Goran Djurovic’s Prime Time Revisited – A Story of Friendship

To begin: the story about how I came to find the Goran Djurovic exhibit in Gent, Belgium.

I didn’t tell this story earlier when I posted about Djurovic’s Prime Time solo show, but I think it will be nice to pull back the curtain now. It is yet another example of how I’ve met extremely kind people in my travels. (And I want to say how much I really like Belgium!)

So.

I was walking down the street in Gent, on the Saturday morning I was in town. I had my city map in hand, trying to find the “Patershol” neighborhood. Patershol is known for its charming streets and interesting restaurants and is less touristy than the historic center. But I sensed I was lost, although I was walking alongside one of the main canals running through the city.

It just so happened, as I walked down the street adjacent to the canal, that a young man was walking toward me holding a bag of groceries. Now, given that the Gent Festival was getting started, I quickly deduced I’d have a better chance of asking directions of a local than another tourist like me! Who better to ask then, than someone holding a bag of groceries?

I flagged him down and said I think I’m walking in the wrong direction. Can you help me? He looked at where I was pointing on my map and confirmed it. I was walking in the exact opposite direction of where I needed to go! Since he was heading in that direction anyway, he said, why not walk together so he could point out how to get where I was going? I welcomed the opportunity. 🙂

That young man’s name was Wim, and once we started chatting, we realized we had a lot in common. So I invited him to come with me to Patershol if he had the time and wanted to show an American tourist from New York City around his fair city. He graciously agreed, and off we went.

When we got there, Wim actually wanted to show me a different – and very famous – piece of religious art that is known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent_Altarpiece. But when we got to the museum associated with it, we found the Goran Djurovic exhibit instead.

As you may know, reader, from my previous post – I took a sampling of photos at the Djurovic exhibit – but I neglected to take photos of some of the works Wim and I stopped and talked about the most. I regretted it later after I got home.

But, as kindness would have it, Wim and I exchanged email addresses and became pen pals even after I returned home. When I expressed to him how much I enjoyed our viewing of the exhibit and I was sorry I missed taking some shots of the works we talked over at length… he went back and took photos of over 100 Djurovic paintings and emailed them to me.

I was blown away by his tremendous kindness and enthusiasm for the artwork. In turn I promised him I would post another 15+ Djurovic works on my blog to give a much better sampling of what we saw that day.

Also, in fairness to Mr. Djurovic I don’t think it would be right for me to post images of every single piece in the solo show – however – if this blog posting helps spread recognition for his work and talent, then I am grateful to be part of that process in a very small way.

And so, without further delay, here are more of the works of Goran Djurovic … photos taken by Wim of Gent, Belgium, a gentleman I am proud to call my friend.

Let it be said: art brings people from all over the world together.

The art of Goran Djurovic

 

Art in Gent – Goran Djurovic’s Prime Time

During my last trip to Gent, I happened to be lucky enough to see a public art space called the “Provinciaal Cultuurcentrum – Caermersklooster” on Vrouwebroerstraat 6 in Gent.

They were hosting a solo show for Serbian artist Goran Djurovic called “Prime Time.”

Goran Djurovic – Prime Time solo show in Gent

Mr. Djurovic now lives in Berlin and it seems his work was only “discovered” in the last few years and had his work hosted in a variety of European museums. The painter is currently in his 60’s.

Djurovic backgrounder

The Privincial Culture Center (I assume the English translation) is a magnificent, well lit space and worth the visit. For this particular show, the number of works on display is staggering. The solo show must have more than 40 original oil paintings on display in four small and one very large gallery space.

I will leave you to digest the themes of Djurovic’s work on your own from the sample of photos I took at the show. While the work can be quite dark, I found it inspiring.

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Painting from the Prime Time exhibition

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The work of Goran Djurovic

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This one is called Visitors on Display

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The mouse dance

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More of the work of Goran Djurovic

Gent is Great, Part 2

Since I had the opportunity to go back to Europe for work, I decided to spend my one free Saturday back in Gent, Belgium in order to attend the Gent Jazz Festival.

I had visited Gent in late May/early June (See “Gent is Great” June 8, 2013), and fell in love with this small Belgian city which hosts the largest university in Belgium, along with a stunning medieval town center.

