#this is mainly a historical blog but contemporary art is welcome

[caribbeanart]

Hey guys, please don't feel discouraged if you can't find an artist you like or art from your country. I encourage you to do your own research too and share if you'd like.

[diamonddreamscapes]

★✩ 𝕬𝖇𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝕸𝖊 ✩★

Stara Diamond ✦ 26 ✦ he/him or she/her (bigender) ✦ New Mexico Artist ✦ Trained at @swedishacademyofrealistart and UPenn

This blog will contain:

My Art ✦ My Writing <- mostly poetry ✦ Drawing and Writing Prompts ✦ Reblogged Art and Writing ✦ Discussions of Realism, Surrealism, and Rococo ✦ Discussions of Psychology

Instagram: diamonddreamscapes

Website: staradiamond.com (not recently updated - bear with me while I get it up to date!)

I decided to start using this account because I want to be more interactive with my art and writing, and form connections. I want to play with art as if it's a bunch of dolls on the playground. Let's exchange prompts. Let's make OCs. Let's stay up a little too late. Let's pretend it's 2005. Let's say a little too much.

That said, playful doesn't mean unserious. Most of my work is pretty heavy - I love catharsis, I love tragedy, I love exploring repressed emotions. I'd also love to talk about where art is going and about contemporary and historical movements.

Guide to Asks: Asks are very welcome! Feedback is very welcome! Commissions may be open if I figure out a payment system. For now, I mainly want to use this space to make things that I wouldn't get to engage with in my more professional work, without the pressures of earning money. So feel free to submit a request, and I will just make what I feel like making if your prompt inspires me.

Finally, this is account is 18+ only because it contains discussions of heavy topics like psychoanalysis of trauma, as well as nude artwork. There's nothing really explicit, but I just feel most comfortable interacting with adults to be on the safe side. Thank you and please enjoy!

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[incorrect-koh-posts]

You know what, I'm not ashamed of my history crush and if you're still alive, I'd like to hear your opinions on Baldwin IV and a fierce, sarcastic lover--who might or not be the future Queen😏-- and how he would react to her actually being a smartass when it came to politicals. Like, she knows medicine, philosphy and maybe music?

Hi! So, first of all: Yes, I'm still alive. And yes, I'm aware there are about a dozen unanswered asks / headcanon things currently sitting in my drafts. To those of you who sent them - I'm terribly sorry I'm so slow with my answers at the moment, but I promise I'll get to them all as soon as I can. <3

Secondly: Never be ashamed of your history crushes! Many great works of literature are essentially fan fiction. Many great works of art are fan art. Having crushes - whether fictional, historical, contemporary, what have you - is human. Don't feel bad if you do have them, and also don't feel bad if you don't.

Now, on to your question. Would Baldwin get along with a fierce, sarcastic, and politically savvy lover? Long story short: I'd say it depends.

Let's see: Baldwin grew up with a mother who was very involved in politics (especially when her son ascended the throne) - which wasn't a terribly uncommon thing among the noblewomen of Outremer, so quite a few of our KoH boys likely learned to chug their respect-women juice very early on. But - again, depending on what take on her you follow (Will of Tyre, for instance, tends to be rather hostile to the Courtenay party) - Agnes' nose for politics didn't make her the easiest person to get along with, and adding to that, she was probably bitter as hell about being discarded by Amalric on account of consanguinity when he became king.

Thus, I imagine Baldwin would definitely not underestimate a woman who knows her way around court intrigues and the politics of the Latin kingdoms. Yet, I also think he would probably be wary of such a person, at least initially. If I were to introduce such a character as a potential love interest for Baldwin, I wouldn't write their falling for each other as a case of love at first sight. Time, however, does fix many things, eh? ;D

So, I can imagine Baldwin with a fierce lover, but I do think too much sarcasm and overt feistiness would rather be a turn-off for him. I realise I might be in the minority with that opinion, but I think there is a limit to the sass Baldwin could endure in a partner. A little every now and then - yes, absolutely. But constant, supposedly witty banter and bickering - I think that would rather wear him down. A snarky OC would, in the long run, probably have a better shot with either Imad or Raymond or possibly Godfrey. I don't see Baldwin - who is, generally, of a calm, wise, and rather gentle disposition - deriving much pleasure from the company of someone who constantly verbally challenges him.

