Tag Archives: Belgian

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Black Mirrors, “Funky Queen”

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Oh boy, here’s a good one! This week’s Video Clip, courtesy of Belgian rockers Black Mirrors will coax you right out of any residual funk, because it is called “Funky Queen” — and it kicks ass all over the place! If Janis Joplin, Jack White, Anouk, Nirvana and Queens Of The Stone Age ever had the chance to breed, Black Mirrors might have been their very attractve spawn. Black Mirrors is Belgium’s answer to pretty much every rock band out there: fronted by the stunning vocalist Marcella Di Troia, these guys manage to gather an endless amount of influences which have been ruling the rock n’ roll universe for decades, combining them seamlessly into Black Mirrors‘ very own addictive sound.

The artfully-shot-in-black-and-white performance-based video for “Funky Queen” was filmed and edited by Van’s Ography and it perfectly showcases Di Troia’s incredible vocal chops, on-stage charisma and undeniable sass! “Funky Queen” is the title song from Black Mirrors‘ upcoming 4-song EP, due out on March 3rd, 2017 via Napalm Records! Like the band on the FaceBook at This Link! Enjoy!

Black Mirrors Marcella

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: James Ensor, Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved)

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Comical Repast
Photo By Gail

The current title of this painting, Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved) (1918) reflects the two names it was given during James Ensor’s lifetime. Scholars have interpreted the enigmatic scene as a critique of the German occupation of Belgium during World War I, which the artist experienced firsthand. The grouping around the table evokes the Last Supper, but Christ and the Apostles are replaced by ill-behaved, grotesque and masked figures — some of Ensor’s favorite motifs. Their meager meal, including insects and a raw onion, may evoke the near-famine that Belgians endured. Ensor underscored the theme of mortality by referencing three of his works, depicting rowdy skeletons, in the background.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents, René Magritte, The False Mirror

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The False Mirror
Photo By Gail

Le Faux Miroir (1928) presents an enormous lash-less eye with a luminous cloud-swept blue sky filling the iris, and an opaque, dead-black disc for a pupil. The allusive title, provided by Belgian surrealist writer Paul Nougé, seems to insinuate limits to the authority of optical vision: a mirror provides a mechanical reflection, but the eye is selective and subjective. Magritte’s single eye functions on multiple enigmatic levels: the viewer both looks through it, as through a window, and is looked at by it, thus seeing and being seen simultaneously. The Surrealist photographer Man Ray, who owned the work from 1933 to 1936, recognized this compelling duality when he memorably described Le Faux Miroir as a painting that “sees as much as it itself is seen.”

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art n NYC.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: James Ensor, Masks Confronting Death

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Masks Confronting Death
Photo By Gail

Some of you might be familiar with the name of Belgian painter James Ensor from the 1994 song by They Might Be Giants, “Meet James Ensor” — but now you have the chance to see and learn about one of his most famous paintings!

In Ensor’s oil painting from 1888, A group of masked figures confronts the figure of Death, centrally situated and draped in a white color that infiltrates the entire picture. Composed of masks adorned with drapery, hats, and even blue glasses, the arrangement of figures recalls Ensor’s earlier still-life compositions. The ubiquitous masks in Ensor’s work were likely based on those sold in his family’s curiosity shop a few floors below his studio. He explained, “The mask means to me: freshness of color, sumptuous decoration, wild unexpected gestures, very shrill expressions, exquisite turbulence.” In this painting, the fantastical masked inventions appear to come alive and challenge Death—perhaps a reflection of the artist’s preoccupation with mortality and his hope that he might prevail against its inevitable dominion.

Masks Confronting Death is on view as part of the permanent collection in the Painting and Sculpture I, Gallery 1, 5th Floor at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Arts and Culture

“Meet James Ensor, Belgium’s Famous Painter!”

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skeletons-fighting-over-a-pickled-herring-1891
James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949), Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring, 1891

Fans of They Might Be Giants are likely already familiar with the name of artist James Ensor, because of the TMBG song “Meet James Ensor”, which is really quite fantastic. Geoffrey had never heard that song before, so I made sure to sing it to him a few times before we went to see the James Ensor exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) here in lovely, sweltering midtown Manhattan. I’m not going to go into a lot of background or biographical data on Ensor except to say that his paintings are really creepy and fun. This vast career retrospective, comprised of hundreds of drawings and paintings of all sizes and mediums, really shows his sense of humor, as well as his fascination with death and certain bourgeois aspects of the society he grew up in. Geoffrey and I both loved it. Make a date to “Meet James Ensor” before the exhibit closes on September 21st, 2009.

While you’re at MOMA, be sure to spend some time walking through Chinese conceptual artist Song Dong’s Waste Not installation (also through September 21st), which is mind boggling in its scope and really must be seen to be believed. You can read more about Ensor and other current MOMA exhibits at This Link.

Ensor Self Portrait
The Skeleton Painter, 1895

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