28 January 2011

TARA Stiles




TARA Stiles does not talk about sacred Hindu texts, personal intentions or chakras. She does not ask her yoga classes to chant. Her language is plainly Main Street: chaturangas are push-ups, the “sacrum” the lower back. She dismisses the ubiquitous yoga teacher-training certificates as rubber stamps, preferring to observe job candidates in action.

In her classes, videos and how-to book, “Slim Calm Sexy,” Ms. Stiles, a 29-year-old former model with skyscraper limbs and a goofball sensibility, focuses on the physical and health aspects of yoga, not the spiritual or the philosophical. For traditionalists, this is heresy, reducing what they see as a way of life to just another gym class.

But if she has deviated from the conventional path, it has not slowed her down. Ms. Stiles, a native of rural Illinois who owns Strala Yoga in NoHo, has built a powerful yoga brand, with no less than Jane Fonda and Deepak Chopraamong her devotees.

12 January 2011

mao tse tung ferver in his petty glance



NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Andy Warhol portrait of Mao Zedong that actor Dennis Hopper shot two bullets through sold for $302,500 (193,400 pounds) at Christie's on Tuesday, more than 10 times its high estimate.

The 1972 screenprint from Hopper's art collection is done in hues of mostly blues and greens, including a deep blue face for Mao, the founder of the modern communist state.

It had been had been estimated to sell for $20,000 to $30,000 at the two-day auction of hundreds of works from the actor's collection and personal memorabilia from his California home.

Mao was among Warhol's iconic subjects. Hopper's painting was unique because it included bullet holes fired after the notoriously wild actor got spooked and "mistook the portrait on his wall for Mao himself and shot at it," according to Christie's.

Hopper, who died of cancer last year aged 74, later showed Warhol the bullet holes, and the pair agreed to consider the work a collaboration. Warhol drew circles around the holes, labelling the one over Mao's right shoulder "warning shot" and the one at his upper left eyelid "bullet hole."

Another iconic Warhol screenprint from 1967 of Marilyn Monroe fetched $206,500, or about four times the pre-sale estimate.

Much of Hopper's most valuable art was sold in November during Christie's contemporary and post-war auction, raising more than $10 million for his estate.

The sale, which also included works by Annie Leibovitz, Marcel Duchamp, Helmut Newton as well as more Warhols, wraps up on Wednesday.

07 January 2011

The Art of Fernando Vicente



About Fernando:

Fernando Vicente was born in Madrid, Spain, where he started working as illustrator and painter during the eighties. He creates very beautiful artworks mainly painted or mixing paint and photo. His illustration work can be seen in dozens of publications.