Credit: Angelo Merendino

Love Letter:Photographer Shares Wife's Battle with Cancer

Angelo Meredino's life has been a whirlwind since his photo essay "The Battle We Didn't Choose" went viral. The photo essay depicts every step of his wife's battle with cancer. Since her passing in December 2011, Angelo has been working on a book that he calls his "love letter to Jen". The book will share photos from "the most personal and intense time of our life". The book includes many photos that were not originally used in Angelo's photo essay. His book "The Battle We didn't Choose" will be released September 1st. The release date holds special significance. September 1st is Angelo and Jen's wedding anniversary.

The last eight months have been a "huge part of how I've healed", he tells me. "She made the most of life. I thought 'How can I handle things the way she did?' Putting this book together has been a step forward for me. Where I am with this book and where I am as a human being are parallel right now".

Credit: Angelo Merendino

The book also coincides with Angelo's non-profit "The Love You Share". A week before Jen passed, Angelo talked to her about setting up a non-profit. "The Love You Share" helps women with daily challenges such as paying for transportation costs and groceries. While Jen was receiving treatment, she had good disability from her job and organizations like the American Cancer Society covered her transportation costs to and from appointments. It made Angelo wonder how families without disability payments and the help of others paid the bills while facing cancer treatment. 

Credit: Angelo Merendino

As I noted during our first interview in March, Angelo's voice still fills with passion when he speaks of Jen. "Jen left me with a lifetime of lessons. I know how much Jen trusted me. I feel she would still be as supportive today.A few days before she passed, I made a promise to Jen that the world would know about her." With his photo essay and now the release of his book, Jen and Angelo's story of love, perseverance and strength has traveled the world. Angelo has made good on his promise.

*50% of the net profits of all book sales will be donated to "The Love You Share". "The Love You Share" has applied to the IRS for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The application is still pending and therefore donations to "The Love You Share" are not currently tax-deductible. If tax-exempt status is granted, donations received while its application is pending may be treated as tax-deductible. 

Ashes of Art

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Monet's "Charing Cross Bride".

You may have heard of overprotective parents before, but Radu Dogaru's mother has taken the notion of "overprotective" to a new and frightening level. Olga Dogaru was determined to destroy all and any evidence when her son Radu Dogaru and his accomplices Darie Eugen and Adrian Procop were charged with the theft of several paintings from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum. Picasso's "Harlequin Head", Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in White and Yellow", Claude Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge" were among the stolen paintings. 

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Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in White and Yellow"

The paintings are worth over $120 million, but for art lovers the paintings are invaluable. Despite the art world's anger and heavy hearts, there is a glimmer of hope for the other works Dogaru and his gang stole may still be out there in tact.

Theft is not new to the art world. Some of the world's most prized pieces of art have been stolen:

Munch's "Scream" and "Madonna"  

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Munch's "Scream"

Munch's "Scream"  and "Madonna" were stolen in August of 2004 from the Munch Museum in Oslo in broad daylight. Although Norwegian police arrested a suspect in 2005, the paintings were not recovered until 2006. Following the robbery, the Munch Museum remained closed for 10 months for a security overhaul.

Picasso's "Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois"

This 1911 painting was one of five painting stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in May 2010. "The painting has been confirmed as discarded, as the thief threw it in a trash container shortly after the theft. The container was emptied before it was discovered where the painting could be found."

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Picasso's "Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois"

Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" 

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"Mona Lisa" 

This now famous painting wasn't widely known at the time of the robbery in 1911. In fact, the robbery is credited with making it famous. Newspapers around the world ran headlines about the missing masterpiece after it was stolen from the Louvre by three Italian handymen dressed as gallery workers. It was recovered in 1913 after one of the thieves tried to sell it.
 

Faith47 Says Hello!

A gift from South Africa arrived in my inbox today. South African street artist, Faith47, sent Art Crasher some previews of her work. The Cape Town based artist is self taught and finds inspiration from her own existential questions. Her artwork gives new life to abandoned factories, idle towns and broken-down cars. Her work touches on the destructive and creative meaning of human life. It often looks for the metaphorical meanings of words often associated with life: death and freedom. She says "My experiences painting on the street have bled over into my studio work and into these prints, bringing in the moods and textures of the urban environment as well as the scrawlings, sentences, poems and texts that are left behind by disenfranchised homeless people, stowaways and gangs tags that I’ve been documenting over the past few years.” Faith's work has moved beyond the borders of South Africa and is now internationally recognized.

