Duran

Anthony Duran is an American photographer, born in 1968 in Winona, Minnesota. He studied art at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he already stood out with his photographs of female students, one even winning a 'Look of the Year' award. After graduation he went to Australia, where his career really started in Sydney. The photoshoot that brought him fame and respect was taken of Jennifer Lopez for the cover of Glamour magazine (Duran's house even has a plaque that reads "This is the house the JLo built.")

Today, Duran's main subjects are still people. He captures the beauty of the human body - female and male -, most often nude. The composition of his mostly black and white photographs is outstanding: Duran uses unexpected angles, strange props and sometimes even stranger settings. He is keen on crossing boundaries, does not care about taboos or norms, which shows in his work - many of his photographs border on the pornographic, he has several pictures portraying male homosexuality, and he fearlessly uses religious symbols in shocking contexts. Linda Börzsei

Heine

Ben Heine was born in 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and now lives in Brussels, Belgium. He studied graphic arts and sculpture, and he also has a degree in journalism. Besides, he is self-taught in photography and drawing. Producing political art relating to day to day international political issues, he is mainly known for his anti-war activism.

At the beginning of 2010, however, he eventually discovered a new art form which he calls “Pencil vs Camera”. The original idea was to “confront photography and drawing as a battling contrast”, but it turned out to be a quite peaceful combination of the two media.

Originally he used only his Nikon D70, a pencil and a simple A3 or A4 paper, though later he started to experiment with the possibilities of the digital world. Basically he uses four different methods to make his pictures. These are the following:

1. The traditional way: drawing a picture on a piece of paper and holding out his hand with the scenery behind it. "With this method I always remember that there has to be a contrast between your imagination and the reality of the photo."

2. Printing a very large picture of background scenery and placing it on a wall, then holding the drawing upon it. This gives him more time to edit or retouch his work, and it also enables him to include animals or moving objects in his pictures.

3. Taking a picture of his hand holding the paper, then digitally matching it up with a different photo of a background.

4. Creating a digital background and adding a digitally drawn picture afterwards. This is the hardest method, as it requires exceptional painting skills.

Ben Heine has had several exhibitions in Belgium, and is constantly working. Since he has only been doing Pencil vs Camera for one year, this new genre is still full of possibilities. Although he is very excited about this project, he confessed he plans to produce a hundred series of this kind, then stop: he has plenty of other ideas he wants to try. As he says, "Everything is possible and the only boundary is my own perception of the world." Ágnes Kassai

McConnell

Brandon McConnell and Spray Paint Art

Spray paint art is an art movement that was created in the early 1980’s in Mexico City, under the term of „Aerosolgrafia”. This is an art form where the artist uses simple spray paint, traditionally on posterboard, but sometimes on wood, glass, or metal. It differs from graffiti in the sense that graffiti is performed on buildings or trains, as opposed to more traditional art surfaces. The first spray paint artist was Ruben Sadot Fernandez. He always painted in public, therefore creating its tradition that still lives on. The style created by Sadot had spread all over the world by the mid 1990’s and since then it is a blossoming art form.

In order to create spray paintings, one only has to possess a simple set of tools: a poster board, spray paints of different colours, magazines (in order to create different textures), painting knives to scratch thin lines into the colours, a mask to prevent the inhalation of fumes, and paper towels.

Brandon McConnell is one of the most successful and famous spray paint artist nowadays. He was born on June 1st, 1976, in Chula Vista, Ca. During his high school years, he found himself drawn to the world of art, so he started sketching comic book characters into his books and notepads. He came across with the art of spray painting when he took a trip to Tijuana, Mexico in 1999. While walking on the streets, he met a spray paint artist who was creating his newest picture. McConnell immediately took a liking to the strange style, and bought some paintings and tools, and started self-training himself. After a couple of years of training, in 2003, he started his own website (www.spacepaintings.com), which is now the biggest community of spray paint artists. His trademark is that his paintings always depict space, planets, waterfalls, or pyramids.

