Alex Markman's Blog, page 4
March 19, 2013
Aphorisms and Citations
Many of the great events of our history remain in our minds, not because of the thing itself, but because someone has effectively told about it. Sterling Sill.
I may lose battles, but no one will see me lose minutes. Napoleon.
The sword will always be conquered by the spirit. Napoleon.
To love wisdom is to have the ability to judge soundly and deal effectively with facts, especially if they relate to society as a whole. Sterling Sill.
Filed under: Books
December 23, 2012
Contra-ODESSA and others
Interest to Contra-ODESSA does not vanish, which is a treat to me as a writer. Apparently the wounds of WWII never heal, and the scars of Cold War still bleed, that’s why the book attracts reviewers and readers from all walks of life.
http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.ca/
Filed under: Books Tagged: Argentina, CIA, KGB, Nazi gold, Nazis
November 4, 2012
Book Review: Contra-ODESSA
This review was originally published by Pages and Patches.
Contra-ODESSA – Alex Markman
Contra-ODESSA
Author: Alex Markman
Publisher: Astroid Publishing
Web: http://asteroidpublishing.ca/book/17/Contra_ODESSA
I often wonder where I would fit in on a team of KGB spies. Possibly I have too much free time.
Or I’m prepared for a Soviet re-emergence. And while everyone else is being crushed under the red hammer of Marxist repression, I, in my neurotic cowardice, fueled by years of escapism via GoldenEye and the avoidance of team sports, will have my papers in line and my talents ready to offer to the winning side. I hope my comrades have room for someone who can quote every Simpsons episode from 1998 and back. That’s essentially my only hope.
The spies in Alex Markman’s Contra-ODESSA are much better suited for intrigue than me. Markman draws from the history following WWII and the emerging cold war beginning in the 1960s. Contra-ODESSA presents the cold war in a hot place: Latin America. The Contra part of the title means counter and the acronym ODESSA, as explained in the prologue, comes from German: Organization Der Ehemaligen SS-Angehorigen, which means, Organization of the former SS members.
KGB operatives are deployed in the southern hemisphere to promote growing communist sentiments and radical groups. The KGB has a clandestine team, like every good spy network, that consists of a seductress/poisons expert, a sadist thug, and the conflicted moralist, Robert. Robert is not his real name – his identity is a KGB fabrication along with the pre-meditated history he relays to those who ask.
Robert and co.’s mission is to hunt former S.S. men living in South America and force them to donate their illegal war spoils stashed in Swiss bank accounts. The money is meant to go to the leftist movement. The KGB persuades S.S. members through deception and torture, which conflicts with Robert’s nature. Robert is sympathetic rookie; his conflicted personality contrasts well with the grim scenes in Contra-ODESSA.
Working against the KGB are the Americans, headed by Glenn, a kind of CIA mercenary. The CIA task Glenn to suppress the communist guerrillas militarizing in South America. And, just as Robert must commit moral errors, duty requires Glenn to play deceiver. Scenes shift from Robert’s and Glenn’s perspectives. This dichotomy muddles any sense of good and evil as both sides commit atrocities.
Which is a lot of fun to watch.
Oh, and there’s plenty of sex in Contra-ODESSA. In between covert missions, Robert and Glenn make time to sample Southern amenities. Robert prefers the company of an older, German woman, Bertha, and Glenn the younger, leftist radical, Lollita. Robert and Glenn’s desires are duel – lust and their clashing missions force them to lie (pun!) with these women in order to delve deeper into their respective communities.
Markmen’s style leaves room for easy enjoyment in between history lessons and conspiracies. There’s a little philosophizing on the big issues of war and morality. When voiced, these diatribes act as exclamation points after all the backroom tortures, gun fights, and car chases. And sex.
Link to the source: http://pagesandpatches.blogspot.ca/2012/03/contra-odessa-alex-markman.html
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Contra-ODESSA-Alex-Markman/dp/1926720164/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352082799&sr=1-1&keywords=contra-odessa
Filed under: Books Tagged: CIA, Cold War, Communism, KGB, Nazis
Romance after marriage
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Days-Love-...
Good book lasts much longer than good dinner, but costs much less.
August 28, 2012
How far we are from Apocalypse? A book review on Why the West Rules – for Now by Ian Morris
Article first published as Book Review: Why the West Rules–For Now by Ian Morris on Blogcritics.
