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40 again!

31/5/2012

Dear Atria
On my Birthday on 4th May Anna organised a surprise 40th Birthday party for me. I am sure you know how old actually I was on that day, but as I didn't really wanted to remember my real age I was very happy to find out that friends came to celebrate my 40th Birthday :-)
Can you recognize some of my Birthday guests? I am sure yu can spot some familiar faces :-) There were about 20 people attending and even Her Majesty Queen paid us a visit on that day :-)

During the party some of my guests and I somehow grown a mustache... The birthday cake must have had some mustache growing formula I guess... It was very mysterious and amazing party :-) I think all my guest enjoyed the evening and I was happy to share my celebration with friends. The only thing that could have made me more happy was if you were there as well. Maybe next year...? At the end of the party we lit 2 Chinese lanterns and released them to the sky. Traditionally you make a wish on this occasion. I made mine :-)

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Me and Modern Art

30/5/2012

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Tell me what do you think my dear Atria? You dad clearly doesn't appreciate modern art, but I hope you will explore it for yourself and maybe one day you will explain it to me.
I thought that 80% of exhibits at Tate look like 'rubbish' I have in my shed. I was telling Anna that she should not be angry with me for the mess I create around me, because I am just an artist and my shed is my art gallery. At least we had a laugh :-)

Also the view from Tate's balcony was very beautiful and London itself is a nice city to visit every now and then. I know you have been visiting London with your Mum, but I don't know how do you like it. I would be so happy to hear from you...

Dear Atria,
For our second wedding anniversary Anna decided to take me to Tate Modern. It is a modern art gallery in London and it is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year. Anna said that it is a shame that we haven’t been there although London is so close. She planned a trip on 1st May and we went to admire some art. The collections in Tate Modern consist of works of international modern and contemporary art dating from 1900 until today. There were a lot of paintings, sculptures, installations - most of them abstraction, expressionism and abstract expressionism, surrealism, cubism, futurism, vorticism and Pop Art. And you know what my dear Atria - I am now sure that I don’t understand modern art. Maybe I shouldn’t say that as a father, but I absolutely don’t mean to discourage you from admiring modern art, I am just telling you about my impression. I did like some paintings by Mon et, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. I also thought that some ‘installations’ look nice (like the red stairs in the picture), but I didn’t understand the concept and even after reading the description I couldn’t see any connection between what I can see and what is described.

For example look at this picture on the left my dear Atria – 2 chairs with the hole and metal balls. Hmm… This is actually an artwork by British artist Richard Wentworth entitled ‘Siege’. It is made from laminated wood, steel, chrome, brass, lead and cable. And you know what the description says about it? Here we go:
Wentworth’s sculptures often utilise common objects and easily available materials, combined in extraordinary ways. ‘Like a gaucho’s bolas, one chair ensnares the other’, the artist has said of his work.The title relates to the French word for seat (siege) as well as the English idea of being under siege. Wentworth has explained thet the sculpture stemmed from ‘a very different moment in gender politics, and it is now more common to discuss how pathetic men are. I used to think most of the time that I feel pathetic – and why shouldn’t one make work about that?’

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West Midlands Safari Park

30/5/2012

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Dear Atria,
I haven’t told you yet about our visit to West Midlands Safari Park. It was back in April, when Baba was visiting. Both I and Anna wanted to make Baba’s visit special and take him to as many exciting places as we could. So, one of these exciting places was safari park. It was different than Cotswold Wildlife Park, which I described to you earlier as it combined self-drive safari experience, live shows, African Village, walk with lemurs and Theme Park. I would like to take you there some time – I am sure you would enjoy visiting. Below you can see the map of the park with many exciting things to do and see.

We first drove about 4 miles through safari with many great animals including stunning white lions and beautiful cheetahs. There were also rhinos, white tigers, giraffes, elephants, deers, zebras, antelopes, camels and many other animals. I liked the fact that most of the animals could walk freely within very large enclosures. We bought a guide book for Baba with all the animals pictured and described. We’ve learned a lot new things about them.
Did you know that a male lion's roar can be heard from 8km away!
Or that an adult elephant eats around 160kg of food every day!
Or that the penguins pair for life and often nest at the same site where they were hatched.
Or that a camel’s hump contains not water but fat, giving them a large reserve of energy for a harsh desert life.
I didn’t and it is really interesting :-)
After safari drive we went to see smaller animals including penguins, meerkats, lemurs, monkeys, turtles, reptiles, sea-life and all sorts of interesting creatures. Baba really enjoyed watching playful meerkats and a sea lion show.
Here are some pictures for you my dear Atria, but pictures don't really transfer the atmosphere accurately, so I would like you to take you for a nice day out in this park. Would you like to join me?

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40 again!

Me and Modern Art

West Midlands Safari Park

Farshid Shenassa

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