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Thursday, January 14, 2010: [
After almost a month away from the summerhouse, we returned this weekend. As this also means back to the studio for yours truly, I started work on a new State of Mind project. Different and quite strange, it may or may not turn out to make sense at some point. But first, of course, there is a debut album scheduled for release this spring.
Sunday, January 3, 2010: 
[
Flew back to Copenhagen.
Pictures from Berlin here.
Friday, January 1, 2010: [
Joined a lot of other Berliners for another couple of museum visits. First the Carl Gustav Carus exhibit at the Alte Nationalgalerie. A contemporary of Caspar David Friedrich, Carus painted a very similar brand of romanticism - though often verging into kitsch, and only occasionally approaching the existential depths of Friedrich. Still, impressive work for a man who also dabbled in various sciences and not only worked as a doctor, but practically defined gynecology as we know it today. The exhibit also showed an enlightened selection of contemporaries, allowing you to explore similarities in themes and techniques, as well as the subtle differences in approach.
And as if to comfort an old Friedrich fan like myself, his "Der Mönch am Meer" was back up in the permanent exhibit - one of my personal contenders for the greatest painting in Western art. Just saying.
Afterwards, I made my first ever visit to Deutsches Historisches Museum for the Kunst und Kalter Krieg exhibit - a rather unique look at at the development of German art on either side of the Iron Curtain. Ordered chronologically, the works showed the rigidity of early GDR art, the underground rebellion against this, and the escape of some East German artists to the West. Those who stayed but remained critical to the regime - like the highly original surrealist Werner Tübke - hid their protest behind enigmatic symbolism. Though, strangely, near the end of the Cold War, the state allowed a much wider range of artistic expression - resulting in grotesquely satirical performance art, virtually signalling the impending end of the GDR.
The exhibit also gave an insight into the friendships and exchanges between the artists of the East and West, as expressed in a the symbolic handshake between GDR's A.R. Penck and Jörg Immendorf in a painting from the latter's "Cafe Deutschland" series.
Apart from the historical interest, any exhibit that shows the work of Baselitz, Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer is bound to be impressive. But being less familiar with the art of Werner Tübke, I was particularly fascinated by his very personal style: The impenetrable symbolism (was he criticizing the inhumanities of Capitalism or Communism - or both?) conveyed in a dense surrealist images, often in a Renaissance style reminiscent of that other great original, Hieronymus Bosch.
So - a presentation of a piece of history, surely. But mainly focusing on the best and most fascinating art from the era.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009: [
Joined Kemi for a walk through the snow to the Bauhaus Archive. Although I probably got more than my recommended daily dose of simple geometric shapes and primary colours - the alround talent of Mies van der Rohe and the architecture of Walter Gropius made it all worthwhile. Afterwards we joined Birgitte for a final and robustly German meal at Wiesenstein, before Kemi had to leave for the airport.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009: [
Kemi and I set out for the Museumsinsel. But as it turned out, the lines were huge not only for the recently reopened Neues Museum - but for all museums. And at below zero temperatures we opted instead for a contemporary art fix at the Hamburger Bahnhof - whose permanent collection had been completely remodelled since my last visit. After heavily indoctrinating Kemi with the genius of Anselm Kiefer, we walked back to join Birgitte for dinner at April.
