VENICE: Harry's Dolci - Club Sandwich

Venice: Harry’s Dolci.  In the summer time it’s such a treat to go to Harry’s Dolci for lunch or dinner on the Fondamenta San Biaggio on the Island of Giudecca.   It’s fun to be deliciously spoiled by the waiters as you watch the yachts, boats and barges pass by on the Giudecca Canal. Open during the hottest months of the year this offspring of the renowned Harry’s Bar is secluded from the crowds of tourists in town.  The palest green Frette tablecloths convey a sign of tranquility and their starchiness a sense of luxury. Over the water the Church of the Gesuati or Church of Santa Maria del Rosario as it is also known, shares centre stage on the wide waterfront promenade of the Zattere.

PS. Inside the seventeenth century church, beside the third altar you can view Tintoretto's Crocifissione, and in the first altar Tiepolo's Tre Sante. The ceiling is divided into three parts and decorated with paintings by Tiepolo.  

Note: The church is open daily from 8-12 am and from 5-7pm.

Cipriani Club Sandwich.   Like a volcano busting with an overflow of mayonnaise the Cipriani Club Sandwich, a Harry’s Bar classic, was served by Giuseppe Cipiani, founder of the Harry’s Bar in Venice for the first time in 1948.  The ”lava” of overpowering mayonnaise was too much for the delicate leaves and ingredients to be distinguishable also, the toasted white bread didn’t give you the satisfaction of crunching your way through a regular Club sandwich and overall it left me with a weight on my tummy all afternoon.  However, the French-fries were above average.

Rating: 5/10 for the Cipriani Club Sandwich and 8/10 the French-fries.

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ASOLO: The Asolo Antique Market book launch

The Asolo Antique Market, Vendors and Dealers, History by Giorgio Zanesco book Launch – The Venue:  Casa di Eleonora Duse.  Northwest of Venice in an enchanting hilly landscape, Asolo is one of the best-known and loveliest villages in Italy.  The fascination of the art, the magic of the landscape, the ideal of a perfect refuge for the body and the soul have attracted many famous personalities to Asolo; people who have loved the city and lived there, down the ages. First and foremost three women; the former queen of Cyrus, Caterina Cornaro, Eleonora Duse, star of the international theatre world came to rest in Asolo after the demands of the stage and chose to be buried there too and Freya Stark, explorer, author and photographer kept Asolo as her favorite destination when she came back from her journeys.  The ranks of artists and intellectuals who lived and were seduced by Asolo were also numerous, like; Robert Browning Gian Francesco Malipiero, Eugene Benson, Henry James, Carlo Scarpa, Marius Pictor, Filippo De Pisis, Igor Strawinsky, Ernest Hemingway...  Now privately owned, the former Casa di Eleonora Duse was the venue for the book launch of Giorgio Zanesco’s book, The Asolo Antique Market, Vendors and Dealers, History, published by Steepridge Publishing.

The Author.  Giorgio Zanesco is a well-known architect who dedicates his intellect and energy in protecting and conserving the environmental integrity of Asolo and in 1976 was one of the founders of its Antique Market.  This booklet, The Asolo Antique Market, Vendors and Dealers, History, which he has put together tells the story, in English and in Italian, about the main artisans or stall vendors of the manifestation, individuals from all classes, economic means and cultural backgrounds that put together the stalls painstakingly, on a monthly basis, with great care.

The Book.   The Asolo Antique Market, Vendors and Dealers, History, written by Giorgio Zanesco and published by Steepridge Publishing tells the story about the Asolo Antiques Market, held every second Sunday of the month, in and around the main square. For over twenty years, this has been a ritual event for all antiques lovers. More than one hundred exhibitors from all over Italy present some of the most interesting offerings from the antiques world: furniture, jewels, silverware, prints and books, modern antiques and collectable items in general. The book can be purchased at the Edicola di Via Regina Cornaro in Asolo or ordered from Steepridge Publishing: steepridgepublishing@libero.it.

The Catering. At the abundant buffet, catered by Santi Events, after the book launch I was rather amused by these ‘60s looking bubbles filled with a delicious exotic rice salad.
Note:  the ecological bamboo forks and the bamboo boat plates above, filled with mini Prosciutto and melone.

