trajectory of descent to its inevitable, calamitous end.
So to do Paul Bobko’s Water Landscapes-Suspended Energy photographs allow us to see that very moment of hesitation when the force of nature that is the ocean wave, ceases to be propelled by the surging forces of the ocean floor. The ocean suddenly lets go and sets it free, it hesitates at this moment of release, then crashes on the shore, liberated, but spent. Bobko shows us this very moment of hesitation, before the explosion. The outline of the explosion is clear and coming, but it hasn’t happened yet, it is, as yet, prelude…the power is still coiled in the curl, frozen for this second. Light comes glowing through that watery tunnel, foam is leaping from its crest, escaping and ecstatic. The menace is limned in the terrifying flexing of its form. It is most exhilarating to see the noun become the verb.
In this map of the Philippines under the United States printed in the year 1900, “Bajo de Masinloc” or Scarborough Shoal/Panatag Shoal is clearly seen as part of the maritime jurisdiction of the Philippines.
At the time, Qing Dynasty’s territories have been diminished due to the expanding imperialism of European powers in mainland China. If China would appeal to history, what period in the timeline would they choose? Of course the period when they had extensive domain (Yuan dynasty perhaps?)
But then, they have to claim Mongolia, parts of Russia, the whole Korean peninsula, Vietnam, etc. etc. to be consistent. You see how absurd their claims are on Panatag Shoal and Kalayaan Islands?
25 abandoned Yugoslavia monuments that look like they’re from the future
“These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place or where concentration camps stood. They were designed by different sculptors and architects, conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their ‘patriotic education.’ After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost. From 2006 to 2009, Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region with the help of a 1975 map of memorials, bringing before our eyes a series of melancholy yet striking images.”
always reblog!
Never forget.