Zita Wittmann

Mueller

 Edgar Müller was born in Mülheim/Ruhr on 10 July 1968. He grew up in the rural city of Straelen on the western edge of Germany. His fascination with painting began in his childhood. He went to the high school in the neighboring town of Geldern, where an international competition of street painters took place. On his way to school, Edgar Müller decided to enter the competition. He took part for the first time at the age of 16, going on to win the competition, aged 19, with a copy of the famous "Jesus at Emmaus " (Caravaggio). In the years that followed, he entered many other international competitions. Since 1998 Edgar Müller has held the title of 'maestro madonnari' (master street painter), borne by only a few artists worldwide. The title is awarded at the world’s largest street painting festival, called The Grazie Festival, which is held in the small pilgrim town of Grazie in Italy. Around the age of 25, Müller decided to devote himself completely to street painting. He travelled all over Europe, making a living with his transitory art. He gave workshops at schools and was a co-organizer and committee member for various street painting festivals. Müller set up the first (and so far only) Internet board for street painters in Germany – a forum designed to promote solidarity between German street painters.Edgar Müller opened a studio in the street. He presents people with the great works of old masters, drawing his perfect copies at the observers’ feet. Müller invites his audience to share his fascination with the old masters art, helping them to gain an in depth understanding of the old master’s view of the world. Despite attending many courses with well-known artists and extensive studies in the field of communication design, Edgar is actually an autodidact. He is always looking for new forms through which to express himself. Inspired by three-dimensional illusion paintings (particularly by the works of Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever) he is now pursuing this new art form and creating his own style. Because of his grounding in traditional painting and modern communication, Müller uses a more simple and graphic language for his art. He paints over large areas of urban public life and gives them a new appearance, thereby challenging the perceptions of passers-by. The observer becomes a part of the new scenery offered. While going about their daily life, people change the painting's statement just by passing through the scene. Edgar Müller’s extraordinary art has been widely covered in print and digital media. Botond Makszim

Toscani

Advertisements for Benetton

Oliviero Toscani and the United Colors of Benetton

Oliviero Toscani, a photographer from Italy, is still active nowadays despite the fact he is nearly 70 years old. He studied photography and design in Zurich in the 1960’s and worked for various brands (like Esprit, Valentino, and Chanel) and magazines (like Elle, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar). Toscani worked for Benetton for 18 years and made the brand world-famous. Besides these he created ‘Colors’, the first global magazine, and founded Fabrica, which is a “centre for research in the arts of modern communication.” He taught at two universities and wrote several books on communication.

Benetton’s campaigns are completely different from other brands’ campaigns. They emphasise value, not the product, and communicate with the individual, not with the consumer. Although the products gradually disappeared from the advertisements, the logo always remained. Benetton’s aim was to unite all the different people under their flag; and their name, ‘United Colors’, soon became the symbol of different races.

Three periods can be distinguished according to the themes around which they built the campaigns. The first is the cycle of difference (first picture). The company touched very controversial issues like religion, politics, and sex. On the picture religion and sex appear at the same time which makes the situation rather dangerous when representing a priest and a nun. The second period is about reality (second picture). Toscani took photographs of e.g. a man dying of AIDS, a war cemetery, a man assassinated by the mafia in order to show the real side of the world. The photo of a newborn baby shocked people at first. Different organizations and churches protested against this advertisement, and people only started to appreciate it later. The third is the cycle of free speech and the right to express it. Many people believed that Benetton, as a fashion company, did not have the right to exercise free speech and to attract people’s attention to all these controversial issues. But this is how they reacted (third picture). The company took part in various charitable projects (e.g. clothing redistribution or fighting against AIDS), but the question remained. After making Benetton one of the most recognized brands, Oliviero Toscani left the company in 2000.  Orsolya Vadocz

Johannes Vermeer (baptized: 1632 - 1675)
        The Girl with a Pearl Earring (circa 1665)
        Oil on canvas
        Mauritshuis, The Hague
 

Though Vermeer is mostly known for depicting domestic interior scenes of middle class life of the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, The Girl with a Pearl Earring is universally recognized as one of his absolute masterpieces. The aesthetic value as well as the historical aspects make this picture a wonderful piece of art.

The sophisticated highlights are said to be Vermeer's trademark - the light effect on the turban, the harmony of the pearl earring and the white collar constitute the basis of the wonderful composition. Moreover, the dark, neutral background and the way the girl looks over her shoulder and gazes at 'us' with her wide eyes also makes the viewer focus on the face and its oddities. The turban represents 'the exotic', along with the pearl earring, which enhances the charm and peculiarity of the girl. 

The portrait - or more precisely, as it is called by Dutch experts, the tronie (i. e. a head that was not meant to be a portrait) does not only excite the interest of the observer because of the beauty of the girl, but also because it reflects the age of the flourishing Low Countries and the period of colonisation. Évi Tóth-Szöllős

Donath

The Turul is the most important bird in the origin-myth of the Magyars (Hungarian people). It is a divine messenger, and perches on top of the tree of life along with the other spirits of unborn children in the form of birds.