Why the West Rules – for Now by Ian Morris is a fascinating read; its place undoubtedly is among the most interesting contemporary works on history of humanity. Some would argue though that the West does not rule anymore. Nonetheless, the title is provocative, makes the reader curious about the book’s content, and once you start reading it, likely you won’t stop.
Rules or not, the West is still a leader in intellectual progress and innovations, in production and consumption, in art and entertainment, and social governance. Was it always this way? Can we accept the easiest explanation that the white race is biologically superior, and that’s why… whatever it is? Some did, in one form or another. As Morris said, “The most popular version was that Europeans were simply culturally superior to everyone else.”
Only in modern times different disciplines of science provide sufficient evidence, supporting the author’s conclusion that this is not the case. Morris analysis of available information is profound and impressive. It covers the whole stretch of time, during which humanoids and then homo sapience have progressed to the contemporary biological and social status. It encompasses biology, sociology, geography and other branches of science.
Morris begins his analysis with overview of biology. Its latest discoveries are breathtaking. DNA research traces homo sapience to one mother, Eve if you will, who lived in Africa about 150,000 years ago, and one father, our Adam, who lived about 60,000 years ago. There are other findings, no less impressive, proving that we are all the same people with the same identity factors. Therefore, Morris concludes, “Biology by itself cannot explain why the West rules.” It took to tap information of other sources to conduct analysis, “..on the time scale of evolutionary history,” as the author put it. Summing up, he says: “I will conclude that biology and sociology explain the global similarities, while geography explains regional differences.”
Archaeology and historical documents provide the author material evidence about different societies around the globe, using which he restores the picture of their way of life and history of their development and decay. Contemporary technology helps estimate duration of their existence, affect of climate changes and geography on their rise and downfall, and obtain other information, which was impossible to discover even in the recent past.
One of the most important indicators of social progress is energy consumption per person. How can we find it out for human entities, living millenniums ago? Climatology solves this seemingly unsolvable puzzle. Analysis of air, trapped in the ice cover of Antarctica and other parts of polar areas, gives evidence of how much carbon dioxide was emitted by humans in different periods of history. As Morris put it: “These layers are like a chronicle of ancient weather. By separating them, climatologists can measure their thickness, telling us how much snow fell; establish the balance between isotopes of oxygen, revealing temperatures; and compare the amount of carbon dioxide and methane, illuminating green house effects.”
Equipped with this data, scientist made accurate estimates how much energy the human population produced for its needs at different times. Together with archaeological information the scientists calculated energy consumption of all humans, and evaluated its portion for the most developed societies at any given time.
Climatology and geography explain environmental and social developments on our planet, and provide information on factors causing backwardness of some societies and advancements of others in different geographical space and at different time. Periods of cool and warm temperatures, identified by climatologists, affected productivity of agriculture, and with it, rise and fall of agricultural societies; periods of draughts and wet weather, creating favourite conditions for backward nations, and downfall for the others, whose social mechanism became obsolete in the new environment. After thorough analysis of facts Morris concludes that ‘Geography determined where in the world social development would rise fastest, but rising social development changed what geography meant.’
Impressive is the author’s quantitative measurement of society’s progress, which he calls ‘Social development index.” Not going deep into details of its composition, I quote the author’s definition: “Social development, we might say, means a community’s ability to get things done, which, in principle, can be compared across time and space.” This instrument opens the road to all kinds of analysis, inferences and projections; the author uses it throughout the whole book, supporting his arguments with numerous and compelling facts of history and scientific discoveries.
Equipped with the Social Development Index numbers, the author draws the East and the West charts on the time scale between 14,000 BCE to 2000 CE. The graphics shows that the West score was higher most of the time, but not always. Neither will it be in the future.
According to Morris, the life of humanity is harassed by five horsemen of apocalypse: migration, state failure, famine, disease, and climate change. At times, powerful empires were wiped out by any combination of them. It did not matter much on the grand scale of environmental and social process, how clever or stupid people were, who defended the societies doomed for decay. The global process eventually defined the outcome, which was just a matter of time.
Not only climate and geography contribute to societies rise downfall. According to Morris, the paradox of social progress—the tendency for development to generate the very forces that undermine it—means that bigger cores create bigger problems for themselves. In this regard, the similarity between Britain in late 18th century and modern China is striking.
