photograph courtesy peggy guggenheim collection
VENICE

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Though we went to the Guggenheim for the preview of the VetriEtereiEterocliti, three beautiful works in glass, by Luigi Ontani and the party on the roof terrace with the stunning view of the Grand Canal, it was the Lucio Fontana Venice/New York exhibition (until September 24th and then at the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum, NYC from October 10th to January 21st, 2007) that I fell in love with. The exhibition is magnificent, it presents Fontana's series of Venice paintings and New York metals of the early 1960s, shown together for the first time. The exhibition is conceived and curated by Luca Massimo Barbero. The Venice series is remarkable for its thickly layered paint, often punctured or cut, with glass inserts. Fontana worked the surfaces with swirling gestures that allude to the Baroque whirls of Venetian churches, to the mosaics of San Marco, or in general to the Byzantine splendors of the city. Whereas, the New York series consists of large sheets of shiny and scratched copper, pierced and gouged, cut through by dramatic vertical gestures that simulate the force of skyscrapers, their metal and glass constructions. This is a show not to be missed. Shown above: "Concetto spaziale, At Dawn Venice was All Silver", 1961, Oil and glass on canvas.

www.guggenheim-venice.it www.guggenheim.org