12.5.12

9.5.12

8.5.12

Throwing 5 birds in the air to get a crescent moon shape (best of 13 attempts)

- J Baldessari on my mind

7.5.12

more micro

So sorry to have missed this exhibition:

Carl Strüwe In The Context Of Contemporary Photography

6.5.12

Lorenzetti

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Bad Government on the Countryside, Siena, 1337-1340

Palazzo Pubblico, Sala della Pace, Siena, 1337-1339

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good Government, Siena, 1338-40

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, City by the Sea (view of Talamone), c.1319, Siena

Osmanlı Minyatürleri

Map of Soltaniyeh

Map of Tabriz - zoom in!

Street-sweepers, Istanbul, 1582

Murder of Ma 'sum Beg, 1581

Map of Nice, 1543

Can't get enough of peering into these Ottoman miniatures - they depict such an amazing world-view! The perspective, colors and background details are very different from the European Renaissance painting tradition. The Ottoman painters did not mainly aim to depict the human beings realistically - through a stylized and abstract painting style they hinted at an infinite and transcendent reality.

The above scenes are painted by the most famous miniature paintes, namely Suleyman the Magnificent, Selim II, Nakkas Osman and Matrakci Nasuh.

More beautiful examples can be found here. Can't wait to hear this illustrated cook book sliding through my mailbox: 500 Years of Ottoman Cuisine.