Geography made cotton the perfect industry for Britain. Because its raw materials grew overseas, they did not compete for land at home. Instead Americans, eager for British cash, turned millions of acres into cotton plantations and put hundreds of thousands of slaves to work on them. Britain became a production powerhouse of the world. As a result, it became the largest empire in the history of humanity.
The history repeats itself with remarkable similarity: now, the whole West is moving its production to China and other Eastern counties whereby creating the new center of gravity in international economy and military power.
“Just as the market had led British capitalists to build up the industrial infrastructure of their own worst rivals in Germany and the United States, it is now rewarded Westerners who poured capital, inventions, and know-how into the East. Westerners stacked the deck in their own favour whenever they could, but capital’s relentless quest for new profits also presented to Easterners who were ready to seize them.”
Tendency for development to generate the very forces that undermine it do not disappear with technological progress. The deterioration of the West is better presented by statistics. “By 2000, American workers were less than seven times as productive as Chinese. The United States’ share of world production had barely changed, at 21 percent, but China’s had nearly tripled, to 14 percent.”
The last chapter of the book is devoted to some projections and attempts to develop different future scenarios, taking into consideration the latest economic, social, technological and military trends. To me, it is a more fascinating read than any science fiction book I have ever read.
On Morris’s quantitative chart, the war-making capacity in 2000, expressed in points on the social development chart, the West scores 250, and the East is 12.5. Surprisingly, the gap between the West and the East in the year 2000 was greater than in any preceding history period. But technological and social progress now moves with unprecedented speed. Projecting the chart of the Social Development Index, Morris concludes that between year 2045 and 2103 the West and East will reach the same score in terms of technology, consumption, and military might. Geography differences would not matter anymore, as technology will change its meaning.
Humanity moves quickly to prosperity, defined as an American style consumerism. Economies of East and West so intertwined now, that war, it seems, would do only harm, benefiting no one. Again, the similarity of the present and the past is striking. I quote Morris: “Before 1914, some intellectuals had argued that great-power war had become impossible because the world’s economies were now so interlinked that the moment war broke out all of them would collapse, ending the conflict.” Sadly, this situation had lead to the WWI. Now, “Like nineteenth-century Britain and twentieth-century America, China became the workshop of the world.”
Horsemen of apocalypse are still here with us. Migration to the counties of Western civilization is in full swing. Hordes of unskilled, uneducated people from all over the globe, and particularly from Muslim countries with destructive Islamic agenda, flood the West. Left wing local activists march in front of them, leading democracy undermining forces.
At present, China is as much dependent on the West consumption, as the West on Chinese production. But resources shrink, new places must be acquired. The struggle for resources in the international waters is on the rise.
Population growth combined with increased consumption imposes great stress on agriculture, which is land, and other natural resources, which are the land as well. Space, eventually, will be the cause of great conflict, as it has always been, for the same underlying reasons.
Climate change, the beginning of which we witness now, may present different priorities and different choices for the West and the East. It is appropriate to mention Morris’s quotes of other scholars: “If such a disruption of the climate system were to occur today, the social, economic, and political consequences would be nothing short of catastrophic.”
As Chairman Mao famously put it, “Every Communist must grasp this truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Can the West do something to change that, in the contemporary phase of industrial revolution?
The course of history is impossible to change, claims the author. It does not depend on how clever or stupid people are, who make decisions. “Yet the most that any of these great men/bungling idiots did was to speed up or slow down processes that were already under way.”
Filed under: Books Tagged: China, China War Machine, history, humanity, progress, West and East
August 12, 2012
Funny, Entertaining Thriller: Dirty Work
Article first published as Book Review: Dirty Work by Michael Lamendola on Blogcritics.
By sheer accident I discovered Dirty Work – a funny, entertaining book by Michael Lamendola. After leafing through creations of mediocrities, whose fame was overinflated by marketers of the big publishers, it was refreshing to read this suspenseful crime novel. I know only a handful of thrillers whose humour makes me laugh out loud. Perhaps because suspense and humour are two distinctly different genres, they are commonly perceived as incompatible. But in Dirty Work these two genres seamlessly merge into one on every page. The humour of the story is not in the action – which by the way is very intense – but rather in the way it is told. The main characters are two losers: drunks, good for nothing, unable or unwilling to make plans even for the next day. The protagonist is intelligent enough though to be aware of his and his friend’s worthlessness. He begins the story by introducing himself with a self-depreciating remark:
“I am four glasses into my second glass of bourbon, weary from a day of doing nothing, and drunk as hell. I suppose I’m celebrating. For one, I’ve gone a day without drinking. For another, I’ve actually remembered to bring money to the bar. Nodding my head in self approval, I finish the current task at hand. ‘I think I deserve another,’ I say to myself, as a woman might decide to have a piece of pie after her salad and water.”