Visit her site here to see where you can check out Faith's work in person. She'll be in the UK, Canada and Italy this summer. This October, Art Crasher will catch up with Faith in Los Angeles when she is featured in "Beyond Eden" at Thinkspace Gallery.

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Painting Peace

Riots started in Syria in 2011 after 15 children were arrested in the city of Daraa for painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school. In that same year, the revolution in Egypt produced a spike in revolutionary graffiti. As their government tried to silence citizens, street art became a universal form of communication that reached people around the world. 

These are some of the examples artist Paul-Felix Montez references when he talks about the power of street art and symbols. Symbolism is an art form that can be traced back to renaissance art. The power of symbolism lies in its ability to tell stories. Symbols create a universal language, transcending international and cultural borders.

Paul-Felix has been fascinated by symbols throughout his career. He recognizes the peace symbol as an authentic symbol that represents our needs. "Peace is the highest ideal. It enables us to love, have families, fix differences.." Montez set out to reinvent the peace symbol and start a global movement. After contacting artists like George Colon, the Make Peace Project was born. The Make Peace Project encourages global street artists to use the new proactive peace symbol, engage in grassroots activism and change their world and communities.

The project has become an umbrella for "Make Peace Day" and other grassroot movements. "Make Peace Day" takes place "as it falls on the Saturday after or on Spring Equinox every year". It promotes and celebrates every individual's ability to do something peaceful through action. 25,000 people participated online in March 2013. The "Make Peace Park" grass movement aims to make peaceful parks by taking back abandoned or high crimes areas. The idea is not to push out middle or lower classes, but to rebuild and create a shared area of support for all citizens.

On September 14, 2013, thousands of artists will gather in Brooklyn, New York to join the world's largest single collaborative artwork movement of the 21st century. NYC will be the project's launchpad and result in a major gallery exhibition. All works of art will incorporate the reinvented peace symbol.The Project will continue in other international cities like San Francisco, Paris and Berlin. "It will not stop" Montez says. "Museums make us spectators, but this event makes us participants. It will not stop because Peace is not an option. It is a necessity for human survival."  

For more information on The Make Peace Project, check out http://www.makepeaceproject.org/​

Through the Lens of a Camera:Photographer Documents Wife's Cancer Battle

When Angelo Meredino speaks of his wife, his voice fills with passion. As he described Jen to me, I could practically hear a smile forming on his face. "Jen was always determined. She was always able to find the good in things. These are some of the things that made me fall in love with her.These are the reasons why I wanted to marry her", he tells me. It was these very qualities that Angelo saw blossom during Jen's four year battle with cancer. "She never complained. She saw the importance in life. Jen was the real deal". 

Angelo has grown to know cancer well. Both of his parents are cancer survivors. His dad had lung cancer when he was 20 and his mom had breast cancer as he approached age 30. Although Angelo agrees that cancer opens one's eyes in general, he feels he didn't have the life experience to really understand cancer during his parents' illnesses. 

Five months after their September 2007 wedding in Central Park, Jen was diagnosed with breast cancer.During her four year battle, Angelo and Jen saw the human side of cancer. Angelo picked up his camera and began to document their daily life from doctor visits to treatment sessions. "My photographs show this daily life. They humanize the face of cancer, on the face of my wife. They show the challenge, difficulty, fear, sadness and loneliness that we faced."

Angelo and Jen quickly learned that cancer is a reality many don't want to hear about. Although Angelo has received overwhelming support for his photo series, many people have asked him "Why show this? Life is hard enough". In many ways, such reactions are the exact reason Angelo has decided to share these photos. "This is real life. How will we ever learn if we hide from reality?"Cancer is that "elephant in the room". Often friends and family are unsure of what kind of support to give to loved ones battling cancer. A friend coming over to hold Jen's hand, a relative ordering Jen and Angelo's favorite food for dinner and Angelo's brother coming to the hospital to just sit with Jen brought the greatest forms of comfort.

When I ask Angelo what he learned about himself during those four years, he pauses. "I now know that whatever comes my way I'll figure it out. I now appreciate that I can wear my heart on my sleeve. I tell people "I love you"without reservation, without expecting them to say it back." 

Jen's memory just doesn't live on in these photos. Jen "planted seeds while she was here". In 2009, Jen helped to form the Empire Dragon Boat Team. The team consists of over 25 cancer survivors." It is the "only breast cancer survivor dragon boat team in New York City and it belongs to the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission".  

"Jen and I had dreams. We wanted to grow old together, we wanted to have a family, but I am so thankful for my time with her. Those were some of the best years of my life".

For more information on the Empire Dragon Boat Team, check out their website >here/To learn more about Angelo and Jen's story, check out Angelo's website >here.

