My friend, the painter Richard Wientzek has made a painting of me and my pal Bogdan (who helps me with the bukshop) with Bukowski as a silent drinker among us (note: even though Buk is there only on a poster, we've poured him a drink on the table). (click to enlarge) I wanted to share, since I'm proud as hell. Hope you enjoy.
Thanks a lot, buddies! I'm so glad you like it too. or maybe something like that, eh? ('Life of the Boheme' by Aki Kaurismäki) I fear he doesn't have an English/International version right now. Which is a real pity since this guy makes a living out of his paintings and has so much humor/irony in them. But you can see some of his paintings and click the 'lens' to get bigger versions of them. I'm at the right. The book - I really could kill that guy for it! - says on the title: 'Karl Marx: Das Kapital'. the story behind: We wanted to have a book of that series in it and placed it for the sitting: These small yellow books are from a german publisher named 'reclam' and are THE STANDARD editions to be used for school-lecture. They're cheap and always [ <- click! ] have this look and really Every student in Germany knows them. They have about Every work of world-literature in their program. I'd like to see Buk at their house. But really, I am mad at Richard to chose this title for the painting! He did it as a joke, since Bogdan and me are running this shop dedicated to Bukowski and the painting is called (ironically): 'The Business Partners' (we've been talking about that before and thought it's a funny turn - also to paint us with not-so-happy-faces and all.) But I fear, for somebody who doesn't know us, the title could be mistaken as not being irony but an ideological statement. Anyway. It's a true 'Wientzek', and I told him to make 'a true Wientzek'.
that's part of his style. Intermixing classical technique with modern things. seriousness with irony. a landscape with sundown - but it's a muddy acre and it's raining, instead of being romantic. etc.
Oh, I thought that was a lighter. (But I zoomed in, and it does look like a memory stick after all.) Anyway, the detail is incredible.
in Mr. Bond's terminology I'd say: "for your eyes only" - but HERE is the whole secret - for all of you! That's the original photograph behind it.
Wow, that´s a way cool painting, Roni! I love the composition with the pic of Buk between you guys. It´s almost as if he sat at the table with you. You´ve now been immortalized, Roni!
That's a great piece of realism. Quite stunning. But do bars in Germany always serve white wine in three different glasses; none of which is a wine glass?
the setting isn't a bar, but at home. The drink isn't wine but homemade Romanian booze (called 'Tuica') as Bogdan is of Romanian origin. We've chosen different glasses to stretch the 'Boheme'-touch of not having a complete set of glasses. Besides - it was a nice way for Richard to work on the different ways, light breaks through a glass. I wouldn't call it "super realistic" even though it gets close. Some of his main-influences are the old Baroque-painters from the Netherlands. (see how he handles the distribution of light or the textures.)
This is fucking great! But am I the only one who can't open the making-of-links? It seems they are not working (for me) * Edit: Just noticed the USB-stick. Hehe. Very good.
Great painting...on all counts. Anyone who would find narrative issues/inconsistincies with it is missing the point. Bravo. How big is it? (because size does matter).
Another query on this cool painting, roni. What is in the notepad on the other end of the table? Anything special written on it?
it's several numbers. Looks like we made a calculation on it - and from the looks in our faces one can decide, we didn't like the result.