Deserve, right? The gangsters give him a nickname, Pissy, alluding to his weakness of character. He introduces his best friend with the same sarcasm and contempt:
“Sal is like one of those big damn dogs. I never knew the name, but they walk around wigging their tails and knocking shit over, oblivious that they weigh two hundred pounds…that, and the inability, or lack of interest, in controlling his farts is what reminds me of a large dog. Oh, and he is hairy…but I digress.”
For good measure, Sal has just finished a private investigator course, and carries a gun: as we should expect, the weapon in the hands of a fool who thinks himself a sharp sleuth will create nothing but trouble. And it does. The two get in trouble immediately, as Pissy is robbed by gangsters. Sal is quick to shoot and Pissy gets a non-life threatening wound in his head during the skirmish. His sense of humour, though, does not leave him even in the emergency room, where his romance with a young and pretty female doctor starts. “’Hello Gentlemen,” she says, glancing at her clipboard, “which one of you has the hole in his head?” The erotic scene between Pissy and the doctor is charming, but is still connected to the funny spirit of the story: “Looking up, I silently thank God for this evening of pleasure amongst all the bull shit He’s serving me lately.” Even the sexy scene of undressing has its humorous moment, when the doctor notices his gun: “You’ve had a gun in your pants this whole time? I thought not wearing underwear was hot, but that’s gotta top it.” Sometimes the story has a bizarre twist; however, even then it is believable and makes you wonder what is going to happen next. There is blood, car racing, and other spicy ingredients, where the two fools discover their guts and smarts, which helps them out of problematic situations, but, of course, their foolishness ends up putting them into more trouble. The story ends on an optimistic note. Perhaps the characters gain some wisdom from their terrible experience, and they deserve a brief break before their life starts on a different footing.
I give this novel 4 stars.
Filed under: Blogs
July 9, 2012
How Will China Use Her New Aircraft Carrier?
Article first published as How Will China Use Her New Aircraft Carrier? on Blogcritics.
According to Chinese sources, China is building a new aircraft carrier which will be a marvel of war technology. This is not the first time that Chinese military hardware innovation has surprised military analysts with its formidable technical excellence. Notwithstanding that, the new marine war machine is much more significant, and scary, than any Chinese previous achievement except production of the nuclear bomb. As this carrier’s technical capability and political implications of its deployment are interrelated, I would like to briefly review them both. 
The catamaran-like twin hulls of this vessel make it more stable and faster than any monohull carrier. Its twin flight decks have more space for takeoff and landing, and allow stationing more aircraft than its counterparts in any country. It can carry nuclear submarines between its hulls. The list of its superior technical features is virtually endless. The envy of engineers and military specialists alike, the new carrier moves China into the ranks of technical superpowers, and narrows the gap with the United States. The political significance of these carriers is enormous. China plans to deploy six of them around the globe, including one in the Mediterranean. The Chinese Communist government insists that its military buildup is for defence purposes only, which sounds rather preposterous, as the primary mission of such a carrier is not defence, but assault. Until now, the Chinese war machine has been inferior to that of the US. China has lacked the US’ advanced technology, and Chinese strategic concepts were not on a par with America for the same reason. For example, China has not had fully computerised battle management, which relies heavily on information obtained from satellites and other realtime acquisition sources. The Chinese are quickly closing the gap, however. China has already declared that by 2020 it will have complete global satellite coverage with 35 satellites, meeting all its civil and military needs and challenging the American GPS system. The world doesn’t know the real intentions of Communist China; we can only guess. To feed its rapid economical progress, China needs natural resources from all over the globe. Its enormous population and improvement of living standard create problems more rapidly than the government can solve them. Its military progress, and particularly strategic hardware of the offence, are the reflection of China’s global interest and aggressive long term strategy. China will soon have the capacity to intimidate all nations, including the US. It already has more hardware than any single state. It has an unlimited supply of educated, trained soldiers. With very short notice its army can mobilise more personnel than all of NATO combined. Whatever happens in the future will likely shock the world. Empires come and go. Will China be the next one?
