Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hu Zhenyu

Energetically complete the task of party rectification,
bring about a basic turn for the better in party spirit, 1984, offset, 77 cm x 106 cm

Ricardo (Rodríguez) Brey

Totem, 1997, iron, 1001 gloves
150 x 40 x 40 cm (59.06 in x 15.75 in x 15.75 in)


Born in 1955 in Havana, Cuba. Lives and works in Ghent, Belgium.

http://www.xippas.com/en/artist/ricardo_brey/

Florida-Havana II

Castillo de San Marcos, Saint Augustine, Florida


Castillo de La Fuerza, La Habana, Cuba

Florida-Havana

The Breakers Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida


Hotel Nacional, La Habana, Cuba

Tim O'Brien's Muhammad Ali

oil and 22 carat gold leaf on panel

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Ring (September 1927)


Ganó Valuev, por decisión


Russian giant Nikolai Valuev won the WBA heavyweight championship Saturday night, using his left jab to outpoint American John Ruiz in an unanimous decision.

The fight was first declared a split decision, but the score was officially later changed to give Valuev all three of the judges' votes.

The 7-foot Valuev (49-1) regained the title he lost to Ruslan Chagaev in April 2007 and beat Ruiz (43-8-1) for the second time.

The judges scored it for Valuev, 116-113, 116-111 and 114-113.

WBA delegate John Pack said one of the officials, Japanese ringside judge Takeshi Shimakawa, alerted him after the first split decision was read out that he too had given the fight to Valuev.

The Japanese official explained that one of the cards had the names of the fighters in a different order, therefore resulting in the confusion. Shimakawa was the judge who scored it 114-113.

The decision wasn't popular with everyone in the Max Schmeling arena in Berlin, with some of the crowd booing the outcome.

Valuev, with a massive advantage in height, weight and reach, also won a disputed decision over Ruiz in December 2005.

"I thought I won the fight," Ruiz said. "I don't know what was going with the scorecards."

The scorecards were taken back and fourth from the ring several times.

Valuev landed a few big rights, but not enough to put Ruiz into trouble. Ruiz could not connect with more than one punch at a time.

"I did not do what I wanted to do 100 percent," Valuev said.

The 35-year-old Valuev looked trimmer and quicker than in previous fights after changing his diet and training regime. He settled for keeping Ruiz at a distance with his left jab, but never delivered a punch that could shake Ruiz.

Ruiz appeared to shake Valuev with a right in the second round but the Russian recovered quickly. Every time Ruiz appeared to get close, Valuev's left jab would keep the American away.

Ruiz and Valuev were given a title fight after the WBA declared Ruslan Chagaev "champion in recess," following an Achilles' tendon injury that forced him to call off a rematch with Valuev.

Piñacera gigante hoy en Berlín

Ruiz y Valuev

El gigante ruso Nikolai Valuev dice que buscará hoy ganar de nuevo el título mundial superpesado de la World Boxing Association con un nuevo estilo, al enfrentarse al norteamericano de origen puertorriqueño John Ruiz en Berlín.

"Tomaría mucho tiempo explicar todos los cambios que he hecho. Los presentaré esta noche en el ring", dijo Valuev, de 35 años, en conferencia de prensa.

Valuev mide 2.13 m y pesa más de 140 kgs.

Phoenix gym mural

Boxing mural outside a gym in Phoenix, AZ.

Robert Shetterly's Muhammad Ali

Acrylic on panel, 36 in x 30 in

Friday, August 29, 2008

Soulfire poster.

Amateur Boxing Association poster



http://www.soulfire.com.au/

Graffiti's pioneers mural dicovered


“A large mural that was created by some of graffiti’s earliest pioneers was discovered recently in a 10-story limestone building just as developers were converting it into luxury condominiums.”

Click here for the full story.