The Turul is probably based on a large falcon, and the origin of the word is most likely Turkic: togrıl or turgul means a medium to large bird of prey. In Hungarian the word sólyom means falcon, and there are three ancient words describing different kinds of falcons: kerecsen (saker), zongor [Turkish Sungur = Gyrfalcon] (which survives in the male name Zsombor) and turul.

Emese's dream: In the legends the Turul is mentioned at least twice as having shaped the fate of the Hungarians: on the first occasion Emese, mother of Álmos, wife of Ügyek (descended from Attila the Hun) had a dream in which a Turul appeared, impregnated her symbolically and a stream of crystal-clear water started to flow from her. As it moved west, it grew into a great river, which signified that her child was going to be the father of a line of great rulers. The second time, the leader of the Hungarian tribes had a dream in which eagles attacked their horses and a Turul came and saved them. This symbolised that they had to migrate, and when they did so, the Turul helped them to show the way and eventually led them to the land that became Hungary.

Representation: The Turul represents God’s power and will. The Turul was seen as the ancestor of Attila, and it was also the symbol of the Huns. It is often represented carrying the flaming Sword of God (sword of Attila), and bearing a crown. This crown is not linked directly to the Holy Crown of Hungary, but rather to the crown of Attila, as Attila is traditionally considered the first king of Hungary

About the Statue: According to Simon Kézai’s chronicle, the troop of King Árpád beat the slav groups of Svatopluk in Bánhida. Bánhida today is the oldest part of the city Tatabánya. The great monument was created in 1898, for the milleneum. The idea came from the writer Jókai Mór and from Feszty Árpád in 1897, the painter of the Feszty körkép and the Bánhidai Csata, which was painted for the millennium, as well. They wanted Donáth Gyula to prepare the second biggest statue in the world at the time. After signing the contracts, it doesn’t take a month for Donáth to finish the small version of the monument (which is now in Budapest, 1905), and with the help of a factory called Zellerin, Donáth managed to finish the big work in 1898. It is 3.5x14x2m, the sword in its talons is 12m 36cm long. The whole statue is 20m tall, the distance between its wingtips is 14m 26 cm. Only one talon of the falcon could contain 5l of water. In the World Wars the monument got damaged, like other buildings and statues in Hungary, but in 1992 it was repaired, and still sits on its throne and takes care of the citizens of Tatabánya. Botond Makszim

For a VERY special video about the Turul (and other things) see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi1H7Tx_H6E

Fogashaz, Budapest

One of the most well-known tourist attractions of Budapest today is the romkocsma, or according to the suggested translation: "ruin pub". These pubs have a distinct style, quite unlike other bars and pubs in the city, which is not unique to Budapest, but interestingly it is the Hungarian capital that became famous for it. They are located in hundred-year old abandoned residential buildings, which are not renovated (just made safe), and they are furnished with old, second-hand and often flea-market furniture and decoration. It is retro by recycling - of the building and of the objects. Their rundown, anti-club style is frequently associated with Socialist Kitsch, but the more eclectic the better. The main principle in creating this unique atmosphere is that they are "designed to be undesigned."
Examples include Szimpla Kert, Instant, Kuplung, Dürer Kert, Fogasház, Csendes and Tuzraktér, many of which are having legal troubles at the moment due to complaints about the volume of the events, and also because some people believe that these old buildings should be left as they are and not turned into pubs. They are still immensely popular - at least one new pub pops up every year, and they are spreading to other districts as well, districts other than the 7th and the 8th, which is the original go-to location for a romkocsma. Linda Börzsei

Norman Foster

City Hall, London

The City Hall in London makes a home for the Mayor of London and for the London Assembly. Although the building itself does not belong to the Greater London Authority (GLA), they lease it out for 25 years. The City Hall is located on the South bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It was designed by Norman Foster, one of Britain’s leading architects, whose aim was to create a building for the GLA that would become a new landmark for the capital. City Hall was opened in July 2002.

The building itself is 45 metres high, which gives space to 10 floors above the ground. One of the main features which make City Hall modern is environmentally friendliness. Beside the bulbous shape which helps to minimise the amount of the direct sunlight on the surface area, solar panels are also installed on the roof. ‘Scoop’, an oval amphitheatre, is the outdoor area of the City Hall. Exhibitions are usually held at ‘London’s Living Room’, at the top of the building, on topics relating to London.

