Opo's NecPlusUltra

Only the best to share with others. Not a competion, just my list.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

NPU 16: GERHARD RICHTER

Gerhard RICHTER, German Artist (

I love the Black & White City Landscapes of this part chameleon, part provocateur.



Love this unfinished touch.



Here you can find a good paper on Gerhard Richter.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

NPU 15: WILLIAM FORSYTH Choreographer

William FORSYTH, choreographer (USA-1949)


The Master of Modern Dance with images, concepts, sequences but especially rhythms and body mouvemnts that create flashes of pleasure that I call: dance.

Modern, because you do not have only "one" item to watch but many on many levels and all are, if not perfect, worked well.



William Forsyth, leaving in Europe since the 70's, has just launched a new company The Forsyth Company"

More infos and a rare Image Gallery of coreographies from W.F.

a good description of what I feel watching W.F. works

for a small (700kb) video clip WMV of Eidos Telos

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

NPU 14: ARCIMBOLDO

Giuseppe ARCIMBOLDO, Italian painter (ca.1530-1593)



The master of Illusion and the genius of Manierism.

Monday, March 14, 2005

NPU 13: S-1 LOCOMOTIVE by Loewy

The S-1 steam Locomotive was designed by French-born American Designer Raymond LOEWY (1893-1986) in 1937 for The Pennsylvania Railroad.

The prow of this machine is just amazing, futuristic and means : extreme power for extreme speed.

NPU 12: CHRYSLER BUILDING

The CHRYSLER BUILDING was builded in New York, USA, in 1930 by the American architect William Van Alen (1883-1954).

One of ther tallest skyscrapers of the world (but just for a few monthes), this splendid Art Deco building is one of my favorite.

The stainless steel cladding of the top is for me a "vision": cold metal pointing to the sky but with this round deco patterns...
Must be seen from distance.

NPU 11: STATIONS by B. Viola

Bill VIOLA, (USA, 1951) is for me one of the best video Artist in the world.
The "Stations" installation I saw, was back in 1994 at American Center inaugural opening in Paris (France).

Imagine, you enter a room completely in the dark, total black. You do not even know where to walk, than sound, water sound: splash.
The image: naked body upside down entering the giant screen from the top. Bodies swimming, or better, moving in black water...heads down... then another screen starts then a third...
Superb.

Monday, March 07, 2005

NPU 10: RAIN, STEAM and SPEED by W. Turner

'Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway'
(before 1844) an oil painting by Joseph Mallord William TURNER.

Clouds of steam and clouds of rain.


This painting, now at the National Gallery in London is already Modern: by its impressionistic style and by its title.
Railway, even at that time is already "the speed" and "the machine". But the weather and the distance used by Turner already suggest the caution that we have, now, for the speed and the machines.

NPU 9: HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS

"HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS" a 2004 Chinese movie by ZHANG YIMOU.


The best movie I have seen in 2004 (and perhaps the best one since 2000...)

An incredible pictoric composition, mixing the most striking "bamboo greens" (see top) and "light blue" (see bottom) I ever seen on a screen with romance and locations in a superb white wood forest (in Ukraina).



The power of the images created by ZHANG YIMOU is astonishing. It is not the kung-fu coreography but the camera's one that takes you where the director wants. Colors even more than composition. Colors that are always in movement.
I repeat myself but the green dresses in the green bamboo forest, the blue dress with XXXXL long leaves and the white trees of the woods are just perfect. A real pleasure.

More pictures here

Sunday, March 06, 2005

NPU 8: SATURN

SATURN and its rings.

A night, a telescope, your eye and the "real world" appears. Not a just a point of light like the stars or the Moon. No, a planet. A planet like the one in the cartoons... It's magic !


Now the Cassini Huygens mission is just there with a man builted machine. They even landed on Saturn's satellite Titan.
That is real science.
By the way, it is a US and European Mission: a success.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

NPU 7: ODYSSEY by HOMER

The ODYSSEY by greec mythologic author HOMER (800 BC)

The Odyssey relates the journey home of one of the most known greec heros: Ulysses



It is my preferred book in terms of:

-Cultural Heritage (as we, westerners, have our roots in the hellenistic culture);
-"Heroic Hero" (alone against the Gods, he resists and comes back home 10 years after he left Troy, where he had fought and won war for another 10 years):
-"Clever Hero": using the brain and not only the brutal force
-"Vendicative hero": coming home and punishing the traitors...

NPU 6: VENUS by BOTTICELLI

The Birth of Venus, (circa 1485) painting by Sandro Filipepi detto "il BOTTICELLI" (Florence 1445-1510).

The face of this young woman is my preferred portrait in all painted art: modern, essentail, idealized but still real, fresh, gentle, intelligent,... Whow.


The painting is now at the Uffizi in Florence and its quite large almost 3 meters.

NPU 5: JAGUAR E Type

JAGUAR E Type (1961), one of the most beautifull car ever builted.

Not an "archetypal car", only a fluid and essential line.

Superb, feline, aggressive and yet feminine.
Futuristic in the positive sense.
Possibly the best pleasure is only to watch it and not to drive it.

NPU 4: CAIRNS by Andy GOLDSWORTHY

CAIRNS are hand builded stone artifacts that man since the prehistoric time has builted to signify its presence in the natural world and the same is for children.



Flat stones that you put one by one on the top of each other and that collapse at the end of the day or of the month...
Andy Goldsworthy has created an impressive serie of those Cairns, building them not only in stone but also with trees and ice ...



The works of Goldsworthy do not limit to the cairns, but are geniune and "natural" in the sense that they do not only accept but look for the effect of time and natural elements to be achieved.

A sense of "satisfaction".

NPU 3: BACH, the Cello Suites

J.S. BACH, the Cello Suites by Anner Bylsma, Listen to the CD audio (15 octobre 1992) .

The sound of the "violoncello" solo is pure emotion. A great moment of music for an introspective approach of oneself... It comes from deep inside, at least in my case.

NPU 2: MARRONS GLACES

The "Marrons Glacés" from Giovanni Galli, Corso di Porta Romana, 2, MILANO, Italy.

Only during Fall and Winter, deliscious and fresh, not over sweet, real marroni. una delizia.

NPU 1: PANTHEON

PANTHEON, Roma, Italy

Not only the structure but especially the interior: no windows only an "oculus" (an eye in latin: an empty hole in the center of the cupola).



Superb.

2000 years old and still the best public architecture.
Imagine it with no "modern deocorations" inside.