Archive for the ‘travel’ Category
You’re not in Denmark anymore…although you’d never know it. For sweet aficionados this side of the pond, European confectionery delight can be sampled just a hop, skip, and a jaunt from Los Angeles. Without having to fly to Denmark to embark on this culinary journey, one can get their pastry fix in Solvang, California, a Danish village located in Santa Barbara county. Downtown Solvang is no ordinary California city. It’s home to Scandinavian shops, wine bars, and eateries that all architecturally appear to have been plucked out of a picturesque village outside Copenhagen. Yes, Danish flags flap in the wind. Yes, store clerks strutt traditional costumes. And yes, Smorgasbord feasts and aebleskivers (Danish pancakes) beckon from restaurant windows. Solvang even boasts not one—but three—historic windmills!
[ photo via funonthenet.in ]
The Harbin Ice Festival is going on right now in Harbin, China (located in the cold, cold northeast corner of the country). The festival highlights dramatic ice sculptures, magically illuminated at night.
[ photo via StrudelMonkey ]
Earlier this week, 1.5 million people filled the streets of Berlin, Germany to watch a several-day performance by France’s Royal de Luxe street theatre company titled “The Berlin Reunion”. Part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Reunion show featured two massive marionettes, the Big Giant, a deep-sea diver, and his niece, the Little Giantess. The storyline of the performance has the two separated by a wall, thrown up by “land and sea monsters”. The Big Giant has just returned from a long and difficult – but successful – expedition to destroy the wall, and now the two are walking the streets of Berlin, seeking each other after many years apart. I’ll let the photos below tell the rest of the story.
[ Via Boston.com ]
A purple neon crown glows among the fake ivy that blankets the entire facade of Royal/T, a cafe, shop, and art gallery located steps from downtown Culver City. Royal/T is a Japanese-style cosplay (costume play) café, so the staff wear Japanese lolita maid costumes. Inspired by the meido kissa (maid cafes) of Tokyo, this eclectic art space has an equally eclectic menu that includes great dessert items like Matcha green tea flan as well as a long list of coffee drinks and cocktails, a standout being the watermelon chu-hi martinis.
Unlike most cafés, Royal/T displays big name artists. Paintings and sculptures by Japan’s contemporary art stars and other rising starlets line the exposed brick walls. The art is from the collection of Susan Hancock, a collector who has served on several museum councils and is also the owner of Royal/T. You’ll find works by Chiho Aoshima, Chinatsu Ban, Yayoi Kusama, Mr, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, and Aya Takano among many more. It’s quite an experience to sip your tea among Murakami’s and beside hanging anime head sculptures by Mr. Even the walk to the restroom is wallpapered with floor to ceiling Japanese fashion photographs.
Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
310.559.6300
These cups are illustrated by Newport Beach artist Cheeming Boey.
Click here to check out more work by the Styrofoam cup artist.
Images via Boey’s Flickr site.
The image pictured above is from Graafland’s series Reykjavik Roofs, shot in Iceland in 2004. These photographs depict nude figures laid over A-frame Icelandic farmhouse roofs, speaking to the desolated isolation of the Icelandic landscape. With photo projects shot in the Netherlands, Jerusalem, New York, China, Bolivia, and Florida, Graafland offers captivating photographic commentaries that juxtapose the landscapes she chose to set them in. Graafland shot 2 particularly striking series in Bolivia: “Salt” and “Soft Horizon”, seen directly below. From “Salt”:
Check out more work at: http://scarletthooft.com/
(all photos from scarletthooft.com/)
I happened across the work of German artist, Bernd Koberling on a recent trip to Iceland. His paintings absolutely sent me swooning. Although not originally from Iceland, Koberling, who was born in Berlin, travels and lives between Iceland and Germany. His plein air watercolor landscapes done on location in northern Iceland capture the vibrancy of the country spot on.
Koberling’s work has an iconic Icelandic spirit that ties him aesthetically to much of the modern art and design being produced by contemporary Icelandic artists, while at the same time remaining true to the diverse and rugged landscapes of Iceland, reflected through his use of rich colors and daring brush strokes. From nature’s wilderness to the sleek white walls of Reykjavík museums, Koberling’s powerful impressions leave lasting impressions of unique grandeur, which resonate across farms and fjords to Iceland’s contemporary art scene.
