LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2005
Giardini - United States Pavilion - I wasn't very excited by this exhibition at first, but it grew on me especially after seeing all the other pavilions - and - I had time to stop and think.

Ed Ruscha's - *****Course of the Empire 2005 is a combination of ten paintings based on his 1992 Blue Collar group. On the Left hand side there are the five original black and white canvases depicting urban landscapes. In the right hand galleries there are the five new colour pictures depicting in Ruscha's words " an accelerated, aged version of the same urban lanscapes, possibly to the point of deterioration." Well before the Biennale dealer, Larry Gagosian had already sold all the new works to museums. His party for Mr. Ruscha on the Grand Canal was so coveted that the blue entrance bracelets that read "Ed Ruscha Venice 2005" sold on the black market for $200 each!