Would he like an intelligent partner? Absolutely. But I think he'd rather be into someone who is quiet and humble about their assets, than into someone who flaunts them and feels the need to throw into everyone's faces how oh-so-smart and witty and different they are. I'm sorry - I know many people like this sort of character, but I'm usually not a fan.

I know lots of fics interpret it differently and everybody is of course welcome to their own take on the character - running a blog on this hellsite does not make me an authority on the subject by any means. But the way I see it, Baldwin would have the best chemistry with someone alike to him in temperament. Someone calm or even a little shy, initially; clever and occasionally witty, yes, but not too forward or brash. The king values his peace, after all - and someone calm and well-mannered would likely be a better fit for a ruler in a position as precarious as Baldwin's than someone who constantly stirs up trouble in one way or another, no matter how endearing they are.

Ergo: The success of such a dynamic would mainly depend on how you'd construct Baldwin's fierce, sarcastic lover as a character. If you carefully think their interactions through and give them some time to adjust to each other, I could definitely see their relationship bloom into something very lovely, but I wouldn't say that it is a match made in heaven, per se. So my advice would be: Don't overdo it with the sass. That might become tiring for both Baldwin and the reader rather quickly.

In any case, best of luck to you! I hope this was helpful in some way :)

[sameoldart]

Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket”

It took my Polish grandfather many years to open up about the war and his experience of that war. To be exact, it took him until 2006 to begin speaking of the horrors he had seen and lived through in the 1940s.

When he started speaking about his memories of those years, he began by describing the shiny boots of the German soldiers who entered his village. It was as if they had polished their boots, straightened their uniforms, prepared for this ‘event’ to make an impression and to remind people of who they were and how superior they were to the now occupied villagers. Then they started shooting, killing and torching down houses. 

Later in the war, my grandfather was about 13 years old, he was interned by the Germans in a labor or so-called ‘extermination’ camp. The idea was to inflict suffering and death upon the camp residents through physical labor, intimidation, malnourishment and random executions. My grandfather witnessed at least one such execution: a young Jewish girl who had been allowed by a German officer to leave the camp grounds in order to make a delivery for him. By the time the girl returned, that particular officer had left and in his place was another German, unaware of the task she was ordered to do, who shot her on the spot. When the Russian army was approaching the camp, the Germans started executing all its prisoners - first the Jewish prisoners, then the Poles. According to my grandfather the shooting had been going on for two full days when he decided to flee. A friend of his, who joined him, was killed during the escape while my grandfather made it out.

My Krakow family from a picture taken in the early 1930s. My great-grandfather is depicted on the far left.

My paternal great-grandfather on the other hand, who was living several hundred miles to the west in a suburb of Krakow, hid two Jews in his house who had managed to escape Krakow (that was also occupied by the Germans at that point). I have no details on these two people and it is possible that my family did not ask many questions, by it is likely that these two had managed to get out of the Krakow ghetto (this was in the early 1940s). They apparently stayed for 2 days and left (hopefully to another safe house). But somebody in the neighborhood alarmed the local Gestapo about what my great-grandfather had done. They came to his house, took him up in the attic and started torturing him. He was lucky they did not kill him and since the Gestapo had no hard proof, they left.

In 1983, just after martial law had been lifted in Poland, my parents decided to seek refuge in what was then West Germany. At that point I was sick often, in order to get better food, medicine, a job, a TV, a car, an apartment - anything really - one had to bribe multiple officials and even then your money might just disappear and you never knew if you would get what you were asking for. Toward the end of 1983, we arrived as political refugees in W. Germany and it was not until 1987 that we were allowed to visit Poland and our family for the first time. Even though I spent no thought on this for many years (I was only four and a half years old when we arrived in Germany), I grew up as a Polish kid in a country that had invaded, terrorized and mass-murdered several million of my people only 40 years before. 

Dana Schutz, Open Casket, oil on canvas, 2016

When I, like many of us, came across the controversy surrounding Dana Schutz’s painting at the Whitney Biennial, my first reaction was one of frustration. As most of you know by now, Schutz based her painting on a photograph of Emmett Till’s mutilated body (Till, at the age of 14, had been wrongfully accused of flirting with a white woman and was then tortured and lynched by two white, southern men).