Johnatan D. Gordon's Muhammad Ali

Schizm, Portrait of Muhammad Ali


Thursday, August 28, 2008

Joherms Quiala Brooks



http://sevennorth.com/the-art-of-cuba/joherms-quiala-brooks

Cambio de cara


Alain Bertrand




alainbertrand.com

Edel Rodríguez's Muhammad Ali

Float like a Butterfly, 2002, children's book cover

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Gavilán-Dykes Ticket




Shepard Fairey's Muhammad Ali

Print, 2006.

Free Gorki!

FREE GORKI!


Andy Warhol's Muhammad Ali

Silkscreen and polymer paint on canvas, 1979, 40 in x 40 in


Silkscreen and polymer paint on canvas, 1979, 40 in x 40 in





Portfolio of 4 screenprints, 1978, 40 in x 30 in (edition of 1500),

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Boxing Hemingway

Boxing in Paris

One day, some time in the 1930s, Shine Forbes was acting as a second to a young boxer who was taking quite a pasting. Shine threw in the towel. The referee refused to accept it. He did it again and once more the referee kicked it away. Furious at his refusal to stop the fight, Shine climbed into the ring and swung a punch at the referee. Only after the fight was Shine told that the referee he had assaulted was the famous writer Ernest Hemingway. He was made to go round to the house and apologize straightaway.

Shine knocked on the door of the grand house at 907 Whitehead with deep misgivings, but Hemingway, far from being angry, asked him and his friends in for some sparring practice and told them to come round any time.

And they did. One Christmas, Shine recalls, they were walking up Whitehead, short of cash, when they saw a light in the Hemingways' house and knocked on the door. Hemingway was holding a party and the boys earned $200 sparring by the pool as an entertainment for his guests.

(Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure)


Boxing Grannies


Boxing Grannies é um jogo bem esquisito e bizarro, são duas vovós lutando boxe!
É só apertar os botões para as vovós começarem a lutar usando todos os golpes tradicionais como jab, direto, cruzado, gancho e upper.
As pugilistas ancestrais tem 18 cm de altura e ganha o jogo quem nocautear a primeira avó. Façam suas apostas!
O jogo Boxing Granny custa £14,99 na loja inglesa.

Manuel Romero


Mural outside a gym in Las Vegas

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Boxing Up Bukowski


Darren Miller

On Sunday, I boxed up Bukowski. I boxed up Bangs. And Talese, too.

With the recent sale of our house and a move forthcoming, my wife and I spent the weekend packing. The basement is stacked with boxes—all soon on their way to a storage unit.

It was when I got to this room, where I sit now, empty and ready box in hand, that the significance of what I was doing hit me.

There goes Pynchon and Joyce and Thoreau. Hentoff , Friedman and Dowd. Hersh, Capote, Kafka, and Kidder. Hundreds of others as well. All packed tightly—and carefully, mind you—into boxes, on their way next weekend to a storage unit.

This is the room where I write. On an iMac, which is on an antique-looking, colonial-style desk, which is in what I like to call my library (a cozy little space with deep red walls, cherry-stained bookshelves and, of course, books). Most of my modest collection—400 books or so (and still growing)—call this room home.

Until now. Until, that is, the boxes arrived.

The shelves that line the wall to my left, however, are empty now, and so too is the room, the atmosphere. Before tonight, whether writing or reading, I never felt alone, inspiration never far away. Tonight, the journalists, the poets, the observers, the thinkers, the rock critics, the astronomers, the geographers, the playwrights, the storytellers, the truth-tellers are all eerily quiet. Silent.

It was nice—comforting, really—to be able to reach over to the top of the bookshelf and grab a Bukowski collection. Perhaps tonight, being that my wife and I sold our house with no real point on the map targeted as the next move, I would have reached for What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through The Fire and flipped to page 408. Only it’s not there. Neither is the psychological warmth usually generated by the thousands of painstakingly crafted pages of carefully chosen words. Tonight, just me and the word processor—and empty bookshelves. Which brings me to this one simple point: All writers must have their own library.

