HONESTY IN ART

Now this is interesting: I sent in several 'letters-to-editor' about the counterfeit Hundertwasser our district council is advertising and promoting, regardless of the expenses to the ratepayers.
I also sent info about the book signing I am planning, but since I've made it clear that I want honesty in art rather than a fake tourist attraction, one or two newspapers have suddenly become less obliging. Powerplays at work? Maybe I'm less popular now with some influential Whangareians?

Meanwhile I'm flat-out printing and binding and preparing for my table at the 5 May Celebrations at the Quarry Art Centre. I've even written and printed a small booklet in Dutch and a second batch in English, limited to 25 copies each. 'WELCOME AND UNWELCOME MEMORIES OF THE WAR YEARS.' After all, the 5th of May is Liberation Day in Holland. 5 May 1945.

And after all my yacking I forgot to include 1819 AD in the list of books on my 5 May table. $20.

ROCK

Computers seem to have a mind of their own: without touching keyboard or mouse what I wrote before just disappeared. So if it shows twice, forgive my computer.
On 5 May the Dutchies here in town will have a big festival to celebrate Holland Liberation Day in het Art Quarry. I don't feel Dutch at all any more, am a Kiwi by now, but still have a very soft spot for 5 May. So when someone suggested I have a table there with some of my books, I accepted.
I'll have a stack of some of the books which were published last year, but also a new one, coming out now: ROCK: A collection of my short stories, including some award winners. 18 All told. And also a booklet of 10 happy and not-so-happy memories of the war years: EEMSSTRAAT 11 hs. a limited edition of 25 copies, put together of the festival.
So I'll have for sale, signed at the spot:
CLONE (the last few copies bought off my publisher after my book sold well, but he went broke). $35
languageland, 80 poems by the poet-in-exile Elisabeth Augustin, which I translated into English. $45
LIKE A GUARDIAN, my memoirs. $45
And now of course also ROCK for $20, and EEMSSTRAAT 11 hs for $18
Now all we need is good weather and happy, rich customers. I need the money, but even more importantly, there's no point in writing if nobody reads it. Then I might as well stand in front of a mirror and admire my clever and sensitive words.
And that rock on a beach of the book cover? A radio station not far from Wellingon had advertised for short radio stories. I submitted my story ROCK and got an unfriendly rejection: 'What the hell is that all about?' I then entered the same story in the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association competition.  An international panel of three judges, and over 3,000 entries. ROCK was a winner, got broadcast several times on National Radio and on a number of overseas radio stations. I have made the story a little bit longer for the present book.
Enjoy!  <:}

THE HUNDERTWASSER FRAUD

The Whangarei Council, in its infinite ignorance, is planning to build a fake Hundertwasser building. In spite of protest letters in the local papers they have already spent a vast amount of money, without honest consultations, on so-called planning.
This is my initial submission:

THE HUNDERTWASSER FRAUD


If I were stupid enough to do an oil painting, inspired by a Goldie, and sell it as an authentic Goldie, I'd likely end up in jail for fraud. Yet that is exactly what our Council is proposing. The idea came from a scrappy sketch on the back of an envelop, that was all. The actual building will be designed by a European architect, NOT by Hundertwasser. Yet the Council is trying to sell it as an authentic Hundertwasser. FRAUD by any definition.

Hundertwasser's popularity in New Zealand has been diminishing for years. At his first Auckland exhibition in 1973, the gallery was packed, and the papers wrote rave reviews. At a later exhibition in Auckland I was the only visitor!

He spent 2 months in the Kawakawa hospital, close to his summer home near Opua. He liked Kawakawa, was very active in trying to preserve the fine historical post office. Yet the Kawakawa people who knew him personally, discarded his views, and demolished the building. Hundertwasser ended up with a public toilet instead.

In 1958, in Seckau, Hundertwasser wrote an essay about the relationship between the designer of a building, the people who would build it, and the inhabitants. In this case the designer will obviously be some architect in Vienna, not Hundertwasser himself, and the way he described it in many of his speeches, the inhabitants were clearly ordinary people, not influential people like the members of the Chamber of Commerce.


In his own words, and quoted from his manifesto:


Only when the Trinity consisting of ARCHITECT-BRICKLAYER and INHABITANT is one Person or one Unity, the house they build is a living architecture.


This Trinity ARCHITECT-BRICKLAYER-INHABITANT is equal to the Trinity God Father-God Sun-Holy Spirit.