What struck me most was an open letter by artist and activist Hannah Black in which she proclaims that Schutz’s work is an example of “the appropriation of Black culture by non-Black artists.” I disagree with Hannah Black that this work demonstrates a case of “appropriation of Black culture.” This wording implies that Schutz claims something that is not hers. But precisely because Schutz is a white artist, does she not bear a historic responsibility for the horrific deeds of other white Americans?

When I look back at the history of my family, of my people and I look at the role the Germans played in radically changing the course of millions of lives, I have plenty of reason to tell any German artist: do not appropriate my culture, do not appropriate what you have done to us. But the reason why Germany has done such a remarkable job of confronting its past and addressing it head-on is because it took political responsibility and its artists took responsibility through art. The bottom-line is:  I welcome any German artist to make work about my family or any Polish family, because I believe that Germans are implied in the course of Polish lives. If a German artist does not feel a degree of responsibility for what his/her country has inflicted on others in the past, if a white US artist does not feel any responsibility for what white America has inflicted on black bodies, then we have learned nothing from the past.

Dana Schutz decided to focus on a very particular lynching victim and a particularly brutal case that made headlines in the US and abroad. Emmett Till's mother not only wanted an open-casket funeral, but she also wanted people to take pictures of her son's body:" “There was just no way I could describe what was in that box,” she said. “No way. And I just wanted the world to see.”

The images of the bloated and mutilated body were widely circulated. Schutz's painting is based on one of many images depicting Till's body. By making a painting of a widely circulated and readily available image, Schutz is not repeating violence; she is also not trying to repair, fix or simplify what has been done (Till's face in her painting is not intact or whole; it is even more fragmented than in the actual photographs). But her painting (to use Susan Sontag's "Regarding the Pain of Others" here) "cannot be more than an invitation to pay attention, to reflect, to learn, to examine the rationalizations for mass suffering offered by established powers. Who caused what the picture shows? Who is responsible?"

Andy Warhol, Race Riot, acrylic and silkscreen, 60″ x 66″, 1964

I have been trying, for years now, on this blog and through my own paintings, to instill contemporary painters and my peers with that sense of responsibility: to allow politics to enter their practice (and not just their private beliefs). I am more worried about painters who mainly look at Western European turn-of-the century (white male) artists for ideas, rather than consider the conditions of the world we find ourselves in. I also believe that Schutz’s painting caused such a controversy, because we are rarely confronted with these subjects and images in contemporary painting.  At the same time, I do not demand that all painters start representing victims of racial violence. That is hardly a solution. But there are many ways in a painter’s toolbox to address and react to the conditions of our times and one way to start would be to look at various artists, past & present, to look at history, past and recent, and to start thinking how the formal strengths of painting can be used more purposefully (versus merely aesthetically). More ‘purpose’ in this case means to infuse painting with politics - not to propagate or beautify, but to question, challenge and address the wrongs we have inflicted and continue to inflict on each other. 

[omtripsblog]

Or how you can see Paris from a different angle?

In 2014, we spent one week in Paris. Dido was celebrating his 30 and I was there regarding my Ph.D. research. It was March just before the start of the spring and we knew that the sunny weather was just a dream. We were ready to face the grey street in Paris, the rain, and the wind. But we also knew that the quiet and warm halls of the Library and the Archive will welcome us without objection. For me, Paris is rainier than London and the weather in the French capital is more inconstant. But it is Paris and that’s enough. Here is an alternative itinerary which you can consider for your next trip. 

Airbnb

That’s was our first time using Airbnb and since then we haven’t booked any hotels. We chose a flat in an old French building at the 13th arrondissement close to the National Library. The key was under the mat. We had a wonderful view. The metro was just around the corner, not more than 5 minutes walk. And one of the days we even visited the street market on Boulevard de Reuilly organized every week. Street murmur, breakfast, French black coffee, that’s how we fell in love with 13th arrondissement.

