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Water of Life -1800 Tequila

Tequila.

Shooting it is sacrilege.

Well, that and getting the cheap tequila that one can only get down the throat by shooting it and masking its taste with lime and salt chasers.

I for one like sipping tequila.

It might not be my favourite tipple but sipping a nice glass of Patron, Casa Noble or Fortaleza is a thing of beauty and sipping a great tequila enters easily the realm of pleasures I receive from a good Scotch.

While the name has been ringing a bell for many moons, I have never really tried the omnipresent 1800 Tequila.

Price-wise it is more affordable than the premium tequilas yet taste-wise, it is in the same league as the best of them.

Following traditional production methods and based on the usage of a hundred percent Blue Weber agaves, which are harvested after eight to twelve years and baked in the distillery's massive clay brick ovens before the juice is extracted. After being distilled twice in their copper pot stills, 1800 Tequila is then either aged or bottled.

As far as portfolio is concerned, 1800 Tequila does not stray away from the mainstream:

The entry range silver variant was the first I tried and makes for a good Blanco tequila that also serves as an excellent base for Margheritas, Tequila Sunrises and Palomas.

1800 Tequila Reserva Anejo, however, takes it up a few notches.

The fact that it matured for fourteen months in a barrel certainly adds to its charm, which starts with the smell of a melange of vanilla, caramel and bananas.

Creamy as far as mouthfeel is concerned, it gets more complex once it hits the palate with hints of the barrel’s oak, cinnamon and fruity nuances and culminates in a finish that gives way to an explosion of rich agave with sweet and fruity highlights, a tad spice and a burst of heat.

In many aspects it is reminiscent of the subtler qualities of a good Bourbon, including the fact that a bit of aeriation unveils and intensifies the flavours.

If you are looking to transition from your party drinking ways to something a bit more dimensional in the tequila department, dabbling with 1800 tequilas with their attention to quality prove to be a solid entry point that won’t break the bank.

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Photo by T

Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again

Whitney Museum of American Art

Even the die-hard pop art head would have lost count on how many books have been released on their idol.

Every fact of the man, his approach and immense and still reverberating impact on the art scene has been the subject of exhibitions, tributes and books over the decades and it has been well established that the phenomenon that made Andy Warhol is an icon in the pantheon of modern art, independent from subjective tastes or criticisms.

Warhol’s emissions are omnipresent to this day and “From A to B and Back Again” is an encyclopaedic take on his genesis, his hey days and his more obscure art, which sheds light on his talent as an illustrator and craftsman as well as documenting how he developed his intuitive “smarts.”

What becomes apparent through the beautifully illustrated book is Warhol’s hand for picking a subject that carried a deeper going meaning on a societal scale as well as having an x factor that added an intangible layer of something that one could not quite figure out, which is a key ingredient for all great art. Manoeuvring between opposing ends of spectrum, i.e. being heralded as the wunderkind that brings the future of art while at the same time being stigmatized as the one that “killed painting”.

“From A to B and Back Again” accompanies the current Warhol extravaganza at the Whitney Museum of American Art through March 31, 2019, whose senior curator was at the helm of this celebration of Andy Warhol in book form, embedded in a range of not only essays but also anecdotes that shed light on the importance of his oeuvre from a myriad of angles and, more interestingly, on the personality of the man.

An extensive, detailed retrospective and an excellent monograph with high quality reproductions of his art that will appeal to both the aficionado of one of the most emulated artists as well as the uninitiated.

Zen and Japanese Culture

Princeton University Press

Zen and Japanese culture are inextricably linked and this tome on the topic explore how embedded in its original context Zen is much more than what the public would perceive as religion.

It makes for both a delightful and profound read as Zen tackled from a myriad of angles, professions and viewpoints, shedding light on underlying concepts and teaching and thereby ultimately simmering it down to the unity of mind and spirit.

The fact that Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki’s considerate and refreshingly undogmatic writing style is calibrated at the right frequency helps as it tunes in with the flow of the themes that are explored – it’s worth reading if you are in for beautiful literature alone as the chapters on e.g. swordsmanship are beautifully crafted, despite the occasional digression.

Having undergone training as a disciple of Buddhism and having honed his craft via writing hundreds of books on the topic certainly helped as well to refine his approach.

The way Zen’s relationships with haikus, art, nature and regional traditions like e.g. tea ceremonies are explored, tying them to the way of the bushido and Confucianism, which are backed by extra information and references contained within ample footnotes.

For the starter, I’d be hard pressed to recommend another book that is as informative and easy to handle and provides a better introduction to Zen from nothing.

For the initiated luminary, the book might still be a bit light as it overly glamourizes everything remotely connected to Japanese culture and one cannot help but something feel the need to interject that merely being Japanese does not automatically bring enlightenment, a sentiment that seems to accompany most of Suzuki’s train of thoughts.

I am personally more with Robert Pirsig who quipped that the Zen you might find is the Zen you have to work on within yourself, independently from who you are or where you were born.

Escher X nendo | Between Two Worlds

National Gallery of Victoria

Melbourne, Australia

M. C. Escher, one of the many prolific artists that form the art pantheon of the Netherlands, might not ring a bell, but trust me, in some shape or form you would have encountered one of his intricate handmade emissions, i.e. relief techniques, lithographies and the employment of drypoint methods.

