George Méliès & Air: "Le voyage dans la lune"

In 1902, George Mélies shot the first motion picture. A version was hand colored, but it went lost. In 1993, a damaged copy was found in Barcelona, carefully restored, and presented earlier this year, with music by Air.

The whole film is available on line, though in several segments.

Deauville: Leonard Freed, Enrique G de la G

 Leonard Freed, Deauville (1964)

Enrique G de la G, Deauville: Madonna est là! (2011)

Barnett Newman, Carsten Witte

Barnett Newman, Euclidian Abyss (1946-1947)

Carsten Witte

Planned obsolescence

This is a very well donned documentary film (in Spanish, English, German and French) about planned obsolescence, a topic which interests me, specially when people mock at me when they learn that I still use some garment which has been around for more than 15 years, or when they learn that I am not interested in buying a car or a cell phone.

I think that the credit system is a failure, and responsible for decisive economic/ecological problems.

Do not spend the money you still do not possess. Wait, be patient.

Missing Berlin, finding Mexico

Brad Downey is one good reason to miss Berlin. His spontaneous sculptures surprise you in the street, as a mimic that there is (intellectual) fun and not everything is straight.

I miss that. Perhaps the only surprise I have seen during the last six months in Mexico City was –oh, surprise– in a museum: Ron Mueck.

Foto: Sarah Chahrrour

NY dramatic crosses: Hoboken, Ground Zero

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fire in Hoboken, facing Manhattan (1947)

Cross debris at Ground Zero, Manhattan (2001)

Not just a leaf: a smile, a wing

Sarah Illenberger, Fallen lip

Gregory Dryapak, Untitled

Hommage à Henri Cartier-Bresson

On 11.11.2011, a big lot of images by Cartier-Bresson was put under the hammer of Christie's. Magnificent, less-known portraits, such as of Lucien Freud or Helmut Newton, and very well known images, such as this one here, shot in Mexico.

Exactly one month later, I shot a hommage to Cartier-Bresson: a pilger to Guadalupe's shrine in Mexico City.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mexico (1963)

Enrique G de la G, Guadalupe pilgrimage (2011)

Days with Hitler

This week I have been hearing and reading about Hitler all the time. Too much.

Germans talk about him on the media all the time. But the way Mexicans talk about him is completely different: with a big ignorance and without historical sensitivity whatsoever. Mostly hurting both Jews and Germans.

Yesterday I woke up and started writing a short piece about this. Letras Libres published it on the Blog de la Redacción.

Terrible Photoshop

When I moved to Mexico City some months ago, I was excited about reading again a wonderful magazine, which I had lost of sight because of living in Berlin: Gatopardo.

They react very quickly to issues and I recalled reading great pieces.

But now I am completey frustrated: the editorial work is almost unexistant, many pieces are terribly boring, the correctors seem to be terribly paid or to hate their job, and even the designers are doing a very bad work. 

Check out the terrible use of Photoshop. Just two obvious examples:

1. The right side of Demián Bichir's face was blurred, as if the picture has been done with a high-contrast lens. It looks fake.

2. Even worse is the right eye of Ximena Navarrete: her eyelashes have been bulkied and her eyebrow literally goes out of her face (compare it with her left eye). It looks cheap.

I wish their job will improve next year, we need better magazines here.

Unwraping flag

Alberto Schommer, Andy Warhol (1982)

Silja Magg

Helmut Newton, St. Tropez (1975)