Berlin in Rauch Licht (Berlin in Smoke Light)

by Gregg Chadwick


Gregg Chadwick
Berlin in Rauch Licht (Berlin in Smoke Light)
24"x18" oil on linen 2011
Private Collection Los Angeles

Berlin embodies the future and at the same time carries the scars of the past. While recently in Berlin my painting Rauch Licht (Berlin in Smoke Light) was inspired by the palpable sense of beauty and the smoke of time seemingly hovering in the air. A soundtrack of Bowie, Lou Reed and U2 almost audibly haunts this mysterious vision. Will light let us break free from this Berlin Noir?

Brecht's Song

Gregg Chadwick
Brecht's Song
30"x22" monotype on paper 2011

In memory of Amy Winehouse.

Smoke Light

Gregg Chadwick
Rauch Licht (Smoke Light)
30"x22" monotype on paper 2011

Deutsch Traum

Gregg Chadwick
Deutsch Traum (German Dream)
30"x22" monotype on paper 2011

Der Himmel Draußen (The Sky Outside): Actor and Artist Peter Falk Dies at 83

Gregg Chadwick
Der Himmel Draußen (The Sky Outside)
30"x22" monotype on paper 2011

Peter Falk has died at 83 leaving us with a rich legacy of film and television work as well as a body of carefully crafted prints and drawings.
As fate would have it, I am currently working on a series of artworks inspired by my experiences in the city of Berlin. Painters, writers, and filmmakers from Max Beckmann to Christopher Isherwood to Wim Wenders have created visions of the city that still guide us across Berlin's potent memoryscape. Peter Falk also left his mark on this city of memory in Wender's Wings of Desire.

Peter Falk in Wim Wender's Classic Film Wings of Desire

Look Closely: Are There Angels Hiding in the Ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church?
photo by Gregg Chadwick (Berlin 2010)

Peter Falk
Girl With Ponytail

Peter Falk With Artist's Model

More on Berlin, Peter Falk and Wings of Desire at:
City of Cinephilia


Peter Falk in Wim Wender's Classic Film Wings of Desire

Faces of Egypt

by Gregg Chadwick


Egyptian Portraits at the Neues Museum, Berlin
photo by Gregg Chadwick

Including:
Upper Left
Mask from Amarna: Portrait of a Man

Center : Queen Nefertiti

Bottom Right: Pharaoh Ay

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, ca. 1340 BC
Gypsum
Amarna
Height 18 cm
Neues Museum, Berlin

These life-sized masks are from a series found in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmoses in Achet-Aton (today called Amarna) in Middle Egypt. Amarna was the capital of Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti.

The portrait study of a man in the upper left of the photo provides an interesting view of Thutmoses' artistic process.
First a cast was taken directly from the sitter's face and then a gypsum copy was made from the mould. The gypsum sculpture was then brought to detailed completion.

In this installation of ancient sculptures, we are directly confronted with the real faces of Egypt. Even if the sitters' names and identities have been lost to history, their muted presence seems to express the events they have witnessed and the stories they could tell.

The faces being broadcast out of Egypt today seem to carry the same weight of history.


Queen Nefertiti at at the Neues Museum, Berlin
photo by Gregg Chadwick



Protester at Tahrir Square on January 31, 2011

More at:
Neues Museum
National Geographic - Pharaohs of the Sun
Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt
Wael Ghonim, Google executive and democracy activist held by Egyptian authorities for 12 days, is being credited with re-energizing the Egyptian protests

Helden: Remembering November 9, 1989

Helden: November 9, 1989
TwitPaint

20 years ago today as images of the fall of the Berlin Wall streamed across televisions around the world, I played Little Steven's poignant song Checkpoint Charlie. Little Steven's 1984 song openly dreamed of a free and united Berlin. On November 9, 1989 that dream began to come true. Today as we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, I also dream of Freedom in Iran and the fall of the Iran Curtain.


The Berliner Zeitung has a nice series of images and articles about the history and fall of the Berlin Wall:
20. Jahre Mauerfall



John F Kennedy in Berlin: "Ich bin ein Berliner."


"This film shows video footage taken in April 1990 plus still image photographs taken in December 1989 and July 2005. There is footage on both sides of the wall, although for reasons of personal security the footage of the Eastern side of the crossing point is somewhat minimal. Nevertheless it is possible to see the arrangement of frosted glass screens which made it virtually impossible to see the crossing point from the East."


Photographer Anthony Suau talks about his iconic image of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

photo by current events.

Artist Kent Twitchell paints an image of JFK on a portion of the Berlin Wall on exhibit in Los Angeles

More at:
Wende Museum: Wall Across Wilshire

Grünes Berlin

U2 Paints Berlin green for Iran
(Sunday Bloody Sunday for Iran - Live in Berlin - July 18, 2009)

Update:
U2 Now Scrolls Rumi Poem Azadi in Solidarity With Artists 4 Freedom



Artists 4 Freedom in support of Iran:
Artists 4 Freedom

Text of the Rumi Poem Here:
U2 Scrolls Rumi Poem During Barcelona Concert

July 7, 2009 Video in Milan Can Be Found Here:
U2Goes Green Again for Iran in Milan



"Our private lives continuously intersect with the history of our time."
-Huston Smith

An Angel Hits the Ground

U2 Performs "Faraway, So Close" Live in Berlin - July 18, 2009
(Cassiel this one is for you! Nous sommes embarque.)