My view for the next week! One week in Paris! #omtripping #omtripsblog #thepeaceisinsideus #travelblog #blog #bloggerstyle #seemyparis #ig_europe #igersparis #parismaville

A post shared by OmTripsBlog (@sgrueva) on Mar 24, 2014 at 4:15am PDT

National Library of France

To be able to do my research and not “damaging” the plan we have prepared, I was getting up early in the morning and walking to the Library. It was 10 minutes away from our flat. The neighborhood was great and that’s allowed me to relax completely before the long day outside. I even managed to help an old woman to find the metro station (yep, I became a real Parisian for less than a week).

I spent every morning in the reading room, buried in books, articles, walking through the large corridors with red, soft carpets. An incredible building, with rich and amazing collections, and a wonderful team of librarians (this word always reminds me of The Mummy and how Rachel Weisz proudly says: I am a librarian). The French Library also has exhibition spaces so anyone interested can visit it. Complete silence, only the noise from the pages of the books and the keyboards. Parisian mornings offer zen sounds that few people can appreciate.

National Archive of France

The other very special place I would like to share with you is the National Archive of France. Do not miss to visit the museum there. Many years ago, this building has been the Museum of the French history and it is not a coincidence that you can find remarkable interior design and architecture, the preserved rooms from XVIII century. The Museum of the National Archive is situated in the building from XIV century the last saved from this period in Paris.

These two locations keep the French spirit and they can be included in the list of the places to visit.

Art Paris Art Fair

A contemporary art fair in the art capital of the world is something pretty normal, right? The main mission of the event is to present modern art in an accessible form to everyone. Every year since 2012, Art Paris Art Fair has a different focus. In 2014 г., when we were in Paris it was an Asian focus. Asia is developing the contemporary art scene and follows interesting tendencies. What we saw was very brutal and connected with their culture and understanding of their life and the world. This place is a must-see for one more reason – the location. The Art Paris Art Fair takes place in the Grand Palais. Nowadays this historical location is mainly used for cultural events and an exhibition hall which is impressive.

Centre Pompidou

We continued our arty walk thirsty to see contemporary art in different shapes. In Centre Pompidou, we visited the exhibition of the world-famous photographer Henri Cartier Bresson. He has been part of the Magnum and he has left his trace in the contemporary photography as we know it today. We waited on the line to see this incredible artist in the center of contemporary art. Omg! When that will happen in Bulgaria?

We were so happy to see the original works from Bresson. We didn’t plan this in advance, Paris surprised us. 

The building is so big that one day won’t be enough to see everything. We chose to see only this exhibition and we headed to other places part of the plan. 

Album Comics Paris

Who is a fan of comic books and superheroes? We are. Who loves to visit different comic book stores around the world while traveling? We love.  That’s why finding one of the famous comic book stores in Paris wasn’t so hard. When we crossed the door of this magical place Atlas Comics Paris we stayed there more than one hour and we bought many comic books for our collection. In the store, there are new issues and old comics, it’s like a real archive representing the evolution of the superheroes. I don’t know about the kids, but we felt in the right place. This imaginary world is so tempting when we compare it to the reality we live in.

  Graffiti art

  Besides the classical and contemporary art, on the streets of Paris, we saw many graffiti art from famous artists. One of the treasures we found was Le Tour 13 right before its destruction. Le Tour 13 is a gallery building where every floor, every wall, every possible spot were turned into a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed even that lots of people try to save it. There is an interactive site where you can see all the colorful wall paintings.

We saw some of the works of Space Invader. And you, which graffiti artists have you seen during your travels?

     Les Jardins in Paris 

Our itinerary passed by Les Jardins du Luxembourg, Jardins des Tuileries, Jardin des Plantes, definitely must see places. But I was searching for one specific park – Parc des Buttes Chaumont. Have you heard of it?

From Montmartre, we decided to walk to this park by foot. Well, this short walk offered us a little adventure because we passed by some strange neighborhoods, we saw people who looked at us even more strange, we crossed the streets that can be walked by foot… omg, where we were? Finally, we got there. The sun was high in the sky, the dogs were running, the kids were playing, some of the people were laying down on the lawns, some of them just were reading books. So Paris! 

Paris is different for everyone. That’s how we saw it. We hope that you will be inspired to see the French capital from a different angle and enjoy the daintiness.

Be happy everywhere!

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One week in Paris Or how you can see Paris from a different angle? In 2014, we spent one week in Paris…