Art

The modern art museum in Nicosia – the Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum – is by far one of the coolest I’ve been to. I’m a bit biased, of course; much like my feeling toward castles, while I appreciate the history behind a lot of art, I don’t get that excited about anything that dates before the mid-19th century. I love modern art. My favourite artist is Matisse, followed by Degas, Cézanne, Modigliani, Khalo, Basquiat, and a whole lot of other artists you can see in most modern museums. I collect art when I travel and I always gravitate toward big, bright colours, and big, bold shapes. It was no wonder, then, that I loved the Zampelas Art Museum.

Medellín has had a terrible reputation in the past – due to the drug cartel led by the infamous Pablo Escobar, it was once dubbed the most dangerous city in the world. Thousands of innocent civilians died in the 1980s and 1990s due to the business of cocaine. After Escobar’s death in 1993, however, the city started to get back on its feet, and over the past two decades there have been humongous changes. It is not a city totally devoid of crime, but crime rates have fallen in huge numbers, and I for one felt safe in its streets.

Now, as the second biggest city in Colombia, it is a city of beauty and culture; surrounded by mountains, it offered us blue skies and green landscapes. Although we only had a few days there, we filled our days with as much as Medellín could offer. There are many things to do in Medellín, but here are just a few of the things we enjoyed.

Last autumn, I had the pleasure of returning to one of my favourite European cities, Berlin. There are many things to love about Berlin: its nightlife, its history, its fashion, and, perhaps one of my favourite reasons for visiting, its street art. I’ve written about how I’m huge fan of street art before, and I think that it can be a beautiful contribution to a city, adding art, politics, culture, and social perspective to otherwise bare walls.

Here’s the thing: I don’t always like the art exhibited. In fact, some of it is downright terrible. Art is subjective, of course, but the Saatchi Gallery has a reputation for instigating media controversy, and its exhibits are sometimes totally slashed by art critics from around the world. As it is a gallery for contemporary and modern art, often it showcases pieces which the public (and perhaps the art community) has never seen before. The gallery regularly and pointedly features new and/or unknown artists – you won’t see any of Matisse or Klee here…

Street art is a great love of mine. When we think of street art, we think of Melbourne, London, Valparaiso, Berlin, New York, Buenos Aires. I hadn’t given much thought to what would be on the walls of Colombia, but I was overjoyed to find an entire alley in Cartagena’s district of Getsemeni devoted to beautiful, powerful, politically-driven art. I took dozens of photos, including a couple which were signed, seemingly absent-mindedly, by one name: Guillermo.

            Medellin, Colombia Yesterday we spent the day taking the cable car high above the city of Medellin. After a walk through the forest and too many…