early this morning i went down to the deck to watch the wild dances of the water striders. they dance so madly – its wonderful to watch.
today in the garden behind tali’s house i discovered a stone which looks like a buried humpback whale. i was sitting on it. i always wanted to ride a whale.
“i lie in bed and tell myself stories. they might not add up to much, but as long as i’m inside of them, they prevent me of thinking about things i would prefer to forget. concentration can be a problem, however, and more often than not my mind eventually drifts away from the story i’m trying to tell to the things i don’t want to think about. there’s nothing to be done. ….”
nature makes me so happy – it always makes me feel really calm and happy inside. i love the moment when the silence of the nature turns into a huge soundscape of winds in the leafs, bees dancing around flowers, birds singing and even your own sounds of breathing becomes part of the whole. its great because first its really quite… or you think its really quite… but then slowly one sound after the other adds up. you think there is nothing but there is so much. its a nice experience.
i am happy to say that last night was the first night since weeks that i could sleep. i suffered strong insomnia lately. every evening i was a bit afraid to lay down as my mind was drifting constantly to the things i didn’t want to think about. i would sleep an hour or two but then be waken by thoughts and feelings of the past.
i could not lay still. all i wanted to do was to be in constant movement. its easy to not think if you walk and i walked so much the past weeks.
here its different. its nice to be still.
and last night i slept for hours and hours.
i am staying here outside of stockholm on a small island in a wonderful house (almost like a moomin house) with my great friend tali and her dog mia.
today i will clean the boat and then this afternoon i would like to take tali out a bit on the lake…
it has been a dream since long for me to visit christies for an evening art auction. evening art auction are a bit more glamorous then the day auctions and the art works are worth more money.
this evening was post war and contemporary art auction with works by catalan, warhol, richter, flavin and ruscha to name a few.
i invited 4 friends to join me for that evening and we all agreed to dress up. dresscode: smart art buyer.
we slurped elderflower cocktails while watching the procedure of getting the works auctioned. interesting audience i tell you and its really thrilling and exciting to see mysterious people on the phone giving strange signs to buy artworks.
the highest bid went for andy warhol´s “silver liz” – it went for £6,761,250.
i was a bit interested in dan flavin “untitled (to janie lee) and tal r “last drawing before mars”. but i did not dare to raise my hand or do a strange sign… actually i almost didn´t want to move at all… as i was afraid to make a sign without even noticing it. i was still like a stone…. just my eyes moved carefully and observed.
the most exciting bid was for a work of chris ofili (orgena) it was a battle between a women and a men. they took it very slow and always been on the phone for long seconds before they raised the bid. it was great. i had sweaty handpalms.
chris ofili went for £1,889,250.
sale total of that evening : 45,640,200 pounds.
what a night! we celebrated with vodka soda.
“A white dove has landed me
among headstones, under spires where the sky nests.
Dawns and lights in air; I’ve loved the sun,
colors of honey, now I crave the dark,
I want the smoldering fire, this tomb
that doesn’t soar, your stare that dares it to. ”
Eugenio Montale
when i moved to london i had a ritual every monday.
monday was “letter day” and i really looked forward for every monday ….siting down and writing letters … tinker leaf monsters or other creatures to send on journeys to my friends around the world.
sadly writing letters and having mondays free requires strict discipline and good organisation.
but honestly to write and receive letters or notes and cards are just one of the nicest things ever.
if anyone wants to start writing me – pls do:
Daniel Sannwald
Woodlea 14a
N16 0TP
London
U.K.
i will surely reply. even if you are a lazy writer
or someone who just send short tips such as
… check the book:
“every minute you are angry you loose sixty seconds of happiness”
by julian germain …
or what every kind of letter person you are…
i remember that the friendly pakistani men in the post office on church street always liked how i decorated my envelops.
last december i sent a few letters out to friends and placed in each envelop a candy with the word “everything” on it.
he then felt with his long fingers… trying to figure what that shape hidden in the envelop could be.
i will surely miss him when i move out of my house in august.
…. maybe from time to time i will visit him to post some letters.
since a couple of days i miss my fake aunt from germany. its so nice to have a fake aunt. i mean aunts can be great anyways but some also terrible horrible…. so its great if you can choose yourself who will be your aunt. fake aunts can just be great therefore.
my fake aunt in germany loves to eat lots of cakes and likes to drink black tea in nice cups and she likes to chat about life with me.
now i want to find me a fake aunt in london. i am not sure yet how… but i will find a way. how nice it would be to have an english fake aunt… meeting for high tea and eating scones together. i would really enjoy that.
yesterday i met peter who is a globe maker in his studio. i like the concept that someone is making worlds within a world. i got really inspired by the whole idea and it felt very nice to be in a room surrounded by little worlds. i would like to see him soon again.
AFTER:
seeing a nice copy of the book ” in 80 days around the world” in an old bookshop
+
moominpappa saying ” life is short, the world is enormous” in tove jansson “the exploits of moominpappa”
=
i feel even more like traveling and seeing new places… i am planing to do a shoot in cyprus together with my new cyprus gang nicolas and video artist alexi.
i will wear my new cap! ( cap with text = I love CYPRUS and cyprus loves me)
we are still on the house search and its interesting to see how other people are living. i am curiously looking in every corner, cabinet and cupboard drawer… secretly of course… yesterday i found this portrait of two boys. i liked it a lot.
oh and i cant wait to show you my harpers shoot!
i loved many times in my life but only in my last relationship i really gave my heart away and had the wish to start a family.
now its such a strange feeling to know that he moved on and gave his heart to a new love. its a concept i can hardly understand and i spend much time thinking about it… although i understand… it feels like something i still need to learn.
love erupts like an earthquake and then subsides and when it subsides you have to make a decision. you have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. because this is what love is.
today was a very special day – it started with the shape of a crab, two gallery shows and some wanders and boys talks in hyde park.
it ended on the rooftop of my hungarian friends who just newly moved. maybe one of the nicest flats i have seen so far in london.
they invited me to eat lecso with them. hungarian lecso (LEH-choh) is a vegetable stew that combines three of hungary´s favorite ingredients — peppers, tomatoes and paprika. lecso can be served variously as a vegetable side dish, appetizer or the main meal itself. it’s similar to Serbian djuvece and Russian letcho.
we ate, danced and drunk on the rooftop until the night has fallen. it makes me happy and feel very free to be above the city and to see all the lights shining there so pretty and to think of the millions of lives going on at this present moment and those come and gone. it makes me float free to feel how small my life must be.
a strong wind was blowing around us while we danced and danced and danced. it was wonderful. really.
yes yes it was like the wind has taken my memories of the past away.
adam said to me : its quite a happy moment for us
and yes i agree what a happy moment!
rooftops are great – we planed a sleep over rooftop party with 3 kingsize inflatable beds on wednesday. i cant wait!