A castle that sits in the historic center of the city of Gent

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The weather was not too nice the first time I visited, but this time I was lucky to have a warm, sunny day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

A view of another part of the historic city center, Gent Belgium

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I snapped photos all over the city trying to capture a small piece of what I love about this place.

A charming canal view in Gent

Everywhere you turn in the city center, there are beautiful views.

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And I happened to be in Gent on the one day that the Gent Jazz Festival overlapped with the Gent Festival (a city-wide festival where over a million tourists pour into Gent over a 10 day period.)

Here you can see a view of the city transforming itself in preparation for the Gent Festival.

The city prepares to be over-run with tourists during the Gent Festival

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But even if you walk outside the city center, you will still find cobblestone streets and more charming architecture.

Street scene – Gent

The charming architecture of Gent

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But once the Gent Festival begins, the city center becomes extremely crowded with visitors. I took some photos of people watching the opening parade of the Gent Festival.

Crowds watching the Gent Festival opening parade

Crowds line the canals of Gent city center

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Later that night, I went to the Gent Jazz Festival and saw Elvis Costello as the closing act.

Gent Jazz Festival

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in Gent, Belgium.

Back to Europe

Up until now I’ve reported on my work travels, bouncing back and forth between the right and left coasts of the United States… and while that’s certainly been fun, I’m now adding Europe to the equation.

It’s coincidental that I took a vacation in Amsterdam and Belgium and now need to go for work, but I admit it’s good that I dipped my toes in the water since I hadn’t been to the continent for a long time. Now I feel slightly more familiar with the experience of roaming around foreign lands, using foreign currency. (But as a New York City girl, I cannot claim that hearing many foreign languages is foreign to me!)

This go-round, however, I will be cramming in a trip to both London and Belgium within a week’s time – not to see the sights – but for nose to the grindstone stuff.

Adding another point to triangulate my already interesting travel schedule should be, well, even more interesting. Truth be told, I’m extremely excited about working on stuff in Europe and getting to meet face to face with the new folks I’ll be interacting with on a regular basis is fantastic.

Still, I know the change in time zones tends to mess with my schedule. I’ll have to see how going from NYC to Europe (6 hours ahead), then coming back, then heading to California (3 hours behind NYC) works when it comes to doing it as a practical matter. (Wish me luck. Haha.)

I had a conversation with someone from work the other day, and we were talking about being road warriors. I said that sometimes when I wake up in a hotel, I don’t remember where I am or what time it is.

She said, yes, and what’s worse, when I am laying there in the dark, sometimes I can’t even remember which way to go to get to the bathroom!

Despite all of that, and the fact that it’s work… I will be bringing my camera along to capture a few shots here and there. We’ll see if I come up with anything worth sharing. 🙂

A final Netherlands – Belgium vacation mash-up

It’s been two weeks since I returned from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Belgium. If you’ve read any of the preceeding posts (about 9 so far I think) about the trip, thank you.

This will be my final post, with a melange of images that give you a taste of the many places I visited … some of which I haven’t mentioned yet.

(The blogging about the trip begins with the post “Going Dutch” and adds from there – you can also find them if you search my “Travel” tag.)

Boat making its way on a Brugge canal

Travel Tip: Brugge is beautiful, and worth seeing as a day trip. Stay in Gent, Belgium and travel to Brugge for an afternoon.

The Delft town square

The other side of the main square in Delft is this magnificent church

Canal porn – Another tourist taking a canal beauty shot – Delft

Travel Tip: The three images above show you everything you would want see in Delft, in my opinion. I suggest you go elsewhere to spend your limited travel time and budget.

Stitched sculpture of a woman – SMAK Contemporary Art

Travel Tip: And when you go to Gent, if you like contemporary art even a little bit, you would do well to spend an afternoon at SMAK, the Contemporary Art Museum.

Detail – stitched sculpture

Bicycle sculpture – SMAK

Canal in Amsterdam

Don’t get me wrong (from my previous blog posts, I mean) Amsterdam has it’s charms. When the sun peeks out from the clouds, and a lone boat sails down yet another picturesque canal in the center of the city, you could come to like the place.

