"Who is John Galt?"

Today's score: One of the most inspiring albums from David Bowie: "Outside".

Sá Carneiro, Jeff Wall e Rembrandt

À beira da estrada, um grupo de homens reunia à volta de um buraco com o tamanho de uma sepultura. Atrás deles, o largo da igreja perde-se no meio das casas degradadas e dos carros deixados ao desespero urbanístico. O muro gigante de prédios do lado oposto: triste, pesado e ainda adormecido. Passei devagar. Tudo parecia parado. A manhã: cinzenta escura, ainda molhada pela chuva que entretanto parou.

Talvez (demasiado) influenciado pelas minhas obsessões com as imagens e textos de Jeff Wall, a cena remeteu-me imediatamente para "The Flooded Grave" (1998–2000). Ao mesmo tempo, a disposição do grupo de homens à volta do buraco fez-me lembrar "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" (1632), a enigmática pintura de Rembrandt. Todos pareciam olhar em diferentes direcções, para fora do buraco. Um deles parecia dar instruções.

Faltou-me no entanto detectar um qualquer erro, à semelhança do erro anatómico (propositado?) do quadro. Há dias que a imagem me vem à memória. Para quê?

Há 28 anos, Francisco Sá Carneiro morrera ali perto.

O buraco estava hoje tapado, com asfalto ainda negro e brilhante, a anunciar o sol que agora substituiu a chuva mas que não consegue dar dignidade a um sítio tão infeliz.



PS - E finalmente - porque sim - em português.

Today's score: Telefon Tel Aviv, "Immolate Yourself".

My Own Private Idaho

I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.

(Quoting Mike Waters, towards the end of Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho")



Today's score: Kaito: "Special Love", at home, "Special Life", in the car.

Start Still

Start still.
Ask for nothing.
A year full of possibilities...

2009



Today's score: Emmanuel Witzthum’s new release from the Stasisfield netlabel, Chamber_music_(1.a). Download irt here.

A "hell of a job"

I wonder if my daily work has some kind of influence in my images.

Lately, I've been hating it (the job, not the images) in a daily basis. It all seems now like a five year marathon for achieving useless things and making me loose reason on myself sometimes.

So, without further annoying development on the subject, that means it's time to move on and learn with it instead of forget about it. It's time for a change. Be it huge or irrelevant, it has to happen.

But the ironic side of it, is that this "hell of a job" is somehow responsible for some of the limitations that imposed some of the ideas and images I make. The series "Sunday" and "Whispering City" are the best examples. I'll leave you to figure out why. It bothers me to pollute you with my own interpretantions sometimes...



If I leave this demanding - yet useless - job, leaving me more available to produce images, how will it affect my images?



Hey Diva?! Thank you so much for the "hell of a job" thing. :)

Today's score: Apparat "Things To Be Frickeld - Parts & Remixes" (Shitkatapult).

Game Over

Cliché time!

The more I see people spending time online, the more I see kids living through a console, the more I see people listening to others through a cell phone... The more I love looking at empty, forgotten places. And the more chances I have to register them. :)



Today's score: Stateless.

Silence Please

I always lack words to describe some images. Why do I emotionally attach to them and why they keep coming to my mind from time to time, it stays a mystery.

This weekend, at Fernando Santos Gallery (Porto), I saw André Príncipe's "Smell of Tiger precedes Tiger". This talented young artist is maybe the best example of what I've said above.

His work deals mostly with the subjects of loneliness and the difficulty of communication. This can explain why I'm so wordless to explain why it disturbs me so much and why I love it so.

Also, when I look at his series of images, I seem to forget the fact that I'm looking at photographic images.

Sometimes silence is the most demanding and valuable thing we get from images.

Regarding my own images, I've always had trouble "decoding" these:







Today's score: returning on a train, from Porto to Lisbon, Telefon Tel Aviv's "Remixes Compiled" and "Immediate Action, Vol.8".

All work...

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
...



Today's score: Lullatone, "Little Songs About Raindrops".

36

Today's score: my friends and my family.

September

I lose my daydreams
I lose my colours
I lose my longing
I find myself

(Maximilian Hecker, "Grey")



September is always my favorite time of the year.
I was born in September.
I always start something from scratch in September.
September is crystal clear and unpredictable at the same time.
I find myself.

Today's score: three Maximilian Hecker's albums.