Ganesha

This photo was captured with a Sony a6300. 

Frida's Demons

We were lucky to catch the last weekend of the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Dalí Museum! 

This photo was captured with a Sony a6300. 

Warthog Carving

I saw this carving on a kiosk in Harambe Village at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I took a photo of it while the kids were in a gift shop. I didn't think much about it at the time — other than that it was a nice little piece of art. In hindsight, though, I really wish I had bought it. I'm not sure when our next trip to Disney will be but if they're still selling these carvings, I'm going to buy it on the spot. 

This photo was captured with a Sony a6300. 

The Bard of Avon

This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.

Just Squint

This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300 at the Dalí Museum.

Hyde Park Garage

Hyde Park Village is a collection of shops and restaurants in the streets running through Tampa's historic Hyde Park. This "HP" logo was painted on a delivery roll-up door.

This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.

Frida at the Dalí

We visited the Dalí museum in St. Petersburg last week and were lucky enough to catch the Frida Kahlo exhibit just a few days before it closed. This was the very appropriate entry wall introducing the exhibit.

This past week, I've been reading "Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy" by Nicholas Reynolds. It explores Ernest Hemingway's political views and his likely unintentional ties with the Soviet Union, led by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, also known as the NKVD. the NKVD was a broad-reaching public and secret police force that was also charged with espionage and enforcing Stalinist policies within communist movements around the world. The book alleges the NKVD actively sought to recruit Hemingway and suggests they were able to use him as a tool for the communist message while he was in Spain covering and fighting the Facist Franco.

For his part, Hemingway was a very staunch and early supporter of the anti-Facist movement in Spain, Italy and Germany. In the early days, the USA turned a blind eye to the original Axis of Evil between Germany, Italy and Spain. The Soviet Union was fighting the Facists for the rest of the world when Hemingway found himself in Spain. Naturally, he met and developed relationships with many good Soviets and Communists who were rightly taking up arms against the Facists. 

In an abrupt turnaround in 1939 — just before the outbreak of WWII — Stalin's Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler's Nazi Germany. This shocked many who thought Russia's fighters were the largest force fighting against the rise of Facism. Accordingly, many previous communist party members around the world denounced the party. Many were put on Soviet hitlists. Many of the Soviet fighters from Spain were forced to seek refuge elsewhere lest they return to the Soviet Union and were disappeared by the NKVD since the Soviet doctrine had changed while they were away. 

Frida Kahlo's companion and husband, Diego Rivera, found himself mixed up in the Soviet policies as a member of the Mexican Communist Party ten years earlier. He was expelled from the party and ordered to leave the Soviet Union where he was painting a mural for the Red Army Club in Moscow when the NKVD suggested he was involved in anti-Soviet politics. 

Hemingway and Diego Rivera had become friends and Hemingway, who thought Rivera's life was under threat from the NKVD, gave his friend a pistol to protect himself from assassins. Hemingway may have been on to something as Rivera's friend and former leader of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by the NKVD in Mexico City in 1940.

Perhaps Frida's husband was next? 

This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column was built in AD 113 to commemorate Roman emperor Trajan's battles and victory in the Dacian Wars. It stands over 100 feet tall and the inscription is 620 feet long as it winds around the column.

One of the things that makes Rome so great is that historic artifacts such as this are just about everywhere, proudly standing the test of time among a very cosmopolitan backdrop. That might be going a little too far. Many of the historic artifacts are not exactly standing the test of time but rather acquiescing to it.

I'm sure it's a constant challenge to balance the protection and public availability of these artifacts to not only the people of Rome but the world. And that is about as Roman as it gets. SPQR!

Psst. I'm Over Here.

The Mona Lisa is a victim of her own success. She lives in a basketball court-sized room behind green bulletproof glass, stanchioned off a dozen feet from her admirers. Visiting her was the most anticlimactic art experience I've ever had.

And it was fascinating. The room is large and packed with people. You can see her at the far end of the room as you enter but by the time you work your way through the crowd, the magic of the artwork has vanished. All you notice are the security measures and all of the humanity pressed against one another. Interestingly, it seems that most people feel the same way. As you collectively slink out of the Mona Lisa's basketball court, you want to make something good out of your famous art pilgrimage so you carefully investigate the artwork on the other walls. This further perplexes guests as they arrive to a room full of people looking at anything but the world's most famous piece of art. 

This photograph was captured with a Nikon D90.

The Firebird. Name checks out.

This giant, glittering sculpture welcoming guests to The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is called the Firebird. Visit when the sun is shining onto the sculpture and it really comes alive. 

Created by Niki de Saint Phalle, The Firebird pulls guests in from the street to experience the Bechtler. 

This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.