Christmas at my Crib

After days of preparing and decorating, it's come to a close.. Almost done with the Christmas arrangements! This year's theme is Mystic Blue, silver, blues and crystals on my tree.. And I'm lovin' it! More snaps to come ;)

The Mighty 'THOR' coming on May 2011

This is one of my favorites from Marvel, let's see how they pull this off! Can't wait! :)

Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art opens with controversy

With exhibits showing nudity and politically radical ideas, Qatar's brand new modern art museum may raise a few eyebrows in the traditionally conservative Middle East.
(Interesting indeed)

60 minutes with the Pacman

Nice preview for the big fight in Dallas on Saturday :)

You Can Shine

Every once in awhile, a truly jaw-dropping inspirational commercial captures our attention. P&G haircare brand Pantene and ad agency Grey Worldwide in Thailand have created a four-minute ad that features a young hearing-impaired girl who wants to learn to play the violin. The tag line at the end of her amazing journey—and, naturally, the end of the ad for Pantene Chrysalis Shampoo—sums it up nicely: You can shine.

Executive Creative Director: Sajan Raj Kurup
Creative Director: Sajan Raj Kurup
Copywriter: Sajan Raj Kurup, Thanonchai Sornsriwichai
Agency Producer: Bee
Director: Thanonchai Sornsriwichai

My Painting

Here's an updated version of my painting.. Taking so much time to finish this piece! On and off thing makes it hard to complete, hopefully this holidays it'll be done. In the meantime, I am enjoying how it came out :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALIYAH!!!

My baby girl turns 10.. Time flies!! Love you, Ate!

Limewire Shutdown

A court order shuts down file-sharing program Limewire for good. I guess it's History. Read here.

Halloween

This was Aliyah's Halloween look at school - Nay Ti Ri from planet Navi ;) Took time to complete and a bit challenging but really paid off well! Nice one, Ate! Love yah!

Christie's caught up as £30m forgeries send shock waves through the art world

Rotes Bild mit Pferden (Red Picture with Horses), sold in 2006

This reminds me of the 1997 movie 'INCOGNITO' Definitely the Art world freaks out specially those who spent Millions of pounds on works they thought original, Geez!

Panic is spreading through the art world following the discovery of forgeries among major 20th-century paintings sold in recent years by leading auctioneers and dealers worldwide, including Christie's in London.

More than 30 paintings, thought to be by artists including Max Ernst, Raoul Dufy and Fernand Léger, have been unmasked as forgeries, the Observer has learned. The fakes have duped leading figures in the art world into parting with at least £30m.

Four of the paintings have gone through Christie's, including forgeries of Ernst's La Horde, estimated at £3.5m and eventually sold to the Würth Collection, and André Derain's Bateaux à Collioure, sold for £2m. Six paintings were sold by the leading German auctioneer, Lempertz, one for £2.8m. The forger's strategy appears to have been to create compositions that would relate to the titles of documented works whose whereabouts are not currently known.

Dealers and collectors who have recently acquired works by the artists involved "are shaking over this scandal", one insider said. "They are in a panic over whether their paintings are also forgeries. Everyone's taking a second look." The panic is so acute that collectors are even seeking refunds on unquestionably genuine works.

One expert describes the forgeries as "gold standard". They cover many styles and include works by Heinrich Campendonk, the German Expressionist. Most are in the style of the particular artist, rather than a direct copy. All are believed to have been painted by a German forger over the past 15 years. Police are now investigating whether that forger is Wolfgang Beltracchi, 59, an artist from Freiburg, aided by his wife, Helene, 52, and her sister, Susanne, 57 – women described as "great charmers". All three are now in police custody. Two men are also being investigated.

The deception involved an invented story about inheriting the paintings from the sisters' grandfather, Werner Jägers.

Dr Nicholas Eastaugh, of Art Access and Research, a leading British expert in scientific analysis of paintings, told the Observer that he has seen four of the forgeries and conducted extensive tests on three. The results confirmed that they contain pigments not available when they were supposed to have been painted. One of the paintings, Campendonk's Rotes Bild Mit Pferden (Red Picture with Horses), was sold in 2006 by Lempertz for a record price.