Alex Markman is the author of:
Filed under: News Tagged: China, China War Machine, Chinese Aircraft Carrier, Chinese Military, War Preparation
June 29, 2012
Discovering Gems in Indie Authors Books
See Me Not:
Finding a good read in the universe of self-published books is a prodigious task. In 2011 alone their number reached about 2.7 million titles. The cruel truth about their majority is that they have value only to their authors. And yet, there are a few, which make an enjoyable reading. Thanks to Twitter I have discovered one of them: See Me Not by Real Laplaine, sold on Amazon.com. It is about saving a twelve years old girl, who was sold by her father to a criminal gang, which business is slave prostitution.
Being a work of fiction, See Me Not nonetheless depicts the reality, which is closer to us than we think. And yet, most of us do not see it, as it is beyond the boundaries of our established way of life and notions of permissible.
In spite of the gruesome subject, the reading is not depressing. Written in elegant prose, it is not only about the ills of humanity, but also about hope and optimism which, as the novella suggests, should be part of our lives no matter what.
The story is narrated by an American university student, who is on vacation in India. A local Calcutta friend, in an attempt to surprise the American with an exotic pleasure, takes him to a brothel, where 8-12 years old girls are kept as slave prostitutes.
Before his vacation, the American student knew about the existence of child prostitution, but it was an abstract knowledge about something as remote as another universe. Witnessing it personally though is different. For him it is a psychological shock, the nightmare haunting him day and night. The student decides to do whatever it takes to free the girl he saw in the brothel.
As an author of fiction and non-fiction on the subject matter I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in the field of human trafficking and slave prostitution. Nevertheless, I read See Me Not with interest. Not only had I discovered something new about India and child slavery, but I enjoyed the way the story was told. It is sprinkled with author’s remarks, both witty and elegant, such as this:
“I think that reality is a hotel that everyone needs to check into once in a while.”
Descriptions of sceneries are charming and vivid. That’s how Calcutta emerges in the novella. “The air was tuned with the muted sounds of humanity. The chatter of cooking utensils, the murmur of children and adults speaking from their dwellings and domains, all of it formed a symphony; a background melody, which made me feel more at ease, as I waited there, hunkered in the dark.”
Overall, it is a good thriller. I give it 4 stars.
Filed under: Books Tagged: child abuse, child prostitution, India, sex crime, slave prostitution
June 14, 2012
John Grisham’s Wonderful Sense of humour
Distinct features of Grisham’s novels are intrigues, struggle for justice and tough moral dilemmas for his characters. This kind of plot usually does not leave space for humour. Rather, it could be even detrimental to the main idea of it, distracting the reader’s attention and diluting suspense with unnecessary components. There is one of Grisham’s short stories though, that accommodates both suspense and humour: Quiet Heaven.
The very title is sarcastic, as it is the name of a nursing home where old people spend their last years, usually in deteriorating mental and physical health. The story is narrated by a sophisticated crook, who discovered the way to profit from other people’s misery. His previous job was at Heaven’s Gate, a similar final station for a human life. So, both in Heaven’s Gate and in Quiet Heaven, his experience was almost the same.
In the past, a few great authors wrote stories about the life in institutions where people, whose only expectation was death, found the last refuge. The best two novellas, which come to my mind, are Sanatorium by Somerset Maugham, and Heaven Has No Favourites by Eric Maria Remarque. There are certainly some others, but it is a matter of personal preference to consider only these worth mentioning.
Under the surface of an intriguing plot, both stories reveal the sad and merciless truth about human destiny. John Grisham however, had overcome the natural impulse for funeral mood and grim philosophy, which such places inflict on us. Instead, he adopted a sarcastic and humorous tone, which still did not obscure the serious thoughts of the author, but at the same time made the story fun to read.
Gilbert Griffin, a professional crook, applies for a job in Quiet Heaven, and is hired right away, as it is hard to find someone willing to accept a minimum wage for the most dirty and ungrateful work at night shifts. He does not mind, as his earnings will eventually amount to tens of thousands, or even hundred thousands dollars. It comes therefore as no surprise that his narration is coloured with cynicism, controversy and humour. After all, he deals with the nursing home staff, some of which don’t care about their patients. Actually, they are the targets in his schema. He will document their negligence, sloppy job and often cruelty, and take his finding to the court unless the management is willing to settle for a huge reward. Another trick is to rip the patients off with the help of a sleazy lawyer, if such opportunity exists.
