Animated art, the first experiment: Edgar Degas.

After a long attempt, I managed to realize an idea last weekend: the animated version of the laundress from EDGAR DEGAS. Here is the description given on the Pinakotheken page:

” The Laundress

Edgar Degas treated the subject of the laundress here for the first time. By the end of the 1860s, he had his “Ingres period” behind him and was increasingly turning to realistically conceived contemporary subjects. By 1902 he had painted a whole series of pictures of ironwomen. While in the later versions the work process as such, i.e. the moment of action, predominates, in this early version Degas’ interest is more in the person; she pauses in her work and looks at the viewer: the work picture has more the character of a portrait. The date of around 1869 is derived from a pastel with the same motif in the Musée d’Orsay, which the collector Manzi Joyant, a friend of Degas, published with this date. It is supported by the “69” dated portrait of Emma Dobigny, who – apparently at the same age of 16 to 17 – posed for the “Büglerin”.”

Translated, original source: https://www.pinakothek.de/kunst/meisterwerk/edgar-degas/die-bueglerin, accessed 03/24/2022

The Edgar Degas painting is just crying out to be animated. I hope the artist will forgive me this modification and deviant interpretation of his artwork. Have fun looking at it.

Stay tuned, until the next creative animation…

Stay tuned.

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Finally! Animated Art.

Animating classical and modern art

After a long run-up, today I managed to realize an idea I’ve been putting off for a long time: animated art.

When I visited the Alte Pinakothek in Munich in February 2020 just before the first lockdown and while looking at the artworks I developed lots of ideas how to add a nice animated story to the artwork. In the tradition of Terry Gilliam (Monty Python), I would like to breathe some life into – sometimes irreverent and anarchistic – works of art at irregular intervals. Have fun with it, this week I start with Degas.

Stay tuned, until the next creative animation…

Stay tuned.

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The Ukraine Conflict: The End of Peace in Europe. Welcome to the new cold war?

Hairbert - Ukraine Conflict

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

Voltaire

„Humanity, you never had it to begin with.“

Charles Bukowski

I continue to be simply speechless. I grew up with the cold war and was glad when it more or less ended in the early nineties of the last century. Those were decades of peace in Europe. Until now.

Apparently, this was a deceptive peace, because with Russia’s attack on Ukraine, I realized that the old thinking, the quest for supremacy of certain nations and the continuation of politics by other means are not things of the past.

It is so unjust for a state the size of Russia to simply attack a smaller neighbor and wipe that state out. Just like I always thought it was unfair that in the schoolyard the older, bigger students beat up the smaller ones. I just hope that the Western world doesn’t ease all the sanctions again in a few months and go back to business as usual.

And I hope that humanity will eventually come to its senses and put violence to rest. But probably Charles Bukowski is right after all.

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A visit to the Museum Fünf Kontinente

On November 30, 2020, I was already standing in front of the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich (https://www.museum-fuenf-kontinente.de), but that day I decided to go to the MUCA (Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art, https://www.muca.eu) and and discover a new favorite artist, Richard Hambleton. But this is another story, I’ll tell it at another time. What can you see at the Museum Five Continents?

“The Museum Fünf Kontinente, formerly known as the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, was founded in 1862 as the first ethnological museum in Germany. The collection of artefacts of everyday life, ritual objects and works of art which are preserved and continually expanded here reflect humanity’s cultural diversity. They build bridges from the past to the present day and open doors to other ways of life and viewpoints. The Museum offers access to the cultural riches of the earth’s peoples in a way which is unique with Munich’s broad range of museums.”

Source: https://www.museum-fuenf-kontinente.de/services/english-summary.html, Access 30.1.2022

In a nutshell: the museum lives up to its own claim. It is a very exciting foray through completely different cultures, religions and their everyday life. I was particularly enthusiastic about the puppets from Myanmar and the temple statues in the exhibition of the same name. Tip from my side: bring a lot of time, it’s worth it. Here are a few pictures from the exhibitions:

Stay tuned, until the next museum visit…

Stay tuned.

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A visit to the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion

A Visit to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Museums attract me magically, at least most of them. Therefore, it was quite clear that I will pay an extensive visit to the archaeological museum in Heraklion during a beach-and-sun-break. What can you find there?

“The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one of the oldest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most famous museums in Europe. It houses representative artifacts from all periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a chronological span of over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The Heraklion Archaeological Museum prides itself for its unique Minoan collection, which includes the masterpieces of Minoan art. It is rightly considered as the Museum of Minoan Culture par excellence. “

https://heraklionmuseum.gr/?page_id=1718&lang=en, accessed 11/1/2021

I rummaged a bit in my photo box and compiled the most interesting objects in my opinion in the following gallery. All subjective. Let’s start with my number one. In the video you can see the clay model of a Minoan house.