Eastaugh emphasised that the duped buyer has given him permission to discuss the case. A painted sketch on the back of the canvas – suggesting that the artist was trying out another idea – is also a forgery. Clues to a painting's provenance, or history, are often found on the back of a painting. Many of the forgeries have fake labels from galleries or collections to give a further authentic touch, suggesting past exhibitions. The Christie's Ernst is said to bear a false label, "Flechtheim Collection", which aroused the suspicions of the distinguished historian and Flechtheim biographer, Ralph Jentsch. Labels on other works suggest they are from the "Jägers Collection".

One duped auctioneer said: "It's significant that these paintings have been through the sale process before they got to me. They must have been sufficiently convincing."

The buyer of the Campendonk was Trasteco, a trading company in Malta, which is now claiming back the purchase price. The firm is one of two collectors represented by Friederike Gräfin von Brühl, a German lawyer at K&L Gates. She said: "For the art world, this is a big scandal. Everyone is shocked."

Christie's London – which handled alleged forgeries that include Campendonk's Girl with a Swan, sold for £67,000, and another painting that fetched £344,000 – said: "We take any doubt surrounding authenticity extremely seriously and are investigating the matter fully."

Source: The Guardian-UK

PENCIL Advertising Fights Breast Cancer

PINK OCTOBER. Breast Cancer awareness month. We created an awareness campaign within our group of companies, we sent out email shots of information about the disease, how the mammogram works and self-tests. A special designed pin badges will also be handed out to our co-workers. This is in our own simple way of showing support in fighting breast cancer.

A Father's Frustration

As a parent, you're pretty excited to get your child to school for the first time and that you've been waiting for that day your child will be getting into an environment full of fun, play, learning and love. But that doesn't seem to happen, well, in my son's case. I got a call a couple of days ago from the school director telling me to get my son out of his class and out of the school, perhaps you could imagine how my reaction was. I rushed to the school leaving work to find out what happened and spoke to the teachers and the school director. They said that they cannot handle my son's behavior, that He doesn't focus and pays attention and that all he wanted to do most of the time is to walk around and play at his own, for crying out loud, it's only been the 5th day of school! What do they expect a 3 year old boy do? I just wish the standards are as high as their expectations and that the high strict discipline that they try to imply is also being practiced by themselves. My son is normal, just like any other 3 year old, He never poke a pencil in one's eye or steal their lunch boxes or hit and make another child cry, He just love partying :) I was told by the school to keep my son at home for a week and send him back again to school (isn't that suspension?) I don't think I'm going to send him back there, simply because they cannot handle an active child and that they don't have any capability and knowledge to handle one.

I'm Baack!

DANG!! It's been ages since I last posted here! I've been away for too long, or have I been that lazy?!! Nah, it's the work!! Yes! WORK, that's what's keeping me busy and away from cyberspace (or should I say Blogging?). Nways, I will be posting again some of the things that I've encountered all those days! Keep it right here, y'all! Nice to be back :)

New Works 2010

Here's a sneak peek at my newest of my 2010 series on oil. Will post details soon :)

Star Wars now on TOM TOM GPS - YODA

Last May I posted the Darth Vader version of the Tom Tom GPS Ads. Here's another sequel to the Star Wars© Tom Tom commercial. I can't stop loving this!

DJ Courses This Summer!

OK, it's been like forever that I haven't teached. So I thought why not bring it back again? Since I always get phone calls asking me if I can spare them some time to learn the art of turntablism. This is only for students based in Kuwait.

Here are some of the latest creative ads we made at work. This is for our client's website launch. It reads in Arabic, "Find out more about the best deals online", "Find out more about great discounts online" and "Find out more about amazing price cuts online" www.electrozan.com

Football Greats featured on LV ad.

I am always fascinated by the picture quality of LV ads, and this is the latest of their series.

Mellow + Colorful Music Video

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) - HD from Ed Banger Records on Vimeo.

Stumbled into this a while ago, thought it's amazing and truly inspiring!

World Cup Crazy!

Been busy lately, haven't had the time to blog about things. One of them is the World Cup! There's been a lot of weird things happening at the tournament, but it's getting better each match, Let's wait and see!

