#scholte

Oh my goodness I did not see that coming! That was my first reaction after finishing the book. Four Dead Queens was a wonderfully written mystery, with a touch of romance. Frankly I gained interest in the book just because of the cover and the name of the book alone. Thats what drew me in. From their, the character of Keralie Corrington, drew me in. Keralie was drawn into the life of a thief, not because she had no other choice to survive, but because she wanted to be. Though she had dark secrets in her past, and had teamed up with her childhood friend Mackiel. Mackiel is a large influence in the dark doings of Toria, one of the four divided, yet united cites of Quadara. Astrid Scholte, did a good job with switching point of views from each of the four queens to then back to Keralie, while also building fantastic world, so different from ours. Once Keralie meets Varin, who hails from Eonia, the story picks up good pace that doesn't rush you, but also keeps you on the edge of your seat enough, that you MUST keep reading to find out how the death of the queens all connects. And how they all connected was just BRILLIANT! There were a few bits of passage here and there, that did not fully at the end, but they were not important enough to the how it all came together that the ending was still jaw dropping. Lastly. The love that blooms between Keralie and Varin felt natural. Two people from different cities, with different ideals, over coming their differences naturally and leaning the vulnerability of opening up to someone and earning their trust. Astrid Scholte did well with Four Dead Queens, ultimately taking my heart on a perilous journey, with a well done, and solid ending.

Paul Blanca Last Saturday dutch photographer Paul Blaca died. His body was worn out after years of drug and alcohol abuse. Without Blanca dutch photography would have been half as interesting as it is now. He was self taught and discovered and explored portrait photography in a very special and own way, transforming it and perfecting it into his preferred form of photography. the following text…

The Living Room was launched in a small third-floor apartment in East Amsterdam in 1981 by art history student Bart van de Ven and artist Peer Veneman. The gallery’s focus was on painting and sculpture, most often from a select group of Dutch artists working in the typically anti-academic, ‘wild’ style of the early 1980s. After moving to Amsterdam’s city centre in 1983, and up until its closure in 1993, the activity of the gallery became increasingly formalised. The gallery’s production of catalogues and its participation in several international art fairs, underlined The Living Room’s professional acclaim and secured their influence well beyond the borders of the Netherlands.

The Living Room is now closed for a very long time, But when you look at their list of exhibitions you realize that here is a “classic” among dutch galleries and their publications are well worth collecting. Some of these are available at www.ftn-books.com