Orsolya Vadocz

Meade

Alexa Meade (born on 3 September 1986) is an American artist. While Meade has worked in a variety of sculptural media, she is known for her installations, which feature models situated in tableau scenes painted to look like two-dimensional paintings. She graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Meade has never attended art school, nor has she ever taken advanced painting courses. In August 2008, Meade began to experiment with painting on non-traditional objects. After 9 months of experimenting, she was able to develop a process for painting on people and unveiled her "Reverse Trompe L'Oeil" installation in October, 2009. The original idea for Meade's work came from her fascination with how the sun casts moving shadows. She began to experiment with painting shadows onto moving people, and discovered that the visual effect still worked even if people moved from their original light source. Alexa Meade's art creates a perceptual shift in how the viewer experiences and interprets spatial relationships. Meade once said "I paint representational portraits directly on top of the people I am representing. The models are transformed into embodiments of the artist's interpretation of their essence. When captured on film, the living, breathing people underneath the paint disappear, overshadowed by the masks of themselves." Meade applies acrylic paint to the surfaces of people, objects, and walls in a broad brushstroke that mimics the appearance of brushwork in a painting in a technique that she innovated. She described the process as "painting a portrait of somebody on top of himself.” When the three-dimensional tableau is viewed in a two-dimensional photograph, it appears to be an oil painting. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Meade) Zita Wittmann

Stockholm Subway

The Stockholm subway system is very much unlike the metro networks in other countries. There are several lines in the world that are known to be beautiful or interesting; these are usually decorated in a clear, modernist way, so that its atmosphere makes you forget that you are travelling underground. However, in Stockholm, it is the other way round.

The Stockholms tunnelbana consists of 100 stations (47 underground and 53 above ground), out of which about 90 are decorated in a peculiar way; that is why this network is often referred to as the longest art exhibition in the world.

Hundreds of artists have been working on the project, with the state investing $1.5 annually in the gallery. There are three lines (blue, red and green), meeting at the central station called Stockholm C, which is the centre of the city, the central railway and bus stations also being there. Formerly there was even an official tour starting from this point, taking the passengers to the most possible decorated stations with a tourist guide.

The whole project started when the state had enough of the graffiti and other realisations of vandalism in the subway, and so they decided to turn this vandalism into art. There are still some stations whose walls are covered in graffiti – but it is the work of professional artists, not the vandals any more.

However, the most conspicuous feature of the stations is something different and very unique. In most of the stations the walls are in their natural form and shape, i.e. not being polished and clear-cut, but retaining the patterns of the ground they had been carved out of. This is called a grotto, that is a natural or artificial structure made to resemble a natural cave. So, when walking around in the metro, you might feel as if you were standing in the middle of an excavation;  instead of making you forget you are underground, this emphasises the very same fact, only you do not feel depressed and claustrophobic, but rather enjoy the view.

Each and every station has its own theme – be it animals, flowers, ships (with nautical tools and maps), the sky, or anything you can imagine – and is decorated accordingly. For instance, there is a station, where the walls and the ceiling resemble a pond: there are little rocks and pebbles glued to the walls and the floor, and the ceiling is painted in blue, having some water lilies as well: just as if you were standing at the bottom of a lake.

Besides paintings, murals and frescoes, you can find different kinds of carvings, wall reliefs, mosaics, statues, gargoyles, writings on the floor, little buildings, wrought iron elements, coloured lights and even some video installations throughout the subway; and sometimes the metro cars are painted themselves.

In addition, the network is not only beautiful, but also economical and environmentally friendly; all the stations have an elevator for the disabled people, and also escalators, which only work when needed, saving energy.

All in all, you may say that the whole “gallery” is only for advertising the subway system, but if so, I think it is even better. It is beautifully and very elaborately made, not only eliminating claustrophobia, but replacing it with a feeling of never wanting to leave the underground. Ágnes Kassai

Bernar Venet:

Neuf lignes obliques

    Nice, France

Bernar Venet (born in France in 1941) is a contemporary artist who has been active as a painter, sculptor and has also contributed with his creative work to movies, musicals and ballets.

According to critics, his sculptures, his lines ''stand at the threshold between the physical and the abstract, between the material and the purely geometric - testing the liminal spaces between art, world, and mind.'' As Venet himself claimed, his art illustrates the struggle of aesthetic and intellectual forces in contemporary art.

His sculpture erected for the celebration of the attachment of  the County of Nice to France is a widely debated piece of art. The dispassionate, objective and neutral title reflects on the alienation of the globalised, industrialised and simplified world we live in, which is in contrast with the rich symbolism of the sculpture. The nine lines of the sculpture are supposed to symbolise the nine valleys the county originally consisted of. The rusty, rigid lines going up to the sky may indicate the French notion of gloire, while the oblique lines brought together at the top express the unity and strength of the French people. Évi Tóth-Szöllős