"Tomorrow"

Last night was the Arts & Music Show, a talent show produced by the grade school students at the American International School and Aliyah is a part of it with group and a solo performance. The auditorium was packed, people from different nationalities, parents, teachers, friends and students filled the seats. We entered, Aliyah was a bit nervous after seeing the crowd, I guess that's a normal thing because even myself would have butterflies in my stomach performing on stage in front of those people. Showtime! At the second half of the show, the emcee, (who's also their Arts & Music teacher) announced a 'special' treat for the audience, and said that it's a rare moment that they'd be having a solo performance from a very talented young girl from grade 4 and she calls Aliyah onstage and the applause! Aliyah gave a small introduction about herself and the song she'll be singing, "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie, with a huge Annie poster projected on the background wall. Music starts, a karaoke version of the original, after the first verse, the unexpected happened, the cd starts skipping! Aliyah stops singing and stands right there with a smile looking straight at the control booth, the music stops, the emcee jumps in the scene, the crowd reaction was mixed, and we waited, after 20 seconds of no music, the emcee went to her and asked her if she wants to do it in a cappella, and she says yes! The crowd applause was crazy, i heard some whistling, yelling "yeah!" in the audience. And she takes off.. but just when she's about to sing, the music plays again, (damn! I'm really hating the guy in the control room), Aliyah for a split second looked at me, and I gave her a nod to "go on", and she did, with a sweet smile and a bit of action on her singing, I knew it wasn't there when we practised it at home, I told her that when things go wrong and you're on stage, smile and never look scared-be confident, remember that you are singing their song, and you have to give your best doing it! And she did! after the last verse and the ending, the auditorium was filled with applause, Aliyah got a 'Standing Ovation! A wonderful performance, and a real great experience for Aliyah, You made us proud again, love! - You're my Superstar!

Star Wars now on TOM TOM GPS

I just wish we have it here in Kuwait, Imagine Lord Vader telling you.. "after 10 meters turn right..>breathe<.." Love it!!!

Saturday Storm: April 17, 2010

This one's every blogger's dream: To witness and cover this first-hand! It's called 'Saraya' in Arabic, a sandstorm with rains and violent winds. This one turned a Saturday morning into midnight! Really freaky experience! I was lucky enough to grab my cam and cover this! Music by Chris Mansell



Still photos by: Luciedebelkova

Embrace Life: Wear Your Seatbelts

My colleague showed me this ad for Sussex Safer Roads, Very simple yet emotional! Left me teary-eyed. Whew!

IPAD: It's Finally Here!!

After that much of a wait.. I finally got hold of the iPad, I'd say it's simply amazing! Now selling at Electrozan Electronics Store at a very, very good price!

The Tiger is out of the Woods

After the controversy, after being dropped by most of his sponsors, Tiger Woods came back with this Nike spot. I saw this clip last night before the start of the Masters on ESPN, I'd say it's a good ad, W+K does it again!

Apple's iPAD

My fingers are just itching for the 'Smudge', I will be having this baby soon!

New Works 2010

It's been a while since my last post, Yes, I was busy, NO! I was dead busy! Aside from those hectic deadlines at the office, my workout schedules and of course - my paintings! I've sketched some new studies for my works for 2010 and here's one of them, This happens to be a color study (in oil) of a part of one of my drawings.. Turned out to be ok, and perhaps will continue on with the rest till I get somewhere, we'll see :) You never know where your art will take you, as long as there's passion - everything is achievable!


Me with my latest work on oil :)

'Untitled' Oil on canvas

AIS International Fair

Here's some snaps from the AIS international fair held last Thursday where countries from different parts of the world prepared booths showcasing cultures, food, arts, crafts, etc. It was a great event, the weather was nice! We all had fun :) Videos coming soon!


A detail of the Philippines Booth.

Featuring my Award-winning Digital piece for the backdrop :)


Umm, Choc•Nut anyone? Simply irresistable.. It was a box-office, actually.

Elijah by the Comments wall (I wonder what he's up to:)

Yufan (China), Shahed (Egypt) & Aliyah (Philippines)

Aliyah & Stacey wearing coat of arms.

Aliyah (Philippines), Ranad (Kuwait) & Yasmin (Lebanon).

Annabelle & Samantha :)

Pro Bowler & Family friend Sonia Mathews with kids and Amy D.

Mom & Eli :) Booth is almost empty, the food was a big hit!


Reppin' the Philippines, yours truly with Eli :)

IT'S ON!

Bad Ass from Ghana takes on the Champ from the Philippines in the world's biggest stadium as one of the greatest fight in boxing! The Event is On! Live on PPV :)