Saturday, June 28, 2014

Wonderful Food Experiences in Austin, Texas

Early this month, I went to Austin, Texas for a business trip and was quite pleasantly surprised by a few wonderful meals I enjoyed there.

My first meal in Austin was in Russian House Restaurant in downtown area.  The restaurant looked fanciful and its lobby had a suspicious sense of being Revolutionary kitsch, but a glimpse of a party room alleviated my reservation and I gave it a try.

DSCN0049 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0041 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014
Lobby

DSCN0043 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0045 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014
Party room

The main dinning hall was clear of kitschy displays; rather, it was decorated tastefully with muted chandeliers and old photographs, including the family of the last Tsar.

DSCN0029 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0037 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

The food was delicious and I also like the way they presented green onion, pickles, bread and salt on a wooden board.  My main dish was a dumpling in a clay pot and the dessert was a very traditional Ukraine cake.

DSCN0034 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0036 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

Even the invoice was presented in a lovely way - inside a lacquered box, decorated with traditional Russian folk scene.

DSCN0038 _ Russian House Restaurant, Austin, June 2014
lacquered box for bills

~~~

I also had an opportunity to dine in a lovely 1886 Café & Bakery inside the landmark Driskill Hotel dating indeed back to 1886.

DSCN0116 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0868 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0251 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0573 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014
Entrance to the hotel lobby and cafe

DSCN0363 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0370 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0368 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0365 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0394 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0411 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014
Hotel staircase and suite

DSCN0407 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0366 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014
Hotel Grill restaurant with live music

I opted for the fun-looking Bakery, with stained glass decorations, instead of the Grill restaurant with live music, which was a bit too lively and too stately.

DSCN0378 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0375 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0416 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0382 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

The food was very delicious - seared fish for main course and a glorious banana pudding for dessert.  The waiter assured me that if I could have only either appetizer or dessert, I ought to have dessert, which was the Café's selling point.

DSCN0376 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0377 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0384 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0387 _ Driskill Hotel and Bakery, Austin, June 2014

~~~

A couple days later, after the sumptuous Driskill, I chose a more down-to-earth German restaurant, Easy Tiger, for a simple dinner.  The restaurant was in a pleasant grove setting and served German food and beer including breads and pretzels freshly baked in the restaurant.  

DSCN0877 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0897 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014 DSCN0901 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0878 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0880 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

DSCN0884 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

My simple meal, consisting of fennel and duck sausage in pretzel buns, heirloom tomato salad, smoked Gouda cheese and sauerkraut, was nicely balanced and contrasted in flavors and textures.