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MILANO: Rotonda di Via Besana - YOU-WE + ABLO

MILANO VIDEO ART: Rotonda di Via Besana – YOU-WE + ABLO. In the fantastic public venue of the Rotonda di Via Besana the Milan Council Responsible for Culture presents the exhibition, You-We + Ablo. 25 Videos from the Collection of Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, curated by Francesco Bonami, until July 8th. Fifteen large video installations make up a nomadic, political and cultural exhibition route, almost comparable to an imaginary world tour of the social transformation of reality.   The featured artists come from different parts of the world and the project highlights how, following the global phase, an era of neo-diversity is approaching, in which the once seen obstacles that arose from the differences between diverse cultures are fast being turned into new resources.  Also, ten young Italian artists have been invited to create videos on one subject. The artists have each filmed a three-minute video whose main character is Abdullay Kadal Traore, Ablo, as he likes to be called.

Above: Catherine Sullivan - Ice Floes of Franz Joseph Land, 2003.  The video draws from a tragic event of recent past, the attack of a Chechen suicide commando at Moscow’s Dubroka Theater in October 2002.  On that occasion seven hundred people, including spectators and actors, were kidnapped.  With a blood raid, the Russian special police forces killed the Chechen terrorists and most hostages.  In the video installation, Sullivan stages sections from Nord Ost musical, which was running on the evening of the attack.

The Official portrait.   Milan’s local minister for culture, Massimiliano Finazzer Flory explains “It is evident that in times like ours where we find ourselves living in a multiethnic city, contemporary art offers us a creative space for this cohabitation. It is for this reason that we must re-integrate You in the plural sense, that of others, into We, meaning all of us.  “This exhibition,” states Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, president of the Turin based Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, “is a concrete result of the synergy between a public body and a private non-profit institution; additionally, it offers further confirmation of the ability to build a system between the two and to create a great cultural pole between the cities of Milan and Turin.”  The curator of the exhibition, Francesco Bonami adds “ You-We aims to update the public regarding the role that video art has adopted in recent years, through a collection that is ever-developing.” 

Marine Hugonnier – Ariana, 2003. The Pandjsher valley in Afghanistan was not invaded neither by Communism nor by Fundamentalism and is the symbol of independence and resistance.  Ariana documents the artist’s trip with her crew as they head for this pure, uncontaminated place, to find out how the landscape determined its history.  Access to the area, however, is denied by the Afghan authorities due to strategic value the place acquired. Being able to shoot or film this panorama would be almost equivalent to controlling it.

Bani Abidi – The News, 2000.  In The News two charming female journalists played by the artist herself, report the same event on two different channels, one Indian and the other Pakistani, and they both tell a well- known joke about historical conflict between India and Pakistan.  Despite its documentary purpose, the work plays on the dichotomy between reality and fiction.   The work’s subject is a real, burning issue, yet the correspondent is not a real journalist, but an artist who aims at involving and informing people about a thorny question.

Fiona Tan – Saint Sebastian, 2002.  Saint Sebastian is a recto-verso projection that shows the traditional Toshiya ceremony.  Each year, for 400 years, this ceremony has brought 20 year old girls from all over Japan to Kyoto, to perform the rite of archery, which marks the passage from adolescence to adulthood.  In a series of close-ups, the film shows the girls’ profiles while they pull the bowstring close to their faces immediately before darting the arrow.

Dafne Boggeri, Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio, Riccardo Giacconi, Sabina Grasso, Antonio Guiotto, Domenico Mangano, Patrizia Monzani Maria Domenica Rapicavoli, Patrizio Di Massimo, Diego Marcon – ABLO, 2010.  Ten young Italian artists were invited to shoot a “subject” video.  Each artist realized a three-minute video portrait whose protagonist is Abdoul Kader Traore. Ablo as he likes to be called, is a griot musician from Burkina Faso who has been living in Milan for seven years and playing in several bands such as the Milanese and multiethnic “Orchestra di via Padova”. The ten videos are displayed and projected all together, thus forming a unique work as a sort of cultural and visual kaleidoscope, in which the same person is seen from different points of view and with different sensibilities.

One of the ten artists of the Ablo video project.  Antonio Guiotto.

