Blog — Page 116 of 275

Nicole Hartje-Grave

Von Max Ernst bis Eduardo Chillida - Die Sammlung Wilfried und Gisela Fitting

Wienand Verlag

Ever since I was first exposed to Max Ernst as a teenager, his fascinating life and oeuvre has never not proved to be immensely influential on me and anyone remotely interested in surrealist art and has had the misfortune of not being familiar, should start investigating to gain insight into a fantastic world of aberrant art that reaches far beyond Salvador Dali.

On the other end of the spectrum of Wilfried and Gisela Fitting’s collection, which is being shed light on in this opulently illustrated tome, is an artist that has become known for monumental and spatially complex multimedia art with the focus always firmly set on paying homage to the sublime, i.e. Eduardo Chillida.

Fitting’s collection started in the 1960s and is informed by a keen vision and understanding of the respective artist’s significance, which at times took decades to be validated by a mainstream audience. The curation of the more than two hundred artworks is substantiated with essays and elaborations on their provenance, which expertly highlight the merits of e.g. Hans Arp, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Joan Miró, amongst the two.

There is a delicate subtlety that informs the approach the Fitting Collection as it refrains from loud and declamatory tones without ever risking diminishing the importance of the various artists.

As an avid collector of books on Max Ernst, I specifically enjoyed some of his lesser known decalcomaniacal works, i.e. where he applied paint to the canvas to depict often grotesque mythological figures by pressing it against a flat surface, gives the result a mossy, furry or marshy appearance and what resulted in his emissions being considered as “Entartete Kunst” by the Third Reich aesthetic.

The book whets my appetite to experience the Fitting Collection in the third dimension, which makes a visit to the Kunstmuseum Bonn, where it is permanently exhibited, mandatory.

Endurance

Louis Rudd

Pan Macmillan

As we go by Lord Byron, prolonged endurance tames the bold but there are some individuals who have perfectioned the art of concentrating patience and conquering bad fortune by endurance, one of which is Louis Rudd, who among other accomplishments has completed many tours in extreme cold weather environments, including inside the Arctic Circle – unsupported and unaccompanied.

Rudd’s book, aptly titled “Endurance”, details in a first-person narrative the evolution of a man who not only cultivated a thirst for challenges but simultaneously grew his courage, mental strength and determination.

While the book will definitely appeal to anyone remotely into pushing one’s individual boundaries, it has an inspiring aspect that makes it relatable even to the yet to be initiated as far as Polar expeditions are concerned in that Rudd sheds light on his adventures step-by-straining step in such an engaging manner that one cannot help but feel in the midst of the action.

On a more abstract level, there are valuable lessons to be learned that apply to seemingly unrelated areas of life as far as leadership, team building and the mastery of the journey through life is concerned.

The fact that Louis Rudd’s approach to his story is informed by humility and humbleness adds to the stories of exploration, endurance and physical and mental resilience, which is results in a motivating reading experience that fuels one’s struggle with the day-to-day pressures we all face in life and at work.

Water of Life – Overeem Distillery

As part of our whisk(e)y-centric series, we have covered a wide range of Tasmanian distilleries, most of which I have had the privilege to visit and meet the protagonists behind the still. The one that almost got away and that has been ranking high on my list has been Overeem.

The back story is complex: When the founder Casey Overeem retired in 2014 after seven years of producing excellent drops, the distillery continued under the umbrella of Lark before Australian Whisky Holdings (AWY) acquired it.

The great news is that Overeem ( https://overeemwhisky.com/ ) will transition back into the hands of the family that founded it as Jane Overeem and her better half Mark Sawford, i.e. Sawford Distillery, have bought it back with settlement set for June 2020.

Given that Overeem was one of the founding distilleries on terra australis, what gets me excited about the distillery re-emerging is that there is a commitment to not only honour but revive the DNA that informed Casey’s meticulous work, which led to its emissions being decorated with awards on not only national but international terrain – prospects of plans about expansion via distribution in the UK should get anyone in the old world excited who is remotely into great single malts, specifically of the high calibre that Tasmania has consistently delivered.

