Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) Time in Berkeley

February 14 is the beginning of traditional lunar new year celebrated primarily in the Pacific Asian countries. It is commonly referred to as Spring Festival in mainland China. However, in most part of China, it is far from spring. But it sure feels like that spring has arrived in Berkeley, California:

P.S. - Happy Valentine's Day!

A Striking Film - "The White Ribbon"

German film, Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (The White Ribbon - a German Children's History) by Michael Haneke has tremendous impact. It told a strange story in a German village on the eve of World War I. It demonstrated the origin and its impact of human brutality on children, and the society fostered them. It is a horrorfying story, without horror movies' gore. Instead, it lays bare the human soul, or the lack of it. In contrast to the hard-hitting story, the images are incredibly beautiful, in black and white. Though it has only two colors and shades in between, it is infinitely superior to the most colorful blockbuster, Avatar.

This movie will be talked about and remembered for generations to come, if our children have not completely sold their souls to iPads.

William Kentridge Profiled by New Yorker

"New Yorker" profiled South African artist William Kentridge in January. It demonstrated the origin, development and the depth of the great Kentridge. I was most affected by a quote of his:

I have never tried to make illustrations of apartheid, but the drawings and films are certainly spawned by and feed off the brutalized society left in its wake. I am interested in a political art, that is to say an art of ambiguity, contradiction, uncompleted gestures, and certain endings; an art (and a politics) in which optimism is kept in check and nihilism at bay. - William Kentridge

Lunar New Year Time in Shenyang, China

While planning Lunar New Year celebration at work, I came across a few pictures I took several years ago when I went back to Shenyang, China for Spring Festival, a.k.a. (Chinese) Lunar New Year. It was in deep winter and very cold but it was great fun. It was the first time I'd seen snow since I moved to California.

Art Students at UC Berkeley Spoke Up

Drastic funding cut and fee increase at University of California triggered a lot of emotions and also generated a surge of pertinent artworks. Below are a few new murals painted inside the Art Practice Department of University of California, Berkeley:

Drawing at Cal (Life Drawing Group) at Kroeber Hall

Life Drawing Group at University California Berkeley is attracting more and more people for its Friday night / Saturday morning life drawing sessions. These sessions employ nude models from professional group and they pose for ten 2 minutes, four 5 minutes, two 10 minutes and three to four twenty minutes. All the models I encountered were very professional and inspiring.

Below are a few I did today:















For my complete output, please visit: www.matthewfelixsun.com