Posted in Arts & Culture, The Region, tagged Art, artists, Cisneros, culture, Jorge Pardo, latin american culture, Latin American history, Los Angeles, venezuela, Venezuelan Art on July 26, 2008 | No Comments »
Tomorrow, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opens two new galleries devoted to pre-Columbian art and artifacts from Latin America. A large part of the material comes from the collection of Venezuela’s wealthy Cisneros family.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Cuban-born sculptor Jorge Pardo was hired by LACMA to design ”a contiguous display of Latin American [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, tagged entertainment, Johnny Sigal, latin america, latin music, music, venezuela, venezuelan bands, venezuelan music, venezuelan pop on July 25, 2008 | No Comments »
Meet Latin pop music’s new Juanes, the saucy young Johnny Sigal of Venezuela.
This baby-faced singer is very familiar with the stage, for he became famous whie starring in a stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar — that’s right, he played Jesus.
In the past few months, Johnny has thrown off his robes, released a self-titled album, [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, Society & Politics, tagged cinema city, Francisco de Miranda, venezuela, venezuelan cinema, Venezuelan culture, Venezuelan film, Venezuelan History, Venezuelan movies, villa del cine on July 18, 2008 | No Comments »
Lately, it seems like Venezuela’s history is being chronicled in film like never before.
Take, for example, the biopic Miranda Regresa (”Miranda Returns”), which came out last fall. The movie is a dramatic reimagining of the life of independence hero Francisco de Miranda.
It was produced at Cinema City (in Spanish, Villa del Cine), the government- funded [...]
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A Venezuelan-born artist living in Florida was profiled in the Miami Herald over the weekend.
Francisco Sheuat, who owns an art gallery, is making his name in Fort Lauderdale by creating colorful papier-mache replicas of pink flamingos. Embellished with paint or mosaic, each is unique and beautiful. One looks like a motorcycle rider, another features [...]
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After we posted last week on a documentary about Miss Venezuela, it seems that the country has nabbed its fifth Miss Universe title.
The victorious Dayana Mendoza is from Amazonas State (yes, that’s where the tributaries of the Amazon River are), but like so many Venezuelans, she also has family in New York City.
Yesterday’s win makes [...]
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You’ve probably heard that Venezuelan women are some of the most beautiful in the world. Well, it’s part coincidence, part hard work.
This 22-minute documentary by Journeyman Pictures ventures into the Miss Venezuela scene — and the strange world of head honcho Osmel Sosa — to see the drama and the personalities behind the scenes [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, Sports, tagged culture, venezuela, Venezuelan History, Venezuelan culture, latin america, florida, latin american culture, sports in venezuela, cultural events, dominoes, games on July 8, 2008 | No Comments »
In Venezuela, dominoes are considered a sport. This is according the Orlando Sentinel, which reports today that Disney World is hosting the 6th Annual Domino World Championship this week to determine the top tiles player.
The head of the International Domino Federation, which organizes the event, is a Venezuelan man named Lucas Guittard. Many others involved [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, tagged Colombia, colombia captives, colombia hostages, Farc, hostage release, Hugo Chavez, ingrid betancourt, keith stansell, marc gonsalves, thomas howes, venezuela, venezuelan government on July 3, 2008 | No Comments »
Yesterday’s rescue of 15 hostages in Colombia was celebrated widely.
U.S. citizens Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves, and Thomas Howes returned safely to Texas, and Ingrid Betancourt was reunited with her children. Watch BBC footage of the happy return here.
The Venezuelan government expressed satisfaction with the liberation, according to Bloomberg. Here are some excerpts of a statement [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, tagged autopista sur, caracas, culture, latin american culture, music, venezuela, venezuelan bands, Venezuelan culture, venezuelan music, venezuelan pop on July 2, 2008 | No Comments »
Autopista Sur is one of the best new rock bands on the scene in Venezuela. The quartet formed in 2005, and has performed at clubs and festivals throughout the country, often alongside other groups we like, such as Los Amigos Invisibles and Papashanty.
The band members are all from Caracas, and they gather inspiration from the [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, tagged Art, caracas, culture, florida, History, latin american culture, Latin American history, Travel, Venezuelan History, venezuelan independence, venezuelan traditions on June 27, 2008 | No Comments »
Venezuelans know their history. This fact is emphasized in a Florida Times-Union column today that describes a guided visit to a mural in Caracas that depicts many aspects of the past. The author was hosted by Global Exchange, which does “reality tours” in Latin America.
Here is an excerpt: “It begins with pictures of its original [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, Society & Politics, tagged culture, Hugo Chavez, venezuela, Venezuelan culture, venezuelan music, el sistema, gustavo dudamel, Los Angeles Philharmonic, venezuelan government, simon bolivar youth orchestra, gustavo the great, music, poverty, development, classical music, music education, Jose Antonio Abreu, news on June 26, 2008 | No Comments »
By now, you’ve surely heard of Venezuela’s renowned music program “El Sistema,” which gives young children from poor families an opportunity to learn how to play classical music. The program is 30 years old, and currently reaches quarter of a million students. It is also having a big impact around the world.
Here is a roundup [...]
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Posted in Arts & Culture, tagged Art, artists, culture, Jesus Soto, latin america, latin american culture, venezuela, Venezuelan Art, Venezuelan arts, Venezuelan culture on June 16, 2008 | No Comments »
If you’ve been to the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, and if when you were there you got tangled in a mess of plastic strands that looks like the underside of a yellow jellyfish, you’ve probably heard about Jesús Soto. He is Venezuela’s most famous modern artist.
Venture further into inland Venezuela, and you can [...]
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