[Raphael Hefti and his series Beauticians, from reGeneration. Get it!]
Raphael Hefti found his models in department stores. Choosing a frontal view, he wanted to capture in as much detail as possible 'the face as an image'- a concept that is further justified by the fact that the women photographed all sell cosmetics and are meant to represent the brand that employs them: Clarins, Lancôme, Chanel, etc. Individuality disappears behind a face that is coated in a layer of foundation and blusher, reminiscent of a mask. Hefti tells us that rather than faces themselves, we should talk about the desire for a face. Make-up and skincare products, visible in the background but impossible to distinguish because they remain out of focus, try to make us beleive that we can all change our faces and that it is possible to fight against time and the body's own fraglie nature. In its seductive appeal but also sometimes in its excess, creating a face means creating an image, as is eloquently demonstrated by Hefti's portraits of saleswomen as soldiers of consumerism.

Sorry for poor quality pics folks (another reason why you should buy a book of his).





There is something utterly interesting about these pictures. The gaze and the posture of these women are identical. The facial expression is reinforced with the reflection of the lightning panels from their eyes. This reflection is what gives them the horrifying look. Their masks cannot hide their bestiality.





Link to Hefti's site.

Last time I was in Istanbul, during a conversation somebody implied that photography (and by photography the speaker meant "taking pictures") was something that everybody will somehow be interested in a point in their lives, then get bored of it. Now, I realize I should've objected to this with the following argument:

Not if they have met Witkin...

"Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an Englishman.
Let him be alive or let him be dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

There is so much to do and this job is taking all my time. FUCK!FUCK!FUCK!

Anyway... I came across this painting in one of Einsturzende Neubauten's songs. And since then, I am looking at it every day. Someday I hope to see it in real (I beleive it's in the Guggenheim Collection). Here is a great critique of the painting. And here is the first paragraph of it (in case you're too lazy to click on the link and exhaust your brain reading the text):

"If you think that all art should be comforting, literal, narrative, perhaps somewhat erotic, and depict rationally classical articlesubtitleject matter, then your taste in art coincides quite easily with those of that noted German art connoisseur and would-be artist from the early twentieth century, Adolf Hitler. If, on the other hand, you feel art should have no relation whatsoever with nature, humanity, politics, or social message but exist purely for its own being, its form dictated only from the graphic, intellectual exercises of the artist's brain, then your tastes would fall perfectly in line with another art extremist of the time, Kazimir Malevich. "

Hello again, I've recently returned to the "blog world". But I don't have any plans for this blog right now. I know I haven't done anything I promised: I haven't posted any programs/utilities, and I was too lazy to share my thoughts about the stuff I find interesting. But things will change starting from today, at least in the art department anyway :)

Meanwhile, take a look at this, and by joe, please stay away from anything containing salvinorin A. Especially that famous breed of salvia...

See you soon,

D

Haven' t been updating my blogs lately, I think I' ll just use this blog to publish comments/critiques on works of art that deserves interest.

http://www.marmara.com

This is our homepage, I' ve put it here in hope to increase it' s page rank lol...

In Paris...

Finally I' m in Paris looking for an appartement, I' ve started my job, it' s fine and all. I finished this weeks work, so I decided to continue my own programming project. It' s basically a small tool that connects to MSN Spaces, gets the list of updated sites then goes in all these sites and grabs some photos and shows it to you. So, if you like see a sexy girl among these photos you can go to her space, see more photos, etc. I' m thinking of expanding the idea into building a database, and making the program run as a background process all the time without interfering with other programs. When I finish it I' ll try to put it here so you can have a try :)

So what about Paris?

It is beautiful, the people are not that hard to cope with, not for me anyway, being from a french high school and university I am used to their ways. I still can' t beleive I suck at french though... Ah there is one more thing, my office is crowded with Turkish people so I' m not really speaking french here. But in the evenings I try to meet as many french people and talk to them. French girls are usually really beautiful and intelligent, so no problems there...

I' m having a difficult time trying to go to sleep lately, I don' t know why. Maybe it' s the excessive amount of coffee I' m drinking, and I really never drink coffee normally.

This is all for the time being,

Back in Istanbul!
The trip with Paul Duda was an experience i' ll never forget. He' s a very accomplished artist and a remarkable person to hang around with. I guess he shares my idea that we should' ve met much earlier.
All my friends here in Istanbul told me that I had changed since the last time they saw me. Especially after the accident (i crashed in the back of a tractor while speeding over 150 km/h), i felt something in the way at i look at life has radically changed. It' s like being freed from all ambitions, earthly things. Now the chatter i have with my friends, the smile of a beautiful woman, a small conversation with an old man is a real joy; the sound of my guitar, the taste of guinness, orgasm...
At the moment i' m getting ready to move to Paris. Next week, most probably I will have started my new job. I was looking forward to this the last couple of months, but now I find it hard to leave all these friends and this beautiful city behind. Still, it will be a great experience for me :)
By the way, those of you who are into jazz, check out guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel RIGHT NOW! He is by far the most interesting guitar player of our time...

Anyway, take care all, with peace,

Baris