Ai Weiwei: War of Art and Social Media

Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Wei Wei, and the Chinese government are like oil and water. The two have been going head to head for years. With his tools of social media and art, Wei Wei is a fighter who refuses to leave the ring.

Born in 1957, Ai Wei Wei was raised in a labour camp in Xinjiang. His father, Chinese poet Ai Qing, was denounced during the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1958 and the labour camp was home to his family for the next 16 years. What the Chinese government couldn't have anticipated was that Ai Qing's son would come back with a vengeance. His art became his platform and the world and social media became his audience.

​"Bird Nest" Stadium

When Weiwei didn't attend the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, there was confusion. Where was he? He had designed the now famous "Bird Nest" stadium for the games and suddenly he was nowhere to be found. The Chinese government wanted him to smile for the international media to show the world that China had changed politically. Weiwei later admitted he regretted designing the stadium, saying the 2008 Olympics were merely a "government-controlled "empty event" not shared by ordinary citizens."

​"Remembrance"

This wouldn't be the last time Weiwei would speak out against the Chinese government. In the wake of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Weiwei publicized the poorly constructed schools that collapsed during the earthquake. It is widely believed the poor construction of these building is due to official corruption on the part of the government. Over 5,335 school children died. The events inspired Weiwei to produce "Remembrance", a wall of Chinese text made from children's backpacks that covered the facade of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany. The text read: "'She lived happily for seven years in this world." ;the words of a mother whose daughter died in the quake.He also "compiled a list of the names of the children who died, and accused the government of exacerbating parents' grief with official denial."

​Photo posted on Weiwei's Twitter following beating.

Embarrassed on the international political stage, the Chinese government lashed out. It started surveillancing Weiwei and after following him home one late night in September 2009, Weiwei was struck in the head by a government agent. Refusing to go quietly, Weiwei took to his twitter to ensure this wouldn't be another incident that the government could erase. He took his photo after his beating and posted "I don't want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did".  The blow to his head was so severe he was rushed to hospital days later. Weiwei had a brain hemorrhage. 

​Weiwei's destroyed studio

After Weiwei refused to step down, the Chinese government destroyed his Shanghai studio in 2011. It took two years to build and only one day to take down. Undeterred, Weiwei made an installation piece out of the debris. He called it his best piece to date and slyly thanked the government for it's help. Later on that year, he was detained for 81 days at an unknown location after he was stopped at the Beijing airport on route to Hong Kong. The government said he was the voice of treason and demanded he admit to his crimes.

Weiwei's story is one of courage. In the face of a corrupt government, he continues to stand firmly by his beliefs. With his art, he tells a story of what happens behind the borders of China. He is a selfless artist who utilizes his work to tell the stories of others in the hopes that future generations won't have to fight to step out from the shadow of the Chinese government.

To learn about about Weiwei story and strong spirit, check out the new documentary, "Weiwei, Never Sorry". 

Art in Motion

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​Credit: Dan Dodds

Dan Dodds has created Near Unison, a proposed installation piece for Burning Man 2013. The piece will enable participants to "visualize the harmonic relationships between them" at Burning 2013.

Near Unison's prototype debuted at Kinetica Art Fair 2013 in London.  The relationship between two individuals is drawn out in a bed of sand by two swinging pendulums. The pair of connected swings allowed visitors to become part of a large scale harmonograph that scratched a unique drawing into the sand below. The physical and psychological differences "between the two people using the swings accounted for the different outcomes: with weight, height, starting time, patience and playfulness all playing their part. The drawings created existed for a brief moment as a fingerprint for the two people".

Do you want to see Near Unison at Burning Man this summer?

Following Osmann: Couple shares love, travel and photography in Osmann's photo series "Follow Me"

Photgraphy, travel and love stories.These are three things I love above all others.When an artist combines all three of these aspects, I find myself captived.

Today I discovered the work of Murad Osmann.When Murad and his girlfriend travel, they capture their story and adventures in photos. They avoid the typical cheesy tourists shots.As a Mashable article explains "Osmann uses his Instagram account to post photos of his girlfriend leading him, by the hand, through gorgeous landmarks across the world. Some notable spots include London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Bali." This photo series (appropriately entitled "Follow Me") started innocently enough. As Osmann explains "The first photo happened in Barcelona while we were on vacation. My girlfriend was a bit annoyed that I was always taking pictures of everything, so she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me forward. But it didn't stop me from doing photos," (Mashable, 2013).

