OK, a few random photos, bringing in a few random themes about Barcelona, with a unifying theme of.... ART. Well, at least I think that's the unifying theme...

I take a lot of pictures just because I like what I see, dammit. But really, what's not to like about this bearded fellow in chain mail and a snake helmet? Imagine if the snake were real... or at least animatronic! And this was in the entry-way of a supermarket! (Although I have a feeling that the sculpture pre-dated the market). Barcelona is really a sculpture-lover's paradise, the place is so full of sculpture everywhere.

Another sculpture I like, clearly celebrating and dignifying labor. Barcelona has a rich, if not perfectly consistent, history of worker-driven, left leaning politics. The collective communities we are seeing here, often located in squats, are pretty inspiring. A few of these places (and there are many of them; more on that in a later post) are truly trying to make the ideal of a collective, self-sustaining community work, seemingly with varying levels of success.
But I digress. I love the blocky nature of this relief sculpture. Inspiring work is everywhere.

"ATTACK OF THE ORDINARY CITIZEN". Ha ha! This was part of a string of great street-art panels near the zoo (which was described in nearby graffiti as a "cárcel"). I can't help but agree.

The fountains of Barcelona... such a great institution! The city is dotted with public drinking fountains which dispense clean water for everyone. Almost every single one is also sculpturally interesting. Here, Christina hydrates somewhere in El Gotico.
I could easily fill a blog post with nothing but photos of the fountains; I will definitely post a few more, some time soon.

At this point, Christina and I have found our flat, and found a good school for Kodiak, and we are now on to the phase of figuring out what life is really going to be all about for us here.
We had hoped to use this time to connect with more festivals on the "european circuit," and to the extent we can accomplish this task by email, we are well underway. But email really falls short in Europe, it seems (didn't catch on here, I guess) and so we are also planning a few trips to meet and greet. There is already one promising possibility for some shows over here, which I am trying to nurse along.      
But before we ever left the US, I knew that I was going to need A) a workshop, and B) a motorcycle. So, this week, we are starting the process in earnest to try to find a "taller". It's hard to know yet how this is going to go, but there are several large warehouses which have been converted into artist studios, mostly over in the Poblenou district. We intend to see some of these this week. Fingers crossed.
As for the motorcycle, I'm working on it. The big impediment is the paperwork associated with being a "resident", or some reasonable facsimile of "resident". I'm quite keen on a supermoto-style bike, but who knows, I should probably just get a Vespa. Vespas are cool.

Hasta la próxima vez,
Christian