For the Birds

While looking through the magical dumpsters of Barcelona, we happened upon a small pile of stuffed birds that had been discarded. The birds were all exotic species, from Africa, Australia, South America, and someone had carefully taxidermied them, mounted them to wooden posts, and eventually threw them away. A death in the family perhaps? Or a wife tired of her husband's morbid hobby? We rescued the ones that weren't completely destroyed, got hammers and nails, and carried them up to the Parc Guinardo. We strayed from the paths and climbed back into the trees, nailing the birds in high places to be discovered someday by passers-by.

Once More Onto the Beach, Dear Friends

It's the time of year for my annual sojourn in and around Barcelona. I'll be gone for a month or so, enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and flavors of Mediterranean Spain, and posting an occasional tidbit on this here blog.

Tidbits such as this very clever 90 second history of Catalan moderisme, created by the Barcelona design team TigreLab. Enjoy, and have a hell of a summer wherever you happen to read Gurldoggie.

Hands

The project Hands, by a 4-man team from Barcelona, is some darn clever street art. The installations spreading through Barcelona's streets are well suited for an online presentation, complete with a video for political context. People's reactions to the art, not to mention the creation and installation processes, are also very well captured. Nicely done.

Quim Monzó

I've been away on my annual Barcelona sojourn for the last 4 weeks, and have been dutifully ignoring the web while paying close attention to the world around me. I'll see if I can't post a few updates before heading back to Seattle and the world of work and bleach that awaits me. Since being here, I discovered the work of Quim Monzó, a writer often billed as the "foremost Catalan writer of his generation." Not reading Catalan myself, it's hard to say if that's true. But there is no question that his short stories and novels are odd and beautiful fantasies, dealing with the contradictions involved in every aspect of modern living, the hidden intricacies of family relationships, and the unknown fates of forgotten historical figures. Extremely thought provoking and unexpected, his books are published by Open Letter Press in the U.S. Allow me to recommend Guadalajara as a perfect place to start.

Mapping Barcelona

A woman named "Katrine" has been living in Barcelona, seeking out street art and carrying a camera. It's not an uncommon way to see that photogenic city, but she has taken the unprecedented step of organizing the best of her photos into a highly organized and accessible map of Barcelona, directing us to specific art pieces on specific streets. It's a work in progress, but it's worth taking a tour today.

Gerull

I've spent a productive few hours digging through the work of Benjamin Gerull, a landscape and architectural photographer living and working in Munich. He brings his adventurous spirit and splendid eye to places you thought you knew. For all of its architectural beauty, you never see this side of Barcelona in travel photos. His work was recognized as part of the European Prize of Architectural Photography in 2009. Lots more here.

New Spanish Cinema

This week brings the third edition of the Festival of New Spanish Cinema to the SIFF Cinema in downtown Seattle. This traveling series, both more beautiful and more popular than anyone expected, brings a dozen recent films by Spanish filmmakers both new and renowned. Every film looks to be a highlight, though I'm particularly drawn by La Mitad De Oscar - a drama set on the windswept landscape of Almeria - and a revival of the creepy 1976 classic ¿Quien Puede Matar Un Nino? or "Who can kill a Child? - a tale of a remote island full of only giggling children who seem to have murdered all the adults.

And I'm fascinated to see Bicycle, Spoon, Apple, a documentary on the immensely popular Catalan politican Pasqual Maragall. Maragall is the Grandson of renowned Catalan poet Joan Maragall, was the Mayor of Barcelona who brought the 1992 Olympic games that forever changed the city, and stepped down from his position as President of the Catalunya upon his announcement that he had Alzheimer's Disease. He is still a beloved figure among left-leaning Catalans, and this should be a remarkable portrait.

The series runs from September 21 to 25 and series passes are available here.

Fefe Talavera

Yes, I am back in Seattle, but I have a huge backlog of items to catch up on from my time away. For the next few weeks I'll be interspersing my usual random assortment of spectacles with a few choice tidbits from Barcelona and other points Iberic.

At the Montana Gallery - the exhibition hall connected to the retail outlet for the world's best spraypaint - I caught the first European Gallery show of Fefe Talavera, the Brazilian street artist famous for fantastic and visceral monsters. Her work has a tremendous energy - raw, hungry and tribal - and while it was a great treat to see a large collection in one place, it's always weird to try and absorb true gutter energy in a gallery. Still, the art is amazing and well worth a look.

Frankfurt El Farofillio

Now THIS is a taco truck!

Pepita, Baby Nico & I were in San Feliu de Guixols for the "Festas Majores," the biggest party of the year during which the entire little city takes a week off of work to play on the beach and party in the streets. It´s a wonderful Spanish concept, and like all things Spanish, food takes pride of place. This incredible food truck - aka Frankfurt el Farolillo rolls up fully contained within a trailer and unfolds to reveal dozens of seats, a well stocked grill, and a bar decked out in leather and chrome that would be the envy of most fully licensed pubs in the U.S. It´s one hell of a party.

It´s been a great 4 weeks in Spain, but all things must come to an end. We head back to the U.S. tomorrow morning, a little less rich, a little more tan, and somewhat ready to get back to the real world. But first - Camarero! One more for the road!

Mikel Jaso

I keep coming across the work of Barcelona-based Graphic Artist Mikel Jaso. Pretty nice stuff. More here.