The clay model of a minoan house.

I was particularly excited not only by the well-known exhibits (the dolphins, the snake goddess, the lily prince and the bull sculptures) but also by those with surprising artistic elements, which can be seen in the first 3 photos: a clay bowl depicting a shepherd with his dogs and his flock of sheep, a clay vessel in the shape of a sitting woman and a clay vessel in the shape of a sea snail.

Enjoy looking at the photos. Stay tuned.

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Personal Branding for DJs.

Personal Branding for DJs

Last week on Saturday came a very special gift from the professional association Discjockey e.V. A few copies of the current DJ magazine, packed with interesting articles. Of course, I was especially pleased to see the publication of my article on personal branding for DJs. Based on my study (https://christianzich.com/category/personal-branding/), I worked out many tips and suggestions during the summer on how to market yourself better as a DJ. More will not be revealed, reading it yourself is more fun.

Stay tuned, more stuff is on the way.

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Haus der Kunst Munich, Phyllida Barlow. Is waste art?

On May 26th this year, it was finally allowed to visit a museum again after the long lockdown. After a short inquiry it was clear to me that I absolutely had to see the exhibition of Phyllida Barlow at the Haus der Kunst. The brief description promised an exciting experience in art:

Phyllida Barlow‘s sculptural structures are unwieldy and difficult to take in: timber, cardboard, cement, clay, plastic pipes, and colorful textiles pile up, spread out, or block the visitors’ way. The view ranges over these landscapes made of everyday materials, unsure what to hold on to, and drifts up to grasp their enormous dimensions. Barlow‘s works pose a constant challenge; they conquer the space as if they led a life of their own. They invite viewers to reconsidering spaces, perceive volume, and hear the language of architecture.

Source: https://hausderkunst.de/ausstellungen/phyllida-barlow?locale=en, Access August 6, 2021.

The museum’s website has a lot more really fascinating information, videos, pictures, etc. about the exhibition. Worth seeing!

My expectations were accordingly high and in no way disappointed. I was totally thrilled by the dimensions of the artworks and especially by the wacky ideas of the artist. I’ll just let the photos (see gallery) speak for themselves and refrain from commenting. However, one experience left a lasting impression on me. As I strolled around one of the artworks, a museum employee approached me and told me that it was allowed to go inside the artwork. What a fascinating experience. I made a video about it, it can be found on YouTube and in the Instagram story accompanying the post. Enjoy looking at the photos.

Stay tuned.

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The Hairbert Gallery. A short review of the Corona Frustration in the winter of 2021.

Inside Hairbert by christian zich

On 25.1.2021 he saw the light of day or rather he was born on a drawing pad, the Hairbert. He was born out of my personal frustration about the lockdown and all the associated inconveniences, this case the constantly growing hair and the missing visit to the hairdresser.

I was surprised by the positive response behind this art figure. I would not have thought. In the course of the last months I drew the one or other frustration from my soul and each of these small works of art had something to do with Corona and the Lockdown. I’ve been encouraged from many people to continue Hairbert, but honestly, I’ve run out of ideas at the moment. And in no way do I want to keep the little hairy guy alive under stress, so I’m sending him into an artistic slumber for now.

Maybe I’ll wake him up again once I’ve collected enough ideas and when the time is just right.

At the moment my focus is back on the music and the creative realization of the next EP with the simple yet apt name Franz.

A long birth, because musically Franz was born about a year ago and he unfortunately had to go through some musical-creative sinks. Now he is but slowly fledged, I currently rather shirk the mixdown. More about that in another place.

Stay tuned.

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Inside Hairbert – the birth of an artificial character

One day, the whole lockdown got on my nerves so terribly that I had to express my frustration in a drawing. On this day, I was terribly annoyed in the morning about the closed barbershops. But at least I had something in common with our chancellor that morning, no more hairstyle – just hair. Here is the result of that annoying moment:

hairbert - corona sucks

And so Hairbert was born. He is thus a full-fledged child of the Corona Lockdown, although his name was found much later through a query in an Instagram story. At the beginning I definitely didn’t think about a series of drawings, but after the positive feedback I started to think about how to express the Corona frustration on the one hand, but on the other hand how to capture a whole issue with a single image.

Hairbert still has an interesting future, let’s see in which direction he will develop.

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