My bedroom walls 2/2

This is part 2 of the previous post. I decided to subdivide this topic into two posts as it would have been a bit too much to have it all in one big post. It would have also been too time consuming... Thanks to Sofia and Ryan for replying instantly to the previous post, too. :)

Unfortunately, the images seem to be a bit too big to be viewed fully. If you click on them, you're linked into the full thing, however.

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This is a photograph my father framed for me of John Coltrane performing live around 1964, I believe, when he was at the peak of his powers. Coltrane is my favourite saxophonists and one of my favourite musicians. This image is astounding in itself even if you know nothing of the artist.

This is a shirt of the national team of Chile. The shirt is from 1998, a glorious era when Chile where doing spectacularly well, with players like Zamorano and Salas. I often wore this shirt while playing football as a young boy. Displaying this shirt on my wall is a reminder of great times, a treasure that ignites nostalgia.

This is a painting by Willem De Kooning. Out of all the abstract expressionism I have come across, he is my favourite. His paintings are like strange landscapes one comes across in dreams - images that don't mesh together in any logical kind of way but are extremely captivating. My parents bought me this as a birthday request, but this is the only painting print of his that's available for sale.

Underneath De Kooning I have a painting by Hiernonymus Bosch. There is so much going on in his paintings; you can look at them for 2o minutes without getting bored, discovering new facets contributing to the whole. He was a surrealist way back in the 16th century, predating the surrealists from subsequent generations by centuries. Bosch opens up the human head and exhibits our interior world. Fascinating.


This is a painting by Don Van Vliet, otherwise known as 'Captain Beefheart'. I got this painting as a birthday gift, and I deeply grateful to my parents for getting it for me. Van Vliet is a truly exceptional person.


Underneath the Van Vliet painting, I have two literary lists. The one on the left is my 'Top 10 Books' list whilst the other one is a record of all the books I read in 2008. I was up to a lot of reading that year. :)

This is an obituary of writer J. G. Ballard. Not only is he one of my favourite writers, but he has been an extremely significant figure in my life. During my psychotic episode, he was the light at the end of the tunnel... I've always felt some sort of 'contact' with him, so the news of his death came as a disappointment to me. I used to have a photograph of him on my wall (where the Godard image is now) and he died on the day I took that image off! I felt obliged to put this obituary on my wall to compensate for that. He also died a day after I finished reading his last novel Kingdom Come.

This is a little bit of art-work my sister did for me as a Christmas present. She researched into Willem De Kooning when she was told that he is one of my favourite artists. My sister is very, very gifted at art and she has done lots of other paintings and drawings which are very impressive.


This is a list of 15 records that I wrote when I was 15 years old and got published in The Wire magazine! The list also has a plug to my website which then displayed my musical recordings. Unsurprisingly, no-one visited the site. :)


Here's a shirt of Fernandez Vial, which I also used to wear to play football with. I explain what Fernandez Vial in my previous blog post.

I usually have nothing on this wall, but it currently has yet another item of Fernandez Vial memorabilia. I'm thinking of putting a more traditional painting on this wall to create an equilibrium with the more modern stuff at the other side of the room - maybe Monet or something, I don't know yet.

My bedroom walls 1/2

This is the first of 2 posts where I am displaying my bedroom walls. I was originally going to display it all in one big post, but I have subdivided it into 2 posts because the photographs totalled up to a number of 25. I shall post the rest of the photographs tomorrow.

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This is what the the walls looks like from afar....


Now, peering in....

This is a photograph of me aged 8 next to my hero Themo Lobos. My father organised a special event where he came over and spoke to the students of my school. And he stayed over at our house for 3 days! Imagine that! He was my hero and I got to know him and he stayed in my room! I'm holding up a copy of Bromisnar de Bagdad, one of the adventures from the Mampato series.


This image is a compendium of Themo Lobos' characters... He gave my family this when we went to visit his house in 1999... The words in the speech bubble read: "Con mis mejores deseos y gran amistad para Richard King y su encantadora familia"... The words in the little rectangle are "Saludos para Simon y Laura!"

I cut this photograph from a newspaper article... It is a photograph of Anna Karina and Jean-Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's Un Femme Est Un Femme. Cahiers du Cinema was a publication Godard was a initially a critic for, and it was a centre for the French New Wave.

This is a photograph of one of my favourite writers, Julio Cortázar. He was an iconic writer (and this is an iconic photograph that's usually associated with him) who became one of the main participants of the Latin-American boom that emerged in the early 1960s. His novel Rayuela proved to be a book that opens up many possibilities to a number of readers. His short stories are considered to be amongst the finest in the form and to be put aside Poe and Borges. Next to him is a clown figure one of my cousins gave to me after her visit to Mexico.

Underneath Cortázar is a small wooden ornament I bought in a Cafe in Valparaíso in Chile during my last visit there. It has a small quote from Cortázar's short story La Noche Boca Arriva that reads as "A un metro del techo de roca viva que por momentos se iluminaba con un reflejo de antorcha."


Here is a photograph of Jorge Luis Borges, smiling. Next to him is an extract of his short story El Aleph. In the extract there is a description of a protagonist viewing an object that encapsulates everything on earth - infinity. I believe that Borges is my favourite writer of any sort.


Here I have VINYL of Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. I have reviewed this record previously on my blog and it is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of my favourites. It is very difficult to listen to, but once you penetrate into its topsy-turvy world it is marvelous. Yesterday, my parents had a party to celebrate their 25th anniversary and my mother's 50th birthday party, and one of their friends (who I'd never met before) is a huge Beefheart fan, and he went up to my room where I excitedly showed him my vinyl and he explained that his was worn-out and old. :) Next to Trout is a little replica of Fernandez Vial kit, the football team I supported as a boy. Unfortunately, at the moment they're down in the dumps... They're bottom of the third chilean division. :(


This is a photograph of Igor Stravisnky... I have passionately heard his compositions avidly... He is my second favourite composer (after Bartok :)). He was one of the main figures of the 20th century, and pioneers of modernism of any sort. This photograph is a great representation of his work - the piano looks large and phenomenal!

This is a card of Luis Bunuel's Phantom of Liberty. The card came with a boxset of his I own. The film is rather peculiar, bringing together a number of unrelated vignettes together... Bunuel was an excellent director, and one of the most eccentric characters of the previous century.

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Tomorrow I'll post part 2!