Graffiti in BCN

As always, no shortage of incredible art to be found at street level in Barcelona. A few selections from the many world-class paintings I´ve already seen in just a week of ambling around.









This interesting 26-letter piece is one element in a tremendous international project by Claudia Walde in which more than 150 graffiti artists around the world are painting complete alphabets. This piece is from a series of 8 such alphabets on a single wall in Horta, designed and painted by the artists of Arteurbano. Doubtless, more soon.

“Quadraturin”

The apartments here are so small! There's some beauty in all this closeness - one certainly knows one's neighbors in Barcelona - but I could use a little elbow room. Or perhaps some "Quadraturin." Quadraturin comes from Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s Soviet-era short story about a mysterious substance that transforms small spaces (in this case a shared apartment) into large ones. Below is Valeriy Kozhin’s perfectly claustrophobic animated adaptation of the story. “Quadraturin” is collected in Krzhizhanovsky’s collection Memories of the Future.

Que me voy

I'm off to my annual sojourn in Barcelona and the Costa Brava. As always, I've got lots of plans to make minimal plans. I will certainly eat much seafood, spend many hours in the sea, and hope to catch up on many pages of neglected reading. Other than that, it's anyone's guess. I will check in from time to time with news and photos, but will hardly make blogging a priority. On behalf of the entire staff, thanks for another year reading Gurldoggie.

This image, of the stunning Antoñita La Singla in Barcelona, is from a 2009 exhibition at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo of Seville dedicated to flamenco. I found it at the redoubtable Poemas de Rio Wang, where it is one of several stunning images. See it. Ciao!

St. Jordi's Day

Today Catalunya celebrates Sant Jordi's Day, among my favorite of all holidays. It is the feast day of the dragon slayer Saint George, and also the birthday of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. In Catalunya it is known as "El dia del llibre" or "The Day of the Book," during which all women receive roses and all men receive books, although it has become ever more common to give books to everybody. In honor of the beloved book makers of that region, an image from Galeria d'Imatges, a Catalan group blog which consists of book hounds Galderich of Piscolabis Librorum, Carlos Hernandez of El Gabinet Negre, Leblansky of Enceneu els Llums, and others.

Found at the redoubtable 50 Watts.

Jardinet dels Gats

On a brief trip to central Barcelona in search of English language books I came across a surprising little garden. In the courtyard of a small stone church, just yards from the tourist-saturated Rambla, stands a garden of park benches, jungle gyms and old furniture, all of it being used by dozens and dozens of cats. The Jardinet dels Gats was founded in 2008 on the donations of a rich and eccentric cat lover in the heart of the Ciutat Vella - some of the planet´s most expensive real estate. The volunteer-run cat santuary is dedicated to caring for and relocating street cats. Through the bars of the garden I saw maybe 30 cats - all of whom seemed happy and well fed. Who knows how many more cats were living inside the ancient church itself?

In a city which has sold so much of its soul to international tourism, it was a pleasure to stumble across such a kind, humble and local enterprise. Meow.

Montana / Escif

Montana Colors is arguably the world´s finest maker of spraypaint. The paint is made exclusively in Barcelona, in an insanely huge range of colors, can sizes, and paint pressures. Since first coming across Montana years ago I´ve always sought it out, often paying top dollar to have the stuff shipped from NYC. When in Europe I buy the little "Montana Alien" cans when I see them, and stuff them in my pockets until an opportune moment presents itself. In 2002, Montana got big enough to move beyond their simple factory and warehouse and opened a retail store and gallery in central Barna which features beautiful and large displays of street artists from around theplanet.

Now that Montana paint is freely available in Seattle, mostly courtesy of the fine people at Art Primo, I no longer suffer with the temptation of bringing a suitcase full of spraypaint on the airplane home. However, I´m looking forward to another trip to the shop and gallery, not least because the end of my vacation coincides with a new exhibition by Barcelona graffiti hero Escif, known for his graphically simple but conceptually complex images of discourse and dissent.

The show runs from July 29 to September 13. Lots more from Escif here and here.

Patti at the Porta Ferrada

The Porta Ferrada International Festival, which began back in 1962, takes place every summer in Sant Feliu de Guíxols' Roman-era monastery. For the last 48 years the festival has brought international stars of theatre, music, and dance to the little seaside city. This year's line up includes chanteuse Natalie Cole, Spanish cultural icon Joaquín Sabina and jazz hero Chucho Valdés with his band the Afro-Cuban Messengers. This Friday night, none other than punk hero Patti Smith performs, facing the Mediterranean Sea while the rest of us watch with the red cliffs of Sant Feliu forming a back drop. The show is sold out but Pepita and I have had tickets for months, and baby Nico is spending the night with her yayos. Very much looking forward to this one!

The Streets of Barna

As always, truly gorgeous art from the streets of Barcelona.

Sant Feliu de Guixols

I'm off with Pepita & Baby Nico on our annual trip to Spain. We'll be flying in to Barcelona but spending most of July in the seaside town of Sant Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava. As always, I'll post some notes here and there, but most of the next 30 days will be spent playing in the sand, eating fish, drinking wine, and basking in the Mediterranean sunshine. You're all welcome to join us, but don't look for premiums or coupons, as the high cost of html in the Gurldoggie blog prohibits the use of them. See you in August!

My World is Empty

My wife and daughter have gone away without me for the first time since she was born! Ten whole days!