Me taking a photo of tourists taking a photo of themselves in Rembrandt Square – Amsterdam

Yeah, the place is over run with tourists but what can you do but go with the flow? After all, I was one of them.

Detail of something I liked at the Rijksmuseum

And the art is pretty cool, no matter which museums you like best.

Writer sculpture – Eye Film Institute Amsterdam

Despite all of my experiences, I still found it hard to encapsulate them into blog posts. There was so much to write about, and I didn’t even realize it until I got home.

View from top floor of the Amsterdam library

Top Secret Travel Tip: This is the best view you can get in the city of Amsterdam. Behind Centraal Station, you can take a free ferry across the water. Find the Amsterdam Public Library, and go to the 7th Floor, which is their EXCELLENT restaurant. Go to the outside deck, and snap a couple of incredible shots of the city, then go back inside and get one of the most reasonbly priced, delicious lunches you’re going to find.

Worn Out – Van Gogh sketch

When it was time to leave, I was ready to come home to New York City… still the best city on the planet.

Brugge Beauty Shots

After all the moaning and whining I’ve done on the blog about the bad weather and difficult transportation conditions, I’d like to show you some photos I took in Brugge, Belgium.

Yes, these are beauty shots, there is no way around it. Brugge is a beautiful town and a designated Unesco World Heritage site.

It’s a town for tourists, the place is overflowing with them, but it’s easy to see why. The architecture is magnificent, even on a grey-skied, rain-drenched day like the one I spent there.

The view from my overpriced tourist hotel room in Brugge, phenonemal view

A rainy street scene – Brugge, Belgium

The views along the canals in Brugge are so charming, and somehow the misty rain just added to the romantic feel of the photos. I doubt you can take a bad photo there.

Canal view of Brugge – ancient buildings and lovely greenery in the mist

Yeah, yeah… “oooh and ahhh”

The charms of Brugge

Come on, aren’t you getting tired of seeing all this loveliness?

No?

Okay, here are some more… but you asked for it…

Lovely canal view – Brugge

Brugge town square

This next one feels like cheating, too easy to romanticize it…

Horse and carriage – Brugge

Another canal shot in Brugge

Okay, that’s it for Brugge. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you – it’s a beautiful place but being run these days for tourists.

Travel Tip: If you are going to go to Brugge, do it as a day trip from Gent which is close… Gent is a bigger city that is gorgeous and you’ll have a ton of options in the evening for entertainment and the hotels will be much more reasonably priced!

SMAK Contemporary Art Museum – Gent Belgium

As a New Yorker it’s difficult not to compare other museums with our world class museums, and in this case, SMAK Contemporary Art Museum in Gent holds its own as an innovative space showcasing European contemporary talent.

At the entrance to the museum you will find SMAK publications called “The Artist in Their Own Words,” which are magazine style printings of interviews with artists who have had shows at SMAK.

Below are some photographs I took of the works on view now, but if you are in Gent and interested in contemporary art, SMAK is a must-see destination.

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KOEN THEYS – Home Made Victories

I was particularly excited about the ground floor galleries dedicated to the work of Belgian artist Koen Theys. The exhibition, “Home Made Victories” is the first major retrospective for the artist and includes extensive use of compelling video and photography and will be on view until mid-August 2013.

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Still Life with Apples

Above: Koen Theys photograph, Still Life with Apples II, 2010

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Series, Still Life with Apples – Koen Theys, 2010

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This photograph I took is a small detail portion of a larger “collage” framed photograph by Koen Theys

The image above is kind of hard to explain, but I’ll try. Koen Theys creates large tableaux photographs where he carefully assembles thousands of objects like clocks, skulls, books, candles, old computer equipment and various other items he uses in these works.

The photograph I took, is a tiny portion of one of these tableaux photographs because unless I took a small part of the image and blew it up there would be no way to see the detail.

Another thing I cannot show, but which I thought was extremely interesting, he set up a video camera on a trolly and slowly rolled the camera through the tableaux, and then showed this video in another room adjacent to where the large-scale photographs were displayed.

This extremely innovative use of technology, photography and found objects made for an extraordinarily compelling viewing experience.