One of the ten artists of the Ablo video project.    Patrizia Monzani.

Lina Bertucci – Vandana, 2004.   In the video Vandana we see a woman who is completely alone in an austere, apparently hostile place. The woman undergoes a personal metamorphosis, cutting her hair with a pair of long scissors.  The violent gesture, reiterated obsessively at an increasing faster pace, reflects the woman’s restlessness, she seems to be afflicted by a deep, inner pain, which can only be eased by dispensing of her long black hair.

Seen at the Rotonda di Via Besana – YOU-WE + ABLO exhibition. Nina Yashar and Margherita Sigillo'.

Seen at the Rotonda di Via Besana – YOU-WE + ABLO exhibition.  Orio Vergani.

Seen at the Rotonda di Via Besana – YOU-WE + ABLO exhibition. Pas Leccese and Cosima Parodi.

Seen at the Rotonda di Via Besana – YOU-WE + ABLO exhibition.   Paola Manfrin, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Cesare Cunaccia and Martina Mondadori.

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Milano - Seen at Biffi

Seen at the Pasticceria Biffi.  How very smart and Italian to have a business meeting in one of the city’s most elegant caffe’s, the Pasticceria Biffi. Architect, Pierluigi Cerri who is designing the new Triennale Design Museum in New York with Michele de Lucchi met up with the Triennale’s president, Davide Rampello.  The New York Triennale is schedule to open in September just in front of MoMA.

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MILANO: Mattia Bonetti at Cardi Black Box

 

Mattia Bonetti at Cardi Black Box.  Until July 31st, Cardi Black Box gallery presents an exceptional exhibition project: a show entirely dedicated to design, born from the growing contamination between contemporary art and other creative disciplines. The international project stages, for the first time in Italy, a solo show of the Swiss artist-designer Mattia Bonetti; a selection of works, which are all limited editions realized exclusively for Cardi Black Box. Mattia Bonetti is a versatile figure, a creative artist who demonstrates in his works a great draughtmanship in drawing and a remarkable skill in the passage from the model to its three-dimensional realization.

Above: Puddle Armchair, 2010, white and yellow gilded wood, silk velvet upholstery.

 

Mattia Bonetti at Cardi Black Box.  Artist and designer, Mattia Bonetti and gallery owner, Nicolo Cardi.

 

Seen at Cardi Black Box. Bonetti’s Parisian dealer, Alessandro Pron, who owns the Galerie Italienne with another of the artists he represents, Giorgio Vigna.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  After Central Saint Martins Lucilla Bonaccorsi designs with her mother Luisa Beccaria.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  Swiss photographer and director, Edo Bertoglio and his wife Viviana.  Edo is currently working on a photographic project called Ladies, which is a virtual continuation of his cult series Figurines.

Seen at Cardi Black Box. Obliviously not in South Africa, footballer, Billy Costacurta.

Seen at Cardi Black Box. Jewelry designer, Isabella del Bono and graphologer, Simonetta Pandozy de Gresy.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  Paola Manfredi is the top Italian art worlds P.R.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  Art critic, Michela Moro whose popular art blog you can read on Io Donna’s website.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  Design curator and representative in Italy of the Vitra Design Museum, Maria Cristina Didero.  Didero also wrote the introduction to Mattia Bonetti’s Notebox, which accompanies the exhibition.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  Tower Cabinet, 2010, polished stainless steel, clear acrylic.

Seen at Cardi Black Box.  The original drawing for Tower Cabinet produced by Galleria N. Cardi, Milano.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - 230 Fifth

 New York – May 24 – 230 Fifth.  Last night in town what better than to go to 230 Fifth, the rooftop bar, club and restaurant to admire the 360 degree view of the greatest city in the world.   Created by nightlife entrepreneur, Steven Greenberg who previously owned or co-owned The Palladium, Roxy and The Cobalt Club in the legendary Gramercy Park Hotel. On top of 230 Fifth is like being on a beach with palm trees and the surreal view of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, as well as, the golden domed New York Life Building, purple crowned Met Life Building and in the distance the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty. Open 365 days a year, the rooftop bar is partially heated and, if necessary, cozy fleece hooded red robes or oversized blankets are provided for extra warmth.   Below the rooftop bar is a luxurious Penthouse Lounge with seating for up to 600 guests. Large, but intimate, with a 1940s modernist decor and many original furnishings it is fully surrounded by floor to ceiling glass windows and beveled peach mirrors, it also shares the breathtaking panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - MOMA - Marina Abramovic