Size, at least in this particular case, doesn’t matter. Quality is what counts here. Fill it with the works of the writers you love, or want to read, or want to write like. Let the voices in; surround yourself with those who inspire you to “write as well as you can.”

William Zinsser, too, is all boxed up. Woodward, Twain, Melville. Orwell and Roth. Hemingway and Whitman. Irving, Wolfe, and Mailer. Hunter S. Thompson, Gore Vidal, and Studs Terkel. Hundreds of others as well. All boxed up—muses temporarily indisposed.

While I’ve realized for quite some time the importance and value my personal library holds, the silence stifling this empty room at this moment makes this point even more pronounced, more palpable. All writers must have their own library. There’s no better way to write than to do so in the company of heroes.

It was hard for me to box up Hank, Lester and the others. Soon, though, I will be slicing the tape on those damn boxes and restocking my shelves with the inspiration they afford. Soon I will open up a Bukowski again and “the nights will flame with fire.” Until then Bach and Satie, Modest Mouse and Pearl Jam, Cabernet and Pinot—in no particular order—will have to suffice.

May 22, 2007

Noticias de La Almozara



El pintor cubano Reiner Izquierdo Angulo lleva varios días en Zaragoza pintando en el que será el nuevo local de la Asociación de Vecinos Ebro de La Almozara. Va a exponer en breve en la Asociación de Pensionistas y Jubilados de la Calle Braulio Foz, también en La Almozara.
La Asociación de Vecinos Ebro tuvo que desalojar el local municipal hace un mes. Con las elecciones se han retrasado las obras de acondicionamiento del local que va a ocupar. No hay electricidad y todavía no se puede utilizar.
Pero Reiner Izquierdo aprovecha las horas de luz natural y está sacando adelante una producción asombrosa. Pinta cuadros en blanco y negro, de un expresionismo que no deja indiferente y que ya se ve distinto de que aparece en los cuadros que ha traído de Cuba.
Es posible que Reiner acabe pintando un mural en la Asociación de La Almozara, pues hay unos grandes paños de hormigón. De momento, aquí van las primeras fotos.


www.zaragozame.com (julio 2007)

Sullivan & Sullivan


John L. Sullivan, left, bare-knuckle bout

John Lawrence Sullivan (October 15, 1858 - February2, 1918) was a boxing inmortal, the link between bare knuckles and glove fighting, and the first great American sports idol. He was powerful, quick, could hit with either hand but had exceptional strength in his right, and could take punishment. John L. could break a man's jaw with a single punch. He is still considered by some historians to be one of the best heavyweights ever; Sullivan was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.



Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, Chicago, IL.,
1899-1904

Louis Henri Sullivan (September 4, 1856 – April 14, 1924) has been called the "father of modernism". He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, and was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School. He is also was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to architects of the Pririe School.

Allan Douglas Youl. Sport drawings from New Zealand


Albert Corbí. Red Night


Red Night es un reportaje sobre una sala de entrenamiento de boxeo amateur. En cierta medida, no pretende una descripción minuciosa, más bien una lectura metafórica de lo que allí ocurre. Las paredes abigarradas de imáges y lemas son una noche dentro de la noche. Y la sala de boxeo se convierte en un refugio, una calma en la confusión, un final del ruido, donde los deseos y los espejismos son más claros. Allí se aprenden las leyes más elementales, se viven los límites y se desaparce de un mundo abigarrado y cada vez más confuso. Hay un respeto enorme, los golpes son sagrados y nadie subestima a nadie. Hay un reloj que marca el tiempo del round. Hay un televisor que emite combates históricos. Hay los protectores bucales, una lata, alguien que acaba de entrar al gimnasio.