If they get separated their architecture becomes crime.


Two of the three requirements are broken, so Hundertwasser would consider the proposal AN ARCHITECTURAL CRIME. His words.

Who am I, that I dare make such strong statements? I am a graduate of the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam; I served at the Canterbury Museum and Auckland War Memorial Museum in senior positions for 22 years; I was a Founder Trustee of the Whangarei Art Museum; served on the committees of the Reyburn House Art Gallery, the Quarry Art Centre, the Arts Council, etc. etc.

And I am ashamed the Council is proposing such an architectural crime and blatant fraud.

Leo Cappel

Typos

Why, oh why don't my fingers do what I want them to do? And why does F7 not spellcheck on this blog? It does on Word!
So forgive me for all hte typos, specially short words like 'hte' or ot instead of to. When I'm writing books my computer automatically corrects as I'm typing. So maybe I'm getting lazy?
>:{  or 'GGGRRRR!'

A LITTLE BRAGGING (bibiliography)

I have been told that to sell your books, you have to tell people how good you are. I hate that! But I also hate not selling my books after all hte effort that has gone into writing them. So instaed of telling you: 'I'm Good' I'll print here list of most of my writings, and let you make up your own mind.

Abridged bibliography, Leo Cappèl


Full length:

A Guide to Model Making and Taxidermy AW and AH Reed, NZ
Sail Theatre, Sail! novel Horizon Press, NZ
P.I.V. e-novel NoSpine, UK
Clone novel Tightwriters, NZ
Like a Guardian, memoirs Schoolhouse Press
languageland, poetry Schoolhouse Press
1819 AD, recipes and remedies from the past Schoolhouse Press

Contributed to:

Kinderen uiten zich III J Muusses, Netherlands
Kinderen uiten zich IV J Muusses, Netherlands
Getting Published Global Dialogues Press

In anthologies:

A Bedtime Poem Forward Press, UK
In Your Mind’s Eye Forward Press, UK
As The Story Goes . . . Forward Press, UK
Nul Paradox Press, Belgium

Many articles and short stories in:

Education,NZ;
Holland SF;
Der Präparator;
Museum;
Woodworker;
National Radio;
Commonwealth Broadcasting Association;
BA;
Zuidelijke Wandelweg;
Common Ties;
Flute Focus

Produced plays and musicals:

Window (musical);
The Star Seeker (play)
Papagenina’s Flute (musical)
'Nina and the Upside-down Tree (musical)
Dine and Die (whodunit play)

Award winning plays:

The Letter, sketch
Bread, sketch

Music for plays by other playwrights

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Brecht, music only
Moonshine, June Allen, lyrics and music

 Literary Awards and Prizes

1819 AD

My grandfather gave my a very old Dutch booklet for my 13th birthday. I don't know how long he had had it himself. 'Always' he said.
It has given me so much enjoyment, and also some insight how people lived and thought 200 years ago, that I translated it into English, and here it is.
The original author had this to say about it:

Foreword


After many years of collecting, I find myself in possession of a large number of inexpensive instructions and remedies, suitable for all kinds of circumstances and situations, which I have tested from time to time, and which have given me the pleasure at numerous occasions of furthering the benefits, profits and pleasures of my fellow-men.

 

Although initially I did not have the slightest intention of making these instructions public, the realization of the scarcity, possibly of the absence of such worthwhile, and truly upon experience based observations, supported by the good results which I have noted several times, has finally made me decide to make this collection, such as it is, commonly available in print.

 

I dare flatter myself that they, who follow the here presented instructions carefully, will benefit greatly, and therefore they, as they will not forget the collector out of pleasure with the good results, will bless me for the publication of these, apparently minor, yet indeed for those, who find what they are in need of, weighty details.

THE AUTHOR, GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS, 1819

To give some idea of what the booklet is about, here are a dozen of the more than 100 recipes and remedies.

Elixir against fever and infection
To create man-made ice, even in a warm room
Luminescent pomade
Good brazing solder for copper
Liqueur Eau de Barbados
To bring out the natural grain of wood
To make ivory or bone white
Recipe to make hair grow
To silver-plate copper by boiling it
To have pleasant dreams
Remedy for head lice
Raspberry vinegar, healthy and enjoyable

1819 AD is available for NZ $20.--
from leo.cappel@xtra.co.nz