His first target in Quiet Heaven was Lyle, an eighty-four years old man, whose obsession with women in his younger years progressed into mental disorder. Here is what one of the stuff members, a black lady in the kitchen, tells to Gilbert about him.
“Lawd have mercy, son. That’s the dirtiest ol’ man in the world. Can’t keep his hands off any woman, no matter how old. He’s grabbed nurses, patients, attendants, ladies from the churches who come in to sing Christmas songs. They used to lock ‘im up during visitation, else he’d chasin’ the girls from the families. Came in here one time, lookin’ around. I picked up a butcher’s knife and waved it at him. Aint’t had no problem since.”
“But he’s eighty-four years old.”
“He’s slowed a little. Diabetes. Cut off a foot. But he’s still got both his hands, and he’ll grab any woman. Not me, mind you, but the nurses stay away from him.”
Gilbert rents an apartment in a house belonging to a former madam, whose name is Ruby. As he soon discovers, she does not abandon her business. On the first Friday night of his stay, the life in the apartment above him is raging on, depriving him from sleep.
“An hour later, the clicking is back, and the bed is once again hopping across the floor. The hero this time must be either bigger or rougher because the noise was louder. She, whoever she is, is more vocal than before, and for a long and impressive while I listen with great curiosity and a growing eroticism as these two abandon all inhibitions and go at it regardless of who might be listening. They practically shout when it was over, and I’m tempted to applaud. They grow still. So do I. Sleep returns.”
Some philosophical ponderings of the crook are amusing. “In retiring homes, birthdays are a big deal, and for obvious reasons. You’d better celebrate ‘em while you can.” And then, after a short description of festivity, he remarks: “Each birthday might be the last, but I guess that’s true for all of us. Truer for some, though.”
And here is an excerpt about the Lyle’s birthday party:
“…At one point Wilma Dell gets too close to Lyle, who, off his saltpeter, makes an awkward and obvious grab for her ample ass. He gets a handful. She yelps in horror, and almost everyone laughs as though it’s just part of the celebration, but it’s obvious to me that Queen Wilma is not amused. …. Wilma disappears and is not seen for the rest of the day. I doubt that she’s had that much fun for years.”
It is a pleasure to read how Gilbert, devoid of any moral principles, discusses morality issues with madam Rudy. The topic of their conversation is a star prostitute, who works for Rudy.
“A nice girl,” I say, mindlessly.
“She started working for me when she dropped out of high school. Terrible family. Couple of bad marriages after that. Never had a break. I just wish I could keep her busier. It’s so hard these days. Women are so loose they don’t charge for it anymore.”
Miss Ruby, a career and unrepentant madam, is bemoaning the fact that modern women are too loose. I think about it for a second, then take a sip and let it pass.”
Wonderful! A brothel owner laments about low morality of our times! Indeed, who else will defend it?
Filed under: Books Tagged: John Grisham, Literary Criticism, Review
April 21, 2012
Discovery of dazzling talent: Ron Suchiu at Toronto Art Expo
Driven by casual interest, I went to Toronto Art Expo on April 19, 2012 in hope to find a good picture at affordable price, and spend a few hours in the world of art. At first, the exhibition impressed me less than years before. It was just a personal perception, I shall caution, since there were quite a few in the crowd who enjoyed the show and appreciated much more than I did the pictures which I failed to appreciate. But one booth caught my eye. In an instant I knew that in front of me were the works of outstanding talent. Surrealism, being dominant in the paintings, blended with some other elements of art culture, producing a gamma of colours, characters and hidden meanings, which are the signatures of great art.
The artist gave me his business card and introduced himself: Ron Suchiu. During our brief talk he gave me wealth of information about characters in his pictures, what he wanted to express in his art, and who of the great artists in the past influenced his style.
More out curiosity rather than practical considerations I asked him about prices. From my experience in the past I knew that I could not afford pictures that I like. This is the disadvantage of having a good intuition in recognizing a genuine art, and limited budget – a poor combination for an art connoisseur.
Bingo! One picture was $28,000, and another was $150,000, the only consolation being that the price was negotiable. I hope that one day I will buy one of Ron’s works. In the meantime, good like to you, Ron.
It is worth visit his web site http://www.suchiuart.com/
Filed under: News Tagged: art, Art Exhibition, Ron Suchiu, surrealism