DSCN0883 _ Easy Tigre Restaurant, Austin, June 2014

~~~

After the business, I had the opportunity to visit the art museum of the University of Texas, Austin - Blanton Museum and had my lunch in its Café - a beautifully presented and flavorful grilled Portobello stack:

DSCN1018 _ Blanton Museum, University of Texas, Austin

DSCN1447 _ Blanton Museum Cafe, University of Texas, Austin

DSCN1448 _ Blanton Museum Cafe, University of Texas, Austin

Never expected so many wonderful meals in Texas.

More on Austin, Texas Trip, June 2014

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst
- Special Hungarian Treat from Crixa Cakes, Berkeley
- Restaurants in Shenyang, China
- Chopsticks and Chinese Food
- Kitchen, Restaurant and Food Court in Shenyang, China

Friday, June 20, 2014

e-Portfolio on MagCloud and ISSUU

Finally, I made an electronic portfolio of my selected paintings, drawings and installations and it can be viewed on ISSUU:


Unfortunately, ISSUU would not allow my readers to print the copies so, you may send me request, or sign on my eNewsletter on my website: www.matthewfelixsun.com and I will be very happy to send a free PDF to you.

Alternatively, I am also offering a professionally bound copy via MagCloud, at the cost of $8 per copy (Wire-O-Bind), 8.5"x11":

Art Portfolio of Matthew Felix Sun
Electronic portfolio of awarding winning fine artist, Matthew Felix Sun www.matthewfelixsun.com

or a square one, 8.5"x8.5", in perfect bound, offered at $8.5 per copy (with 8 extra pages):

New Publication
Electronic portfolio of awarding winning fine artist, Matthew Felix Sun www.matthewfelixsun.com



Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst
- New Wilde Magazine Publications
- Two Figure Paintings of Mine Published by Wilde Magazine Issue 2
- Pomona Valley Review, Issue 7 Published with My Paintings and Installation
- Four Paintings of Mine Published by Superstition Review, April 2013
- Three Magazines to Publish My Works in April
- Publications

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Featured Oil Painting "The Triumph of Saint George"

Just when the ill-conceived and ill-fated Iraq-invasion led by US president George W. Bush keeps and the prime minister of UK, Tony Blair, finally started to fade from our collective consciousness, it sprang back with vengeance in the tides of horrible stories and images.

Now, confronted with the terrifying aftermath of their reckless joint-decision, George W. Bush keeps mum, while Tony Blair tries desperately to white-wash his hands, yet however often he screamed "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", his hands, together with those of GWB's and Dick Cheney's, would forever be stained with blood, gushed from the mangled bodies of US soldiers and Iraqi people.

During his horrible and incompetent presidency, George W. Bush (GWB) was often criticized as an imbecile ninny occupying a high office due to his fabulous family connection - his father Georg Bush was the president of the US from 1989 to 1993. To me, that argument was incorrect and way too benevolent. GWB did many horrible things not due to his stupidity, but his fundamental believe in those horrible things.

To me, this painting of mine below, The Triumph of Saint George, created during the time he was drumming up the invasion of Iraq in 2003, reflects what he was; the painting also jump-started my ongoing Apocalypse Series, to commemorate the miseries of humankind.

The Triumph of Saint George / 聖喬治的勝利 / Der Triumph des Heilige George

11 Paintings Completed in 2003  (part 2 of 2)

I had hoped that what I depicted in that painting would be simply a warning sign, rather than, unfortunately, a most awful prophecy as it turned out. History will remember George W. Bush and Tony Blair, not kindly. As an artist, it was my duty to record and reflect the time I live in.

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- My Featured Work: Oil Painting “Interaction” – A Group Portraits
- New Publications in Pomona Valley Review
- 25 Years Later, Smell of Exhausted Tian'anmen "Warriors" Lingered


Sunday, June 15, 2014

My Favorite Paintings at Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

The complex of the Belvedere Palaces in Vienna contained the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Austrian Gallery Belvedere), showcasing Austrian artists, such as Gustave Klimt (1862-1918) and Egon Schiele (1890-1918), two giants of the late 19th to early 20th century and their works were indeed my favorites in this museum.

Of many works by these two artists, I'll call Braut (Bride) by Klimt as my first favorite.  It was less iconic than the more renown Kuss (Kiss), but the images of this piece were richer and the messages more layered.  I particularly loved the interplays of the patterns and the juxtaposition of those overtly sensual, to the point of near indecent fleshy figures, permeating a hedonistic and even sinister atmosphere. It was the unabashed abandon carried the day.


Braut, Gustav Klimt, 1918, Oberes Belvedere, Wien

My second favorite painting there was Fensterwand (Hauswand) (Window Wall (House Wall), which contrasted most violently with the Braut by Klimt.


Fensterwand (Hauswand), Egon Schiele, 1914, Oberes Belvedere, Wien

This Schiele piece, somber though not stern, was orderly and becalming, with dashes of colors accenting the overall gray scheme.  It had a purifying effect, yet it was also playful in the details.  This piece, completed just four short years before both his wife and he succumbed to the Spanish flu pandemic, represented the world to be smashed by the Great War (World War I).  A very beautiful and poignant piece.


My Favorite Museum Collection Series
>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 82: My Favorite Paintings at Leopold Museum, Vienna
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 80: My Favorite Paintings at Albertina Museum, Vienna

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited


Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Magnificent Churches in Vienna
- Kaiser Maximilian I und die Kunst der Duerer-Zeit in Albertina Museum, Vienna
- My Favorite Paintings at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
- My Favorite Paintings at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien (Vienna)
- Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele in Wien (Vienna)
- Visiting Four Universities in Austria and Italy

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

My Favorite Paintings at Albertina Museum, Vienna

The renown Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria was mostly valued for its graphic art collections, such as works by the incomparable Albrecht Dürer, whose ultra-realistic drawings and watercolors were so delicate that the museum only put reproductions on display, therefore, I refrain from citing his works as my favorite there.

Albertina Museum also had some really impressive oil paintings, amongst which, I was particularly enthralled by paintings by Max Beckmann and Paul Delvaux.

The Frau mit Katze (Woman with Cat) by German artist Max Beckmann was a stylish, understated yet highly erotically charged woman portrait, typical of his pre-Third-Reich oeuvre, without the unsettling sinister atmosphere permeated in his later works.

I was particularly enchanted by the sitters' self-satisfying langour, the marvelously subtle and bold interplays of orange, yellow, pale purple, green and black shades, and the sitter's slightly monumental bulk, which didn't take away any of her sensuality or her femininity.

DSCN9068 _ Frau mit Katze (Woman and Cat), 1942, Öl auf Leinwand, Max Beckmann, Albertina Museum, Wien, 2 October - 500
Frau mit Katze (Woman and Cat), Max Beckmann, 1942, Öl auf Leinwand (Oil on Canvas)

My second favorite works was Belgian painter Paul Delvaux's Landschaft mit Lanternen (Landscape with Lanterns) - a mysterious cityscape which extended to landscape under cool moonshine, almost symmetrical, with a noble-looking woman stood at the foreground, looking into the goings-on on the receding away from the viewers, including two small figures in white, carrying a stretcher with a person enshrouded in white sheet, against the gently lit hills dotted with unfinished architectures, or strange gate-shaped structures, corresponding to the seemingly unfinished city structures in the foreground.

DSCN9070 _ Landschaft mit Lanternen, 1958, Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), Albertina, - 500
Landschaft mit Lanternen (Landscape with Lanterns), 1958, Paul Delvaux (1897-1994)

The cool atmosphere and the classical symmetry recalled The Ideal City by Piero della Francesca (?) though the mood of Delvaux's painting was much darker and more mysterious, even quite sinister, and the story was much harder to decode, thus even more fatally attractive.

File:Piero della Francesca Ideal City.jpg
The Ideal City, Piero della Francesca, public domain work of art

During my visit, I shot the picture with a viewer looking inside the frames, and her presence added another layer to this haunting piece.


My Favorite Museum Collection Series
>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 81: My Favorite Paintings at Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 79: My Favorite Sculptures in Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited


Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Magnificent Churches in Vienna
- Kaiser Maximilian I und die Kunst der Duerer-Zeit in Albertina Museum, Vienna
- My Favorite Paintings at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
- My Favorite Paintings at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien (Vienna)
- Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele in Wien (Vienna)
- Visiting Four Universities in Austria and Italy