Picture of the day:
Art is a big part of our lives, and we were lucky enough in this apartment rental to have a landlord who's a Buenos Aires-based artist. Her name is Silvana Lacarra, and her studio is actually above the rental apartment. The apartment itself acts as an extension of a gallery, with her work hung on the walls, art books in the office and intuitively pleasing placement of interesting things around the apartment (see the picture of the day above, and a few below).
Interesting aperitif glasses....
Great stained-glass interior doorway...
Re-purposed shoe-stretcher (used for a door stop).
Below is some of Silvana's work; there are nine of these pieces in various colors hung in rooms around the apartment. She works in formica and wood; these are two to three feet in diameter. I quite like them; circles have always appealed to me.
Some previous work by Silvana, also in the apartment...
In keeping with the art theme of today's posting, we went to MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.
It was quite hot today, in the low 90s F, but not much humidity. The neighborhood around MALBA is very green (and very wealthy we're guessing), so it was a visual relief from the typical cityscape of BsAs to walk to the museum.
Ivy-covered houses...
An interesting facade...
We lunched late in the museum's restaurant Café des Arts, which was both convenient and good. Another menu in English with a non-English speaking server, so lots of pointing and polite conversation. I've figured out that saying 'entiendo' (I understand) is helpful for both me and the server. Craig had a very nice steak sandwich (I guess he didn't get enough steak last night) and I had a tartine with a tapenade of olives and eggplant. The side salad with each dish was welcome indeed!
Rose for lunch (what else in mid-summer in BsAs?), overlooking the park at MALBA!
After lunch, we toured the museum, and found the items from their permanent collection of Latin American artwork from the last century quite impressive.
I was especially taken with Xul Solar's work (here's an English bio, and here's the Spanish one from his museum in BsAs). My favorite in their collection of his work was called 'Cintas' (ribbons), painted in 1924. I've searched but I can't find a version of it online; you'll just have to take my word for it that it was a lovely Surrealist watercolor. There's a museum here in Buenos Aires that's devoted to his work, and conveniently, it's only about two blocks away from our apartment, and is on our list of places to go before we leave.
Another big hit for me was the work of Julio Le Parc, especially his Formes en contorsions sur trame. It was in motion, with small motors turning little arms that moved circles made of aluminum strips. Mesmerizing, and being married to an engineer, I wondered if there was a way we could re-create it on a smaller scale (given that it's about eight feet across). Craig the engineer said he'll think about it.
After a warm walk back to the apartment (with a stop for grocery basics - rose, water!), we decided to picnic in for dinner, for a change from eating out. A nice, relaxing evening after a wonderful, visually stimulating day!