Photography tells a story. What is alluring about the tale this photo series tells is that it is continuous.Osmann leaves viewers wanting to know more. Looking through these photos, I kept thinking "What is their story? Where did they meet? What lead to their passion to travel? Tell me more!!!"

You can follow Osmann's adventures as he travels with his girlfriend and IPhone (his tool for this photo series) in tow via his Instagram page.

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2 months and 10,000 miles

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As I sit here to start this blog entry, the silhouette of my Grandpa's boots catches the corner of my eye. I borrowed these boots from him in 2006. I was 18, it was my first year of college and I was probably 1 of hundreds of college girls on my campus that year who dressed as a cowgirl for Halloween. The boots somehow never made their way back to him. I seldom returned to Toronto after moving to Ottawa for college and so the boots stayed with me. They made their home in my college dorm,were shuttled in a box when I moved into my first apartment and after my Grandpa died in 2009, they became my constant companion on all of my adventures. They came to France, England and Morocco with me in 2010. One year later, I was off to NYC,Jamaica, Hawaii, Texas and Louisiana with boots in tow.

Grand Canyon, Dec.2012

Washington, DC, Jan.2013

They moved with me to San Francisco in 2011 and even stood at the alter next to me on my wedding day in 2012. I somehow believed, and still do believe, by taking these boots on all of my travels, my Grandpa's spirit lives on. I always take pictures of them infront of famous landmarks and mail the photos to my Grandma back in Canada. Her fridge is covered with these photos, my own personal postcards. 

The boots and I traveled over 10,000 miles between November 2012 and January 2013. Opportunities and adventure presented themselves to me and I thought "why not?". You only live once. I packed my bag and the boots,and we jetted off to NYC, Arizona, southern California, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington, DC. I met amazing artists, tracked down some famous art pieces (the Bird Girl Statue in Savannah) and roamed around for street art. Being on the road gave me new inspiration and motivation. More blog posts to share my adventures later. Merely generalizing my discoveries in each city won't do it justice.

Side note: Thanks to all of our new followers. 200 new followers on Facebook in 2 days? You sure know how to make a girl smile. Art Crasher is strengthening as an art community each day. 

Keep art alive and well my friends,

                    -H

New York Daydreams

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I find myself in Midtown, Manhattan tonight. Its 12:40am, but my body is running on California time so bedtime is hours away. Frank Sintra is playing in the background and reminding me to do it "my way". New York City is a city of romance for me. I'm in love with its skyline, bright Christmas lights, broadway shows and its art scene. I even love the cold. It makes me stand still. I feel every one of my limbs move as it fights the chill that coats my bare skin.I roamed NYC this weekend without a map because no matter where I turned I discovered a new square, coffee shop or art gallery.I also discovered Art in the Parks, but that is a blog entry that will have to wait until I return to California.

I like being incognito and large cities grant me this luxury.During the nearly 6 hour flight to NYC, I came across some photos on my laptop that I've been meaning to share. While at Decompression in SF in October, I discovered the work of June Li.Li is an abstract artist based in San Francisco.

According to her biography, her work is inspired by "Her daily life experience: being in different places, a story from a stranger, a spot of texture on the street corner… all these big or small elements are the inspiration to her. Dripping techniques and organic shapes are frequently found dancing together poetically within her work. Exploring her emotion intensely or abstractly, as June’s appreciation for city life and humanity flows from her palette." I like Li's work due its colors and textures. These very aspects make her work bold and draws in the eyes of views. Check out more at http://www.juneliart.com/

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Whats your story?

I first discovered art as a child. My Dad was a graphic designer.I loved looking through his work and playing with all of his tools. I had a habit of faking sick so I could skip school and tag along with him to his office. His desk seemed like a large land mass to me; a land mass that had collection of ink pens, stacks of sketchpads and loupes (magnifers) as it's landscape. My Dad was an old school graphic designer (early 90's). Now computers have completely taken over. Lucky me, I was a 90's kid and my Dad's desk was my playground.

I learned to use art as a form of communication and an outlet for my feelings because strong communication skills is something my family did not possess. All of my feelings were pent up as a child. I would escape to my paints and journals to release those feelings, explore them and learn from them.

Art has connected me to others because I am not bilingual, but I am a world traveler. In places like Cuba, Mexico and Morocco, I couldn't speak to local artists in their mother tongue, but we could connect together through the colors and shapes of our art. Art is all I know. It has been my best friend since childhood and sees me through every life journey.

Art Crasher wants to know your story and feature it in our guest blog. How did you discover art? How has it shaped your life and the lens you view life through? Send all blog entries with photos of your work to hollie@artcrasher.com.

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