ARTISTS WANTED: ART TAKES TIMES SQUARE

Dear SchizoArt followers! I am asking you for your help! I want to win this competition as well as I was you to win, too! Artists Wanted , Chashasma and the Times Square Alliance will present artists from around the globe on massive scale in iconic locations around NYC. Not only I would win, but you might too, by judging or by clicking on my "Collect me", you might end up winning a $5000 dream weekend in NYC.  So, I am asking you to all click on "Collect me" right here : http://maria-constanzagarrido.artistswanted.org/atts2012

Thanks a lot and hope all the artists around could participate, as it is free to do so. It's very easy only 3 steps Sign up, get your work online and describe it, then get it collected as much as you can so it can be judged for the GRAND PRIZE! BEST OF LUCK!

http://www.artistswanted.org/site/

Button Mandala

Today my mother shared her button collection with me, the same that belonged to her mother, and to my grandmother's mother as well. I'm to be the 4th generation to share a same passion: buttons!

I began with a monochromatic mandala...I think lately I've been feeling I've lost some sense of direction, I don't know if I'm only seeing things black or white...

but I feel relieved...there is some middle ground, some grey.

Buttons are like small worlds, little personalities, tiny characters...

These are some I found on my quest.

Some date back from the 1940's, and some are contemporary...

Some are made of crystal

Made out of shells

Plastics, wood or metal

But a change of perspective came! After I had finished my mono-chromatic piece, I started a Rainbow colored one!

My mood changed, it helped a lot to make a mandala, I thought of those Buddhist monks who spend hours, days or even weeks in making a sand mandala...

 

Mine is not that complex though.

 

More textures and more colors!

Again materials are varied here...some even made out of fabrics.

:)

These buttons were once held by my mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother. Today I held them. A series of four women.

Years went pass these buttons...but then again... every single button connected us, created a cycle.

Here some of the rest of buttons.

Once they were done, and just like the Buddhist Monks, the mandalas were mixed, almost blown away, undone...

Theme 3 - Music Video - Robert Beshara's Septology: THEMES

This is the second video I make for the Septology series Robert Beshara composed... This was inspired by another video of a singer I respect and wish he could recover and come back to sing for us: Gustavo Cerati. I have beautiful memories of my teen years with the song "Puente" which means bridge, and I thought it would be nice to get his point of view...as he would be driving. The lights, the roads, the tunnels, that voyage, we are constantly making, to a place we don't know...life in essence is a voyage. Enjoy it.

Cheers.

Theme 4 - Music Video - First attempt

 

I got into editing a few months ago...I always want to learn something new...it could only enrich you as a person and look good on your CV.

Anyhow, I love editing so I'll probably post more of these in the future...Expect the unexpected!

Here Theme 4 by Robert Beshara. 

Cheers!

Moscow Melancholia: Black and White

For a while now, I haven't been thinking of Russia. I wanted to keep it as a memory, but I have to say, melancholia has come around. I have both good and bad memories. Moscow, was probably a harsh experience for me on so many levels...But life teaches you both good and bad, the actual challenge in life it to face the problems and try to survive. Here are some glimpses of my past, not a very distant one, but a past I am learning to accept and understand its teachings.

There is no past, there is no future. There is only now.

Memories and experiences build the person you are.

Each corner of my mind, has an image. That same image holds thousands of sensations, thoughts and flashbacks...I can't recall how many times I walked through those streets. How many times I looked up to see the buildings. How many times I saw exactly the same thing. 

I never truly paid attention to all. I should have. 

I practically walked pass Lenin every single day. I stood there staring at that colossal statue, daily. Watching skaters doing acrobats under your feet, jumping and running. As I walked my beloved dog. He who passed away in Moscow.

In my life, I never ever did I think that I would be so close to the KGB headquarters! :S

Time flies. And I left you more than 8 months ago. Just now, I learned to appreciate you.

I can only say thank you. For the people I've met and the places I've been.

Valparaiso, the beauty hidden in hills

Valpo, is what we commonly call the first port city of Chile. Valparaiso, is a place of legends and love stories, for instance, this is where my great grandparents met, and fell in love. Both as European immigrants, they picked Valparaiso, and then Santiago to bring up a family. 

I'm sure this couple must have walked passed Sotomayor square.

 

 I'm sure they must have taken a funicular up one of the many hills.

I'm sure they must have kissed once they reached the top and saw this view.

They might have dreamt about living in this house...

Or living in this one...

Planting a flower garden filled with these...

To see each morning...and water every night...

This love story, will continue to live by the narrow alleys of the hills.

Through all the passages and all the houses.

That love will remain...

Eternal

As Eternal as life and birth and its cycle.

Because we all try to make a living and form a family.

Create a home

Form a community...

Create a network..

Expand our surroundings

And at the end of the day

Life is there to be enjoyed

So look around you

And see all the colors life can bring.

Not all you see is grey.

I have a quote:

"Life can be...

Beautiful,

it's just a matter...

of...

Perspective".

For Walter & Guillermine, 

that couple I never got to meet.