Vitro NasuIconoclastic Incubator
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Controversial and renowned Chinese photographer Ren Hang died at 29. (British Photographer Journal)
Ren Hang 任航 (1987-2017). (Poems in Chinese + a page on depression)
See more photos Mashkulture net
Yumeji (Kenji Sawada as Yumeji, artist/illustrator)
Branded to Kill (Shishido Joe tried plastic surgery on his cheeks to get more work as an actor)
See the trailer (Branded to Kill – youtube)
Seijun Suzuki dies aged 93 –
Seijun Suzuki who inspired Tarantino and Jarmusch dies at 93
Film-maker who paired pop art visuals and yakuza hitmen in Tokyo Drifter leaves behind a singular, surreal body of work that gained international acclaim
Seijun Suzuki 
(Princess Raccoon)
An amazing artist Jannis Kounellis passed away.
He was 80 years old.
Jannis Kounellis was born in 1936 in Piraeus, Greece. In 1956, Kounellis moved to Rome and enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti.
“One needs to consider that the gallery is a dramatic, theatrical cavity… My work is not surrealistic, the effect is theatrical, it is Baroque.” – Jannis Kounellis
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Guillaume D. relished working with Jacques Rivette in “Ne Touchez Pas La Hache” based on Balzac’s novel.
Happy Valentine’s day!
Hans Richter, Sergei Eisenstein and Man Ray, Paris’ 1929
Sergei Eisenstein died on 11 February 1948.
Nestor Almendros on Sergei Eisenstein
“Outside [Eisenstein] was a Soviet Russian[;] inside, according to some, he was a Christian, to others he was a Jew, to yet others a homosexual….” In fact, he was all those things. Eisenstein was an obedient Communist throughout his life. He did have a very Christian education in his native Riga, and through his otherwise Russified father he had some Jewish blood. An abundance of religious—and antireligious—imagery was present in all his films. And in addition, there are reasons to believe that in Eisenstein’s creative drive homosexuality played a very important role.
Nestor Almendros – (Previous post)
Diego, Frida and Eisenstein
Peter Greenaway on Eisenstein
Statue for giant panda who lifted wartime spirits
Ming the panda arrived in London as a cub in 1937 and was a huge hit among children, including two princesses
Some Panda photos by Fung Lin Hall here too.
Ming Smith, “Kites Inside, Columbus, Ohio” (ca. 1972)
Necessary Angels (Hyperallergic)
More photos by Ming Smith here.
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Romare Bearden 
Photo of François Truffaut by Duane Michals, 1981
François 
François Truffaut was born on February 6, 1932, in Paris, France. With the identity of his biological father later becoming a mystery, François’s mother, Janine de Monferrand, wed Roland Truffaut, with her husband giving his surname to her son. Yet the couple ultimately never allowed the boy to live with them; he was looked after by a wet nurse until, as a toddler, he was taken in and raised by his maternal grandmother and grandfather.
Francois Truffaut “The 400 Blows” The light and darkness of childhood is explored by John Conomos from Senses of Cinema.14 Jun 04 “A child’s eyes register fast. Later he develops the film”. Rivette says “In speaking of himself, he is speaking of us”
Les Miston (see youtube)
Truffaut simply called it “my first real film”.Moreover it was Bernadette Lafont’s film debut. She was at that time Gérard Blain’s wife. It was shot at her hometown Nîmes.
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me
André Gregory and Wallace Shawn’s Top 10 – read what they have to say about Jules et Jim.
Two English Girls –
The Story of Adele H.
Truffaut (previous post – his search for love & language, cinema & books)
(Truffaut and Jean Cocteau)
via Silent and Talkie blog
(Robert Bresson and Truffaut at Cannes 1967)
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(With Sam Fuller)
Dore Ashton 
NYtimes Dore Ashton who embraced and inhabited moernism dies at 88.
Dore A 
Portrait of Dore Ashton by Alice Neel
Ashton took her notes from Franz Kafka who believed that an “artist was a man of many lives, many potential personalities, and many different relationships.” This outlook on artists is a uniquely modern one. Many artists in the Pre-modern era fit this description, but it was of very little consequence, before the Impressionists, how artists adjusted themselves to fit into society. According to Ashton, it was Arshile Gorky who, upon landing in New York in 1925, made it not only fashionable but acceptable for other New York artists to feel a real sense of liberty and experimentation, to wear different masks when it suited them.
“He was,” wrote Ashton, “at once, a painter who refused to put a face on his forms and a painter who, at times – moved by sentimental memories – assigned associations to certain paintings.” These meandering tendencies were not those of an artist without direction or focus, but of a man who fully recognized the wealth of form available to the imaginative eye. Ashton believes that Gorky set the bar for those younger New York artists who during the pre-WWII years did lack direction and focus.
Tammam Azzam (above)
6 Inspiring artists from Middle East
Saudi Arabia top 10 artists (where to find them)
Tom & Ben 
Ben was in Perfume and Cloud Atlas. Ben appeared as a hologram/cameo in Hologram for the King.
Tom Tykwer adapted based on a novel by Dave Eggers.
Illusions in the desert – Tom Tykwer’s Hologram for the King.
Although Clay is trying to sell a hologram, he himself is more attached to tangible things, says Tykwer. “He once sold steel. He stands for a world that is ceasing to exist the way it was, but has to present something that belongs to the virtual future.” Therefore, Clay’s way of working reflects his character.
By the way, Tom Tykwer did get to see the holy city of Mecca during his travels to Saudi Arabia: “I actually went to Mecca during my research tour – but not intentionally. My guide had taken a wrong route and couldn’t turn back, so we drove through Mecca.” This involuntary stay of Tykwer in the holy city is reflected on in the film.
“A Hologram for the King” is a movie about the clash of two cultures that is told with subtle humor – and it is a film that reflects on how people deal with two totally different worlds.
