old and new drawings

Happy Holidays!

holga from europe

I wish the weather wasn't so gloomy wherever I went in Europe. 

and something from V&A museum in london... forgot who the artist is.  

Martin de Thurah

Martin De Thurah is a Danish film director who did music videos for bands like Royksopp, Mew, Carpark North, and Fever Ray. I first noticed his video through Royksopp's 'What Else Is There'. His videos are very eerie, dark but also humorous which I find very appealing. It’s like watching a modern version of Grimm’s fairytales. His delicate color palettes and use of beautiful but odd youth reminds me of ‘Paranoid Park’, a recent films by Gus Van Saint and ‘Let the Right One In’, a Swedish film about a vampire girl.

Where The Wild Things Are

I wasn't familiar with the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are", I knew the book existed but never read it as a child. So when I went to see the movie by Spike Jonze on Friday, I had no idea what it would be like. It turned out to be one of the most emotional movie that I've watched this year. This movie seems like a children's movie with cute furry monsters and a boy as the protagonist. But I really don't think it is for children... maybe they would enjoy it as much as adult, but I doubt children would understand the layers of emotions between all the characters without their own experience of going through the adolescence and growing up. This is definitely a very nostalgic movie. It reminded me so much about myself as a child, it wrenched my heart the way I've never felt when watching a movie. The monsters are figments of the boy's imagination, so they all have the traits of the boy himself. But Carol is by far the most similar to the boy, they recognize each other right away and form a tight bond which has to break and then mended for the boy to grow up, leave his fantasy land and go back home to the reality. It's funny but I felt like I went through this amazing adventure with the boy in the movie and came back alive and more grown up at the end. Everyone was a child once, but we feel as though we just became the person we are now automatically. But this movie reminded me that growing up is a hard process of understanding yourself and accepting the reality. The reality is sometimes painful and scary and you wish there would be someone who can make it alright. But sadly, there isn't anyone who can do that, not even your family. Soon you have to accept this reality and be o.k. with the life's uncertainty. I'm making this movie sound like a therapy session, but it was gorgeous, entertaining and very touching, everything a good movie should be.

Libreria/ Fumetteria Mardi Gras

The Number by Thomas OttSofie & Abou by Judith Vanistendael
Sambre Story by Balac, Art by Yslaire.

Il Gigante Italiano Cuba' 42 Story by Ottavio De Angelis, Art by Anna Bandoli
Rosso Oltremare by Nanuele Fior

Arrugas by Paco RocaLMVDM by Gipi (Giani Pacinotti)

and some other work by Gipi Cronachette by Gicacomo NanniL'Autoroute Du Soleil by Baru



Mardi Gras is a comic book and art book store in Bolzano. They had pretty amazing collection of alternative comics. The owner was kind enough to take out a big pile of comic books that she thought was good to check out. I was only familiar with old school Italian comic artist like Battaliglia and was surprised how many different type of comics are available in Italy. Here are a few books that caught my eyes.

Carl Moser and Giselbert Hoke.

At the Galleria Goethe in Bolzano, I found many interesting art books of austrian and italian artists. Carl Moser is an austrian artist from the beginning of the 20th century. Like many artist in the art nouveau period, he seems to be influenced greatly by Japanese aesthetics. His graceful women are clothed in beautiful textiles and laces, much like the geishas in the japanese wood block prints. I love his soft colors and interesting negative spaces in his wood block prints. Giselbert Hoke is another austrian artist who works mostly with landscapes. It seems that whichever cities he paints, they all end up looking abstract with colorful blocks and scribbled lines. His paintings have almost childish playfulness and I love the boldness of his colors and compositions. I hope to find their books in the U.S. but so far I have had no luck. Perhaps I have to wait until my next travel to europe.