Yesterday I went to see Miró: la terra, an exposition dedicated to the Catalan artist held at Palazzo dei Diamanti. This was my second attempt with Miró. The first was many years ago – I was still in primary school – the teacher brought us to the exposition and tried hard to make us understand what’s behind the surface of such apparently simple and meaningless sketches. That time she failed. Luckily enough, now I’m grown up. After so many years, watching Miró’s painting had a totally different effect on me and, even if I know little about art.  At least this time I could appreciate the message conveyed.

The exposition is laid out in a way that allows you to follow the artist’s mental path while he mutated style and obsessions along his life. It goes from the usual detailed description down to the totally surreal, purely symbolic, conceptual, two-dimensional, synthetic and ironic deconstruction of both reality and painted art itself.

Most paintings are a little cryptic and require you to stare at them a few minutes before you begin to recognize all the symbols and why different materials were used to build that meaning. Look at this one, “Catalan landscape: the hunter” (from MoMA New York), painted in 1923-24 when the artist was in the early stages of his career. We see a rural landscape, with yellow sunny sky and unshaped land. That triangle on the upper left is the head of a man, with one eye, one ear, a strange hat (the traditional Catalan barretina), mustaches, beard, a pipe. His body is a vertical thin line ending in a squared thin line for his legs. Arms are rendered by a wavy horizontal. In his right hand is has a prey and in the left a smoking rifle. In the bottom part a big fish (a sardine, says the paint) is partly morphed in a lizard and tries to capture a fly with a long tongue.

Note how the artist hints us at the meaning behind symbols, using a surprisingly low number of carefully selected signs. That big eye, partly hidden behind what could be a tree with one single leaf, is looking at us. Is that Miró himself, amused by the feelings this painting generated in the watcher?

parking lots are stackable and cars take elevators to save space, or when walking down the street you frequently see nail salons with (mostly) women lined up just behind the the storefront, their nails being taken care of. So here I am, back in this crazy place again. First thing I did after hitting the hotel was entering the nearest Starbucks and have a chocolate chip cookie and a “solo”. I felt like a junkie.

This time I’m staying in West Chelsea, just two subway stops from the office and none the less a totally different place. The hotel has been derived from a 19th century building, part of the General Theological Seminary. In fact breakfast is served in the refectory. Believe me, I can see the Empire State building from the window and still I feel far from that in space-time. It’s not a mainstream place and you need to walk three blocks and two avenues to get to the subway (blue line) but rooms have just been renovated and have all comforts for a very reasonable price. I discovered I’m close to the gay district (which is bad), but I’m also close to cool areas like Meatpacking and at least I have a decent room (last time I stayed at the crappy Pennsylvania hotel).

This season New York is freezing cold. Wind can make you cry if you walk against it.

There are countries where it is customary to kiss on cheek while greeting or saying goodbye, as a display of friendship and affection. There are countries where it’s not. The problem is, when you travel you never know where it’s OK and how many kisses are required. As this article points out, the number of kisses can range from one to four, also depending on the gender of the person you’re greeting. Same as in France, Italy has a different behavior depending on the region, with more kisses in the South. To make it more interesting, I’ve found that in Europe you kiss the right cheek first, while in Brazil it’s the other way around. In my trips to Rio I’ve made cheek kissing mistakes several times.