The National Gallery of Victoria’s homage to Escher juxtaposes his work with the expertise of the individuals that comprise the design collective nendo, which after the hugely successful Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei extravaganza is yet another well-curated coup and jewel in the well-adorned crown on the head of one of Australia’s most eclectic and prominent art institutions.

We follow Escher’s travels through Southern Europe, and are allowed to see depictions of the sights, landscapes and regions through his lens, which are featured prominently  throughout Escher’s early oeuvre.

While Escher has mastered elevating often mundane depictions by adding his idiosyncratic twist, the attention to detail and virtuosity he displays when he zooms in on both flora and fauna phenomena is never not mind-blowing and an example par excellence for art imitating life and vice versa – the latter aspect is predominant in Escher’s borderline obsession with everything remotely linked to patterns.

Whole sections are dedicated to Escher’s faible for shapes and endless repetitions thereof, interlinking them and creating another dimension during the process, which he uses to tackle and overcome what usually meets the eye and in a bid to portray and capture the elusive beast that is infinity.

Escher channels his alchemy working with the illusions created through the interactions with light, seamless transitions back and forth between the second and the third dimensions, the exploration of hidden dimensions, distortions and the ambiguities of spatial perception, which tickle and boggle the mind and – most importantly- are a whole lot of fun to experience.

By using unconvential angles and viewpoints, Escher managed to create something reminiscent of reality yet at the same time questions and defies logic.

The last segment of the Escher exhibition pays homage to him dabbling in mathematics, which resulted in him creating constructs that cannot not be found in reality.

In that regard, nendo with his immersive minimalism sets the ideal counterpoint that also forms a symbiosis with Escher’s exhibits and makes the total something much bigger than the mere sum of the individual constituents would suggest.

nendo let himself clearly inspire by Escher’s art and his installations enable the visitor to experience Escher’s work in a more tangible manner - be it through a split-level gallery that lets the recipients immerse themselves in Escher’s world through light installations and physical presentations that are ever changing depending on your vantage point.

The accompanying catalogue is one comprehensive tour de force documenting Escher’s career with the help of close to two-hundred artworks set in scene by nendo’s altering of our grasp on reality and geometry.

Learn more.

Punk and Perfume.

Jean Paul Gaultier.

Visionary.

Icon.

Designer.

Fashionista.

Born in Paris.

London mindset during his formative years.

Belle Époque meets punk meets mainstream meets recycling meet androgyny meets challenging the conventions of taste.

He ascended to the firmament of international fashion design and eventually established his own couture house informed by what have become his trademark of giving new twists and nonconformism. A designer home in the echelons of haute couture with the essence of punk running through his veins.

My relationship with JPG started through the ephemeral and with what infuses our imagination with a subtle power and transmits an expression on intimacy, i.e. perfume.

Despite being in the midst of a crust punk phase, the fragrance Le Mâle became the go to in the mid-'90s when it came to convening with the ladies. It offered a melange of spicy, sweetness and flowery briskness that I had not encountered before and despite perfume not being held in high esteem by my peers, I could not care less what message it was perceived to send, if it was “too popular” for the cool kids or the fact that a sailor of the Turbonegro ilk was the token poster model  – the fragrance reminiscent of woody barbershops, orange blossoms and bergamot certainly clicked with me and I have never subscribed to the notion of “guilty pleasures”.

Many a cologne and perfume have since been tried and worn, however, this powerful scent has remained an evergreen, as has the iconic blue torso flacon it comes in.

Created by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, the essence of Le Mâle can be condensed to…well, a scent that works with me.

What makes Le Mâle is that its base notes are perfectly blended, a subtle sweetness and a lingering vanilla note that culminates in something that reminds me of apples.

However, the secret to getting the best out of Le Mâle is by applying it sparingly as there is an amount that can tip the scales to gaucheness.

Francis Kurkdijan’s Ultra Male followed in 2015, also housed in aa torso bottle yet striped in black and blue, and in essence, it is Le Mâle on steroids in terms of a centre of vanilla framed by a more intense spiciness, bergamot, minty nuances and cinnamon as well as sage.

Now, discovering your own favourite fragrance is one thing.

However, eventually I explored if through the act of gifting I could convince my better half to take an interest in the female equivalent to Le Mâle, i.e. I got her the first incarnation of JPG’s female range.

The direct female equivalent is Classique, originally launched as JPGaultier Eau de Parfum, both in terms of the appearance of the flacon, including the JPG trademark metal box, as well as far as the fragrance is concerned.

There are rose notes, hints of rum, vanilla sandalwood, vanilla beans and more – sound enticing?

It is, and it led to the next gift:

Scandal.

From the get go, I liked not only the flacon but also the enchanting hints of orange, musky candy and honey that pervaded this floral scent that is reminiscent of Dior’s Miss Dior Cherie and was at the same time a tad disappointed because it there is nothing remotely scandalous about it, yet it is one seductive perfume.

August 2018 then saw the release of Scandal By Night, which was created by Daphne Bugey. Again, the foundation of sweet, sweet honey reminds of its mothership Scandal, yet it is more opulent like a well picked bouquet of flowers with a dominant balsamic tonka bean note, sandalwood and a bit of spice.

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Photo by T