Mortality

Humans know what happens in the minutes after they die, research says Scientists have found evidence that suggests the human brain still works for a short time after death – meaning people know when they’re dead. Researchers made the discovery by looking at cardiac arrest cases in Europe and the US. What they learned was …

The rise, fall and decay of grumpy ol’ Roger Waters of Pink Floyd

Signs of dementia, or just bad aging? 80 years old Roger Waters has become an irritating pathetic grumpy old man, with obsessive hatred, resentment and megalomania. He has become the somewhat typical old uncle who keeps repeating the same old glorious past stories again and again about his 'war experiences'. Most often these stories and …

Best retirement age?

There's a viral story over the internet claiming that the most productive age in human life is a lot older than we might think. The story refers to and quotes from an alleged study of New England Journal of Medicine: “An extensive study in the USA found that the most productive age in human life …

Social medias: depression and suicidal ideation

I have been for decades an active user of social medias such as Facebook. My verdict being: don't do it, it is unhealthy.

The Artist and the Dealer

Art and money do not go well together. Art dealers, people, or businesses that buy and sell works of art live in very different, sometimes antagonistic worlds than artists'. It is not new. In older times artists were mere craftsmen paid for manual work to please their patrons (monarchs, aristocrats, church, etc.) In modern times, …

“The other side of the wind” and the grumpy old man…

After nearly 50 years, Orson Welles’s unfinished final opus "The Other Side of the Wind" was finally completed. Welles died before he could complete this film. I just watched it on Netflix which also had broadcast its own documentary about Welles and this film, titled "They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead". Welles' film appears showing …

Homage to Vincent Van Gogh. Revisited.

I revisited my post on Van Gogh written on Tuesday, 27 July 2010. I wrote then: My Van Gogh painting 2010 Exactly 120 years ago, in July 27, 1890,Vincent Van Gogh walked out into the fields around Auvers-sur-Oise and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later. Yet, by all …

Anthony Bourdain’s suicide

On June 8, 2018, American celebrity chef, author, travel documentarian, and television personality Anthony Bourdain committed suicide by hanging in his hotel room while on location in Kaysersberg, (Alsace) France for Parts Unknown. He was 61 years old. People's reaction to suicides have always the same question: "why ?" do people ask. What was the …

He Was About To Take His Own Life…

He Was About To Take His Own Life — Until A Man Stopped Him. Here He Meets Him Face To Face Again. Finding Mike: Man searching for kind stranger who stopped him jumping off bridge By Rossalyn Warren Curator: Rossalyn Warren Jonny Benjamin was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder when he was 20 years old. He …

Finding Mike: Man searching for kind stranger who stopped him jumping off bridge

He Was About To Take His Own Life — Until A Man Stopped Him. Here He Meets Him Face To Face Again. By Rossalyn Warren Curator: Rossalyn Warren Jonny Benjamin was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder when he was 20 years old. He lost hope for a "normal" life and was about to commit suicide. But …

A Real Clarence?

Disability and Art

After having painted ALS/MND sufferer Stephen Hawking (portrait standing behind in the above picture), I met someone whose body was also seriously disabled by ALS/MND. My idea for her portrait, was to be honest about her disability, which for me meant showing her body as it is, without hiding anything yet  in a tactful and …