El boxeo es un juego estricto, sin concesiones. Implica un diálogo con la realidad, con el otro, con el rival, continuo. No se puede boxear a ciegas, porque en él no hay nada de virtual e ilusorio. Los puños del rival son reales e innegociables. La imaginación no sirve para huir: sólo sirve para cambiar la realidad. En un mundo donde apenas hay nada que parezca cierto o que nos atrevamos a decir cierto, el boxeo es una metáfora de lo contrario: es un acto físico.

galería: http://www.clubcultura.com/galerias/vergaleria.php?gal_id=5

Saturday, August 23, 2008

A Pound of Hemingway



For a lad who was advised in high school to stop writing because he had no talent, the late Ernest Hemingway managed to get forward pretty well with prose. He wrote limpid English, but this did not prevent him from having the warmest admiration for Pound and Joyce and certain other writers of the nonlimpid school. He is said to have learned much about the handling of words from Gertrude Stein, a poet not famous for limpidity.

Wyndham Lewis wrote of a visit to Pound's Paris studio:

"A splendidly built young man, stript to the waist, and with a torso of dazzling white, was standing not far from me. He was tall, handsome and serene, and was repelling with his boxing gloves--I thought without undue exertion--a hectic assault of Ezra's. After a final swing at the dazzling solar plexus (parried effortlessly by the trousered statue) Pound fell back upon the settee. The young man was Hemingway."

A Kind Word for Ezra Pound

In 1936, from his home in Rapallo, Pound wrote to Hemingway, "Waal, me deah Hembe Glad to see you doing man's wolk * * *" and followed with unprintable characterizations of such things as the world of high finance--outside of Mussolini's Italy, that is.

When Pound had been judged insane and placed in a Washington mental institution after he had been indicted for treason, Hemingway interceded for him:

"Ezra Pound was a great poet and whatever he did has been greatly punished and I believe he should be freed to go and write poems in Italy, where he is loved and understood."

(Books, The New York Times, July 6, 1961)

Carlos Meglia

Steve Kaufman. Poster Warhol-Basquiat

Warhol vs Basquiat-The Exhibition, 2008, hand painted silkscreen on canvas,
46 in x 30 in

Steve Kauffman. One Hundred Dollar Bill

Hand-embellished silkscreen on canvas,
15½ in x 37 in, edition of 50.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Edel Rodríguez

Edel Rodriguez was born in 1971 in Havana, Cuba. He received a B.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute in 1994 and an M.F.A. from Hunter College in 1998. Using a variety of materials, his work ranges from conceptual to portraiture and landscape. His work has been featured in Print's 1998 New Visual Artists Annual and on the cover of the 2004 Communication Arts Illustration Annual. It has also been regularly selected to appear in the pages of Communication Arts, American Illustration, Society of Publication Designers, and The Society of Illustrators Annuals. He is also the recipient of both a Gold and a Silver Medal for editorial illustration from the Society of Illustrators. He has illustrated three children's books, "Mama does the Mambo", "Oye Celia", a biopic about Celia Cruz, and "Float Like a Butterfly", a story about Cassius Clay. A stamp he created for the United States Postal Service was released in the Summer of 2005. Edel's artwork is in the collections of a variety of institutions, including the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., as well as in the private collections of a variety of writers, actors, designers, businessmen, and political figures.Partial Client List: The New Yorker, Time Magazine, MTV, Pepsi Inc., U.S. Postal Service, Spot Design, Nike Inc., WBMG, Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly, Gentleman's Quarterly, Playboy, Reader's Digest, National Geographic Traveler, Little Brown and Co., The New York Times, Galison Books, University of Chicago Press, The New Republic, Hyperion Books, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Henry Holt Books, Esquire magazine, Conde Naste Traveler, The Washington Post, David Morris Design, Fortune Magazine, Billboard Magazine, Golf Digest, The Progressive, Los Angeles Times, McGraw-Hill, The Nation, Vibe Magazine




When Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother last week, the editors of Time Magazine’s website approached Edel Rodriguez about publishing a series of his drawings as a visual essay. Rodriguez left Cuba in 1980, but continues to capture Cuban life in his artwork. The resulting illustration essay is entitled A Vision of Cuba.