It’s not really possible to see the details of this Koen Theys collage but this is the entire image

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The upper floor exhibitions had a variety of sculpture, painting and photography too, some more thought provoking to me than others, but all worth seeing.

A sample of other items on view at SMAK…

Sculpture: three grotesques holding a pencil, a paint brush and a screwdriver

This sculpture of three artists features grotesque heads, and the artist’s arms are bound one to the other so they cannot move, or ever see one another. The description of the sculpture suggests their poses are like samurai warriors with their pencil, paint brush and screwdriver stuck into their belts like swords.

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Framed photographs of grotesque head sculptures

These framed photographs of grotesque head sculptures was also a part of this exhibit. Text describing these items suggested that some of the heads were modeled loosely on some European politicians.

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Horse hide sculpture – a provocative display of what looks like two decapitated horses

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Mark Manders – MomentenMachine

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This installation features classic art hanging on the walls with grocery shelves of old sacks of flour and other staples blocking the view

This detail view of the installation shows the classic art seen through the shelving and its contents

 

Gent is Great

Cuppola style gazebo in Gent. Around the corner in this park is SMAK, the contemporary art museum.

Gent, Belgium is the only place I visited during this trip where I wished I could have stayed longer. Much longer!

Gent (also spelled Ghent) is a fantastic city: it has medieval architecture and cobblestone streets like Brugge; it’s a University town so there are students and a great vibe; there is an amazing art scene including SMAK (among many other museums and galleries I didn’t have time to visit); and it has a swinging nightlife with several jazz clubs, including the Hot Club de Gand where I spent my one precious evening in town.

But most important to me? Gent is a real city. It’s not a place geared specifically for tourists (like Brugge and Delft) … it does not feel like an artificial environment, no, it’s the coming together of ancient traditions and modern Belgian culture with the hum of workaday life.

Landmark church in Gent with tram tracks out front – a blending of old and new

Travel Tip, Lodging: The nicest hotel (and most moderately priced of all the places I stayed) during my trip was at The Sandton Grand Hotel Reylof.  It’s a contemporary styled hotel with all the amenities: a chic bar, great concierge service, a wonderful breakfast (not included with the room), and a stellar staff who make you feel like nothing you could request is too much for them to accomodate.

What few hours I had to wander around Gent, I used oogling the magnificent architecture. I’m disappointed to have to report that due to the misty and overcast weather I did not take many photos outside. (Most of my shots were taken in SMAK. I’ll be putting up another post about art from the trip later.)

Travel Tip, Snack Food: Because it was so chilly, I went into a (mostly) organic snack shop called ExKi (just off the main town square) and had a bowl of cream of mushroom soup. It was divine. Food like that is served in New York City, yes, but only in a fine restaurant and not at snack shop prices (with free WiFi too.) This place has great options (for both vegetarians and non-veg) and I recommend it for lunch or a quick snack break.

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Travel Tip, Jazz Festival: For anyone who loves jazz, you may also want to know about two festivals going on this summer. The North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands from July 12-14; AND the Gent Jazz Festival from July 12-20th (which will include stars like Diana Krall this year.)

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After a late siesta (nap), I went out on the town to the Hot Club de Gand for a night of jazz and making new friends.

You won’t find the Hot Club de Gand if you look for it on the street because you have to know where it is to find it (thank you again, Sandton staff.) The club “entrance” is a one-person wide, dimly lit, cobblestone alleyway. There is a sign, but you’ll miss it if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

The top secret alley entrance…

You snake your way down the alley, and on the right side is a corregated tin door (if this sounds like an adventure, it is!) When you open the door you are in the “garden courtyard” of the club. But once you go inside, it is jam packed, with no room to move!

The night I went, there was a revolving set of jazz musicians taking the stage (the musicians were all guys in their 20’s). When I came in, a drummer, guitarist, and base player were playing acoustic jazz; 20 minutes later the drummer switched out and a piano player came up; 20 minutes after that the base player and lead guitarist switched out, and so on.

I’ve never seen that kind of “open mic” set up, and it was a lot of fun watching all the musicians play together when you could tell their abilities to improvise were being tested in front of the crowd.

