Caffe Florian: Omar Ronda and Luca Missoni Party

Caffe Florian: The Moon and Stars dinner. And the orchestra played on all the way through dinner at the Caffe Florian in Saint Mark's Square. An area was cordoned off for the Moon and Stars (until November 25th) dinner hosted by Omar Ronda and Luca Missoni after their exhibition in the little church of San Gallo.

Seen at the Luca Missoni and Omar Ronda cocktail at the Caffe Florian. Artist and photographer, Luca Missoni and his wife Judy hosted the dinner at the Caffe Florian after the exhibition Moon and Stars in the San Gallo Church.

Seen at the Luca Missoni and Omar Ronda cocktail at the Caffe Florian. Art historian, Philippe Daverio and artists, Faical Zaouali and Velena Nikovsa.




Seen at the Luca Missoni and Omar Ronda cocktail at the Caffe Florian. P.R., Francesca Ballini Richards and her daughter, Gemma Richards.



Seen at the Luca Missoni and Omar Ronda cocktail at the Caffe Florian. Artist, Diego Esposito.


Seen at the Luca Missoni and Omar Ronda cocktail at the Caffe Florian. Cristina Beltrami and Milanese art dealer, Jean Blanchaert.

Venice: Missoni Boutique. In the window of the Missoni boutique near Harry's Bar, Luca Missoni's book on Moons and the catalogue of his show with Omar Ronda, Stars and Moons are displayed.

Pin It

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum

Photograph by Manfredi Bellati

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum. The exhibition In-Finitum at Palazzo Fortuny (until November 11th) is curated by Axel Vervoordt and Daniela Ferretti and drawn from the collections of the Vervoordt Foundation, the Musei Civici Veneziani, and various other public and private collections from all over the world, the exhibition is the third installment of a trilogy that began in 2007 with Artempo: Where Time Becomes Art and continued with Academia: Qui es-tu? in Paris in 2008. And as with the first show, which was also held at Palazzo Fortuny, the mysterious and mythical spaces of this wonderful museum represent a natural habitat for the exhibition. Its structure and atmosphere still so strongly inspired by Fortuny’s investigative, creative, and genial spirit—perfectly suit the quest for the unknown and unknowable that runs through In-finitum.

Photograph by Manfredi Bellati

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum. New York based painter, Natvar Bhasvar talks to Axel Vervordt in front of Bhasvar’s painting Ahdhee, pure pigment, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2006.

Photograph by Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum. In the Mezzanine a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti called Lady of Venice, 1956 and a painting by Alberto Burri, Nero Cretto, 1988.

Photograph by Manfredi Bellati

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum. Sadaharu Horio did a performance at the opening party. Horio is a Gutai artist of the third generation. He plucks various found objects-including household objects, string, bits of wood, branches, roots, planks, crates, boxes, stones, and a leather bag-in order to use them as surfaces on which to paint, it is certainly not a matter of aestheticization, or of raising the banal to the level of an artwork. What he does also has little to do with painting in the strict sense of the word, but rather with the ritual of an ever-repeating practice. Every day, regardless of what is happening around him, or whether the earth may be trembling, he applies paint to the objects. To avoid making the choice of color himself, he sticks to the sequence of colors in the paint box. He thereby avoids everything that is connected with subjectivity, because what he does could be done just as well by anyone else and could be endlessly continued. By always branding diverse objects in the same manner, he thereby unites them into a whole. The paint is the link between mankind and the movements of the cosmos. Instead of portraying his own lifetime, it is the infinitude of time that is so wonderfully revealed here.

Photograph by Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Palazzo Fortuny: In-Finitum. On the ground floor, Anish Kapoor’s Glow, 2009 and Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Natura, Bronzo, 1959/60.

Pin It

Venice Biennale: Marie Brandolini d'Adda's Cocktail party

Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. These beautiful stripped hand-blown glasses, designed by, Marie Brandolini d’Adda for Lagunab are made in Murano. They sit on the wall of the terrace of Palazzo Brandolini over-looking the Grand Canal. The style is called Berlingot because “Berlingot are the stripy sweets typical of Provence: a reminder of when I was a little girl with a very sweet tooth. The Berlingot glasses and carafes have the same stripes as those funny sweets and the same playful character.” The hostess explains.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Hostess, Marie Brandolini d'Adda cuddles up to Rolf Sachs as Patty Cisneros looks on.


Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Enrico Palandi talks to Venetian artist, Lilli Doriguzzi. It was in Lilli honor that the party was held. Lilli exhibited her work in the Brandolini’s apartment, en route to the terrace, over looking the Grand Canal, illustrious art guests enjoyed the Portolano series.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Is British House and Garden's Olinda Adearne shooting a story as her husband, James looks on?



Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Art dealer, Paul Kasmin talks to creative consultant, Patrick kinmonth.



Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Stylish jewelry designer, Antonia Miletto.

A detail. One of Antonia's beautiful jewelry, the coral fish ring.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Maryam Sachs turns towards the camera as she interupts her conversation with Georgina Brandolini d'Adda and Gibi Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. The host, Brandino Brandolini d'Adda and jewelry designer, Servane Giol.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Indian jeweler, Santi and American fashion designer, Mary McFadden.

Note: Mary McFadden has put a cope or the ecclesiastical vestment priests wear over their albs.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. French writer, Lucien d'Azay and the president of The Comité Français de Sauvegarde de Venise, Jerome Zieseniss.



Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Creative consultant, Antonio Monfreda and art dealer, Manfredi della Gherardesca.



Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Artist, Jacques Martinez.

Seen at Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Fashion designer, Luisa Beccaria and her beautiful daughter, Lucilla Bonaccorsi.

Marie Brandolini d’Adda’s cocktail party. Marie designs the most beautiful glasses in Murano for her company Lagunab. Here they sit on a colorful Indian bed spread on her terrace ready for the caipirinhas she has prepared for her guests.

Pin It

Biennale week: Seen in Venice

Seen in Venice. While we were walking to Marie Branolini d’Adda’s cocktail party we bumped into Jasper Morrison. Jasper is one of the most influential industrial designers in Britain.

Pin It

Venice: Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. With its triangular shape, Punta della Dogana or the maritime custom warehouses splits the Grand Canal from the Giudecca Canal. As the new center for contemporary art, the former monumental port of the city presents a permanent exhibition, of works from the François Pinault Collection. From 6 June 2009, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana present the exhibition Mapping the Studio which brings together a selection of works from the collection of François Pinault and rebuilts the course of each, from conception to the inner world of the artist, up to the integration with the private collection.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Charles Ray’s controversial sculpture Boy with Frog, 2009 stands outside at the tip of Punta della Dogana.

Seen at Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Francois Pinault whizzes through Punta della Dogana, saying hello to guests on the first day of a week long of private openings.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Maybe the most talked about installation at Punta della Dogana, Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Fucking Hell.


Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. A detail of Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Fucking Hell, Fiberglass, plastic and mixed media, 9 parts, 2008.
Contessanally tip: Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Seen at Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Socialites, Glorianda Cipolla, Mita de Benedetti and Roberta Drouler gather around The Venice International Foundation’s president, Franca Coin.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Charles Ray’s untitled (Glass Chair), wooden chair and glass, 1976.

Seen at Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Artist, Charles Ray.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. The first big room when you walk into Punta della Dogana houses works by Hammons, Gonzales-Torres, Prince, Cattelan, Whiteread, Tuymans and Brown.

Photograph courtesy Palazzo Grassi Spa

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Fischli and Weiss, Rat and Bear mobile, 2 rag dolls with metal skeleton structure, painted steel, 2008-2009.

Seen at Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Mathew Marks and Peter Fischli discuss the Fischli and Weiss, Rat and Bear mobile.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Paul McCarthy’s Train, Pig Island, foam, mixed media, 2007.

Seen at Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Co-curator with Alison M. Gingeras, Francesco Bonami is being interviewed. The curators have borrowed the show’s title from a seminal video work by Bruce Nauman in which the artist recorded footage of his studio at night. Mapping the Studio allows us a glimpse into this highly charged space where the creative process develops. The curators have proposed an analogy between the creativity and intimacy of the artist’s studio and the collector’s deeply individual and passionate vision of art. Mapping the Studio takes this parallel as its starting point as it puts into dialogue the work of established artists with a younger generation in order to capture the energy and creative tension that animates many different approaches to art making.



Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. “Following the renovation of Palazzo Grassi, I was fortunately commissioned for another important project in Venice, the renovation of the Punta della Dogana.” architect, Tadao Ando explains his project. “The Punta della Dogana building or Maritime customs warehouses has a simple and rational structure. The volume forms a triangle that directly corresponds to the shape of the tip of Dorsoduro Island, whereas its interior space is dividend into long rectangles by a series of parallel walls. With great respect for this emblematic building, all partitions that had been added during previous renovations were thoroughly removed in order to recover its original form, at the very beginning of its construction.”




Ando continues, “Through exposing the brick walls and wooden roof trusses, the space retrieved its energy and the memories of the former sea customs were revived. In the center of the building, a square space spans over two rows as a result of an earlier renovation. As an exception, we kept this structure as it is and inserted a “concrete box” that dramatically transformed the space. Through a dialogue between old and new elements generated in the core of the structure, the building got the power to link its past history to the present and the future.”

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Rudolf Stingel’s Untitled (Alpino), 2006.

Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Francois Pinault canal hops between Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi with curator, Alison Gingeras and Monique Veaute, director of Palazzo Grassi.



Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. A corner of Piotr Uklanski’s untitled (Dancing Nazis), 220 inkjet prints on paper, Plexiglas panels, colored light bulbs, raised floor structure, audio equipment and computer-controlled sound-system, 2008.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Little, Rio Ho Jonot plays on the dance floor of Piotr Uklanski’s untitled oeuvre, (dancing Nazis), 2008.


Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Martial Raysse’s gigantic Le Carnaval a Perigueux, tempera on canvas, 1992.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Artist, Martial Raysse has such an interesting face. I loved the pink linen shirt and the neoclassical lady on his “tie” pin.

Punta della Dogana: Mapping the Studio. Rudolf Stingel’s untitled (Alpino), 2006.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Rob Pruitt’s 101 Art Ideas You can Do Yourself, mixed media (ideas 1-101), 1999.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Art Idea # 26, Turn Your TV Upside Down, hangs in the bar from Rob Pruitt’s 101 Art Ideas You can Do Yourself, mixed media (ideas 1-101), 1999.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Art Idea # 50, Make Mud. 2 parts dirt, 1 part water. Use as paint or clay, graces the staircase of Palazzo Grassi from Rob Pruitt’s 101 Art Ideas You can Do Yourself, mixed media (ideas 1-101), 1999.

Palazzo Grassi: Mapping the Studio. Works by Adel Abdessemed called Pluie Noire, 2006 and Michelangelo Pistoletto’s La Gabbia, 1962-74.

Pin It