While I am typing this, I am indulging in a dram of the alchemy that has channelled in a single French oak Port cask that has been chopped down to hold mere hundred litres. Not unlike with one of my favourite whiskies, i.e. Laphroaig’s Quarter Cask, the small cask size increases the speed of interaction between the wood, the liquid and the air, producing a more intense flavour, which is hinted at by what tickles the nostril upon approach: A bouquet of white flowers, vanilla, ripe summer fruits (strawberry, plum, nectarine and redcurrant) with a sweetened cream drizzled over the top. The delicate part is that it is pervaded in a subtle manner by oaky, peachy undertones.

On the top of the mouth, the savoury sweetness the nose hinted at takes a welcomed left turn towards a deeper, darker rich fruitiness, highlighted by nuances of liquorice, peppery spice, toasted vanilla and dark chocolate. Delicious.

An elongated complex finish is well-calibrated between the coordinates of tannic oak, the essence of sweet dark fruits and the most subtle wafts of smoke, which makes one lust to try the cask strength version as the balance between spirit and the character infused through the port cask treatment is superb.

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image from company website

Kaizen

Sarah Harvey

Pan Macmillan

For the ones looking for inspiration, there has never been a shortage of wisdom that could be extracted and adopted from the lifestyle and philosophy that forms the foundation and DNA and Japan. The principle of Kaizen, i.e. the idea and methodology to take small steps towards the achievement of grand objectives, is one of them. The beauty of such concepts is that at their core, they are simple, are easy to apply and make a lot of sense, even for the most mundane Westerner.

While Kaizen has been widely applied to improve the processes and mechanisms in companies to create a more efficient and gratifying workplace, having lived in Japan, Sarah Harvey’s partly autobiographical book focuses on how it can be used to improve one’s personal life in aspects such as health, finance and relationships by exemplifying tangible manageable actions the sum and build-up of which pave the way to achieving bigger goals.

For those familiar with Japanese philosophy, the entry level approach of this beautifully illustrated, hardbound book might be too common sensical, but it is certainly a nice resource to have on hand and come back to when one feels stuck in life, has trouble finding a starting point and can serve as a springboard to delve deeper into a theory the application of which only has upsides when it comes to making meaningful changes to one’s life.

Me by Elton John

Pan Macmillan

As far as I am concerned, the rocket man has always been around and once I overcame the self-imposed stoic juvenile orthodox phase of not being interested in anything else than what emerged from the confines of the punk rock ghetto, I was quite delighted to delve into Elton John’s back catalogue and scratch the surface of the public image he had cultivated over the decades.

Now, chances are that if you made it that long in showbiz there are reasons for it that transcend musical and pop cultural trends, which is where things get interesting when memoirs emerge that are paved with anecdotes and stories of  an illustrious rollercoaster of career – even more so when the author has a self-awareness, honesty and self-deprecation.

With Elton John there is no shortage of public feuds and at times bizarre private eccentricities, ranging from debauchery with drugs – and we talk about delusions of Howard Hughes-like grandeur -  to the evolution of becoming the elder statesman of British pop music whose country has released a collection of stamps in his honour.

The mere description of some of the excesses he indulged in, his narcissism – keep in mind that his husband titled a documentary on him “Tantrums and Tiaras” and the ups and downs of his career would be entertaining enough, but again, his level-headedness, wisdom and refined ability to spin a yarn make this an engaging and fun read, which is enhanced by the view from his cemented status he has achieved in the world of A-Listers that was never merely provisional.

It is great to see that the book avoids the pitfalls of most autobiographies in terms of self-parody and revisionism and that the one being made most fun of is Elton himself, which shows a man that has come full-circle detailing the life of someone who has done it all and lives to tell the tales in an accessible of self-lacerating, clear-eyed entertaining voice.