In the meantime, I made friends with a New Zealander named Kristen at the bar. She was staying at a youth hostel up the street, and she introduced me, in turn, to a group of people at a table… some from the hostel (Laura from Florida, an Indian guy who had relocated to Australia, a guy and gal from Canada, and two others were local.)

But certainly the nicest guy I met had to be Peter, a former Amsterdamer who moved to Belgium and lived in Gent. Peter and I sat next to each other, joking all night. When it got to be about 2am and I said I had to get back to my hotel, Peter offered to walk me back.

(What is it about gentlemanly Dutch guys who want to escort a tourist woman to her hotel? I don’t know, but it was the second time in the trip it happened, and I felt lucky to have the company. It should be noted that like Jon in Amsterdam at Alto Jazz Cafe, Peter was a perfect gentleman and deposited me at my doorstep safely.)

Gent is extremely charming at night, and that night it was especially so, lit by street lamps with mist in the air giving the whole town a golden glow.

I remember my precious hours in Gent fondly; I have to figure out a way to get back there soon.

Vacation Planning II – the Netherlands and Belgium

Vacation planning can be fun, but sometimes frustrating. There is a lot of information, and when you know nothing about the place you are traveling to visit, lots of reading to ensure you are prepared.

When I travel, I like having a more personal experience so I try to use boutique hotels or bed and breakfast places. These kinds of lodgings tend to be much more personalized than a big “brand name” hotel. Large hotels have an anonymous, often sterile quality that I don’t prefer when I can stay in someone’s home whose whole occupation is hospitality and making sure you have a great time in your destination of choice.

I found out B&B’s in Amsterdam book up quickly. If I’d been better prepared (2 months advance notice) I’m sure I could have scored fantastic, reasonably priced B&B lodging in center city. However, since I only have about a month, I had to spend time figuring out which B&B’s were booked (most of them!) and which were still available. I found two lovely B&B’s close to Amsterdam’s “Central Station” and while I’m paying a bit more ($120+ euros /night), I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth it. (Both of these B&B’s are still less than the brand name, ‘anonymous’ hotels.)

Travel note: From what I can tell, all B&B’s in Amsterdam require all cash payment. I have not even seen one B&B that accepts credit cards.

Travel tip: When booking a B&B in Amsterdam, if you want a simple room for under $100 euros a night including breakfast, book well in advance! ($100 euros is $130 US dollars.)

Lonely Planet suggests: Hotel Brouwer, Sebastian’s, Chic and Basic Amsterdam or Hotel Residence Le Coin. All of these places were fully booked when I checked with them, a month in advance.

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OKAY… so, lodging for the Amsterdam part of my trip has been booked, and I’m satisfied I’ve found great places. You’ll know in a month in more detail about the places I stayed and how it went.

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Planning Phase Two: Here’s how it looks…

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Days 1, 2, 3: Amsterdam

Days 4, 5 6: Travel to multiple cities

Days 7, 8, 9: Return to Amsterdam (including a Saturday night!)

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After doing intensive research and investigation of all the places I could have gone, I’ve made decisions about the cities I will visit in my three days of wandering outside of Amsterdam.

Day 4 will be spent traveling about three and a half hours by train to get to Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is a medieval city that has maintained itself for centuries and looks gorgeous.

Day 5 a very short distance from Bruges, is Ghent, another small medieval city in Belgium. One of the cool things about Ghent is that it is home to SMAK, a large Contemporary Art Museum which is on my list of things to see.

Day 6 it will take me about two hours heading back towards Amsterdam to get to Delft, Netherlands which is also 10 minutes distance from The Hague so I will plan to see both Delft and the Hague on Day 6. Most importantly to me is the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague which houses Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, as well as other important Vermeer and Rembrandt works.

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Lodging in all of these places was easy to find, and it’s less expensive than Amsterdam for nicer accomodation. I’ll be staying in some charming places overlooking canals and such while being in the center of the action. Again, I’ll share more about the places I go and how it went in future posts.

Thankfully, one nice Dutch young lady who booked my room in Delft advised me to purchase “Hispeed” (High Speed) rail tickets in advance to get from Amsterdam to other locations. This is a great idea, because I can purchase the tickets online, and I can just print out the ticket and bring it with me.

Okay, that’s it for now… I’m pleased I’m making progress.