A Message to You, Reader

Ok dear friends, my summer holidays are finally arrived. As always, going to extremely exotic and remote places (?!), I'll get some problems with Web connection, so my posts will be irregular, to say the least. Anyway I think I'll go to some Internet cafes to post something once or twice a week, so please be patient and check out Terra Incognita now and then. At the beginning of September Terra Incognita will be 'fully operative' again.

Take care and have a nice, funny and relaxing summertime.
Peace & Love,
Skywalker

(image by Plainme)

Yousef Khanfar's Magical Landscapes

The Web is full packed with beautiful photos and talented photographers, but sometimes you can still find something special. Few days ago one of my best friends pointed out the site of Yousef Khanfar, an international award-winning international author and photographer. Yousef is from Palestinian origin and was born in Kuwait; at 18 he left forUnited States, where he continues to live and work.
Check out Yousef's site to see more amazing, magical landscapes and click on images below to see larger format.
(thanks Maurizio)

Naoto's new paintings

New acrylic paintings available on Naoto Hattori's web store.

Fred Burkhart's Image Treasures

Wandering as usual in the Web, I stumbled upon the site of Fred Burkhart, an eclectic, self-taught artist who expresses himself in different areas, painting, photography and writing among other things. He's also the owner of a coffeehouse & art gallery in Chicago.
Give a (possibly long) look at his site, particularly at the section dedicated to Burkhart himself

(images below: Burkhart at work; Herbert Huncke; William S. Burroughs; Ken Kesey; Frank Zappa; Charles Bukowsky; Allen Ginsberg and Keith Richards)

Nierika

The Nierika is a form of spiritual art used by the Huicholes, a native population of the Western Central Mexico. These ritual artefacts consist in pieces of colored yarn glued with wax to round or square backings.
Showing symbols and images of the rich Huichol spiritual tradition (sun, moon, fire, peyote, mais, deer, etc.), the Nierika (term etymologically rooted in the verb "Nieriya", "to see") are true 'portals' used to meditate and access spiritual dimensions and communicate with anchestors and deities.
They're found in most Huichol sacred places like house shrines, caves, springs and temples and in more recent years have also become collection items for ethnic art lovers and people interested in shamanism and sacred plants.
The Web is packed with sites dedicated to Nierika and Huicholes, where one can see (and possibly buy) many works of different artists and get thorough infos about this interesting topics; among others indigoarts, latinamericanfolkart and artevisionario.

Michel Petrucciani: "Caravan" (piano solo live)

Michel Petrucciani (1969 - 1999) was an astounding French jazz pianist. He was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disease that causes brittle bones and in his case short stature. It's also often linked to pulmonary ailments. In his early career his father and brother -musicians themself - occasionally carried him, literally, because he could not walk far on his own. He was universally considered one of the best pianists in the international jazz history. See here a short, engaging example of Michel's amazing technique and musical sensibility.

Ralph Heimans' Breathtaking Art

As you probably noticed, 'conventional' artists and realism in art aren't exactly my 'cup of tea'. That said, when I meet some astounding 'outsiders' in the genre - and Ralph Heimans is surely among them - I'm ready to change tastes and 'resonate'.

"Born in Sydney in 1970, Ralph Heimans studied Fine Arts and Pure Mathematics at the University of Sydney and later at the Julian Ashton Art School. He received his first commission in 1988, beginning a series of portraits, still lifes and figurative works for private collectors in Sydney. By 1996, his commissions included paintings of leading Australian public figures for institutions such as the Compensation Court of NSW and the Australian Army.
Ralph Heimans moved to Europe in 1997, following a commission from the European Court in Luxembourg and began a string of portraits for London-based collectors. Demand for his large-scale group portraits led to new commissions in New York, Boston, Santa Fe and Paris, whilst maintaining links with Australia ensured further commissions in Sydney and Melbourne. Amongst these works, Ralph Heimans' self portrait was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and his portrait of the French National Rugby team was hung in the Hotel de Ville in Paris.
Recent projects include a major corporate commission in Dubai, portraits for the Australian National Trust and the University of Melbourne. The first official portrait of Princess Mary of Denmark (fig. 3) represents Ralph Heimans' most prestigious commission to date. Ralph Heimans' work has been described to have a disarming quality, recalling the methods and conventions of 16th and 17th century European portraiture, while at the same time playfully undermining those traditions. Although his technical approach pays homage to masters like Caravaggio and Velazquez, particularly in the use of chiaroscuro, his subject matter is distinctly contemporary, drawing inspiration from technology and images of modern life." (from Heimans' site)

If you like the few examples of Heimans' art ant technique posted here, visit his site

(don't forget to click on images to see larger format)