 New York – May 24 – MOMA – Marina Abramovic.   A pioneer of performance art, Yugoslavian artist, Marina Abramovic began using her own body as the subject, object and medium of her work in the early 1970s.  Since then she has viewed performance as a tool to visualize the here and now.  For Marina Abramovic, The Artist is Present, The Museum of Modern Art’s first performance retrospective, Abramovic performs every day the museum is open between March 14th and May 31st. This is probably  the best retrospective I have ever seen and was moved by it.

 

The Artist is Present.   The Artist is Present is Abramovic’s longest performance to date, visitors are encouraged to sit silently across from her for a duration of their choosing, becoming participants in the artwork rather than remaining spectators.  Though Abramovic is silent, maintaining a nearly sculptural presence with a fixed pose and gaze.  The performance is an invitation to engage in and complete a unique situation.  The Artist is Present distorts the line between everyday routine and ceremony: positioned in the vast atrium within a square of light, the familiar configuration of a table and chairs has been elevated to another domain.  Between 1981 and 1987 Abramovic and her then-collaborator Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) performed Night-Sea Crossing, sitting motionless at a table in twenty-two locations around the world, The Artist is Present is in part a reinterpretation of that work, and with the involvement of the public it is generous, ever changing and unpredictable. The charged spaced between Abramovic and the other participant is the content of the work, a place where nothing-or possibly everything-happens.
Contessanally tip: click on any photo to enlarge it.

The hours.  Between March 14th and May 24th Abramovic had already sat in her hard back wooden chair for 716 hours and 30 minutes.

The retrospective: Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. On the sixth floor a chronological installation of Abramović’s work is included revealing different modes of representing, documenting, and exhibiting her ephemeral, time-based, and media-based works. 

The retrospective: Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. A live reinterpretation of the performance of Relation in Time, performed originally with Ulay in 1977, in Bologna at the Studio G7.   In this work Abramovic and Ulay sat back-to-back, motionless and joined by their hair, in one of their longest single performances.  The artists performed for sixteen hours without an audience – “winthin the limits of their own energy,” they wrote.   During the seventeenth hour they “used the energy of the audience” to complete the performance.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - Paul Richard

New York – May 24 – Paul Richard. Seen on  the sidewalk of10th Avenue, this graffiti self-portrait by Paul Richard. The famed artist is known more for his printed street signs like  “Please No Graffiti On This Wall. Thank You, Paul Richard”.  The Boston and New York-based artist has been declaring various urban scenes and street fixtures artwork since at least 1997. Watch out where you put your feet, in Chelsea art is everywhere.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - Barry Friedman Ltd - Kukuli Velarde

 New York – May 24 – Barry Friedman Ltd. – Kukuli Velarde: Patrimonio.  While I was viewing the Wendell Castle exhibition at Barry Friedman Ltd., I stumbled across these terracotta figures by Peruvian contemporary artist, Kukuli Verlade. Though not officially still on show, you can still see them in one of the rooms of the Chelsea gallery. Inspired by pre-Columbian terracotta figures, Velarde's Plunder Me Baby sculptures reveal folk tradition, evoke histories of ornament and craft, and disrupt normal aesthetic hierarchies. Removed from their natural environment and installed as if in an anthropological museum, these figurative characters appear as though awakened for the first time. Each figure exhibits strong reactions to their new surroundings including fear, disdain, and aggressive anger. With pejorative slurs as titles, such as Chola Puteadora, Grabby!! Needs to Be Put in Her Place, or Méndiga Perra Autoctona, Bites, Velarde imbues these “plundered” artifacts with references to the struggles of indigenous populations as a result of European colonization.

Kukuli Velarde.    Velarde re-casts these appropriated figures as self-portraits as a means of defiantly reclaiming their ownership while giving them new meaning and context. 

Above: Mortiferous Indianus Zopilotense – Be careful, She is Deadly and Pacharatense Indiansis Chancay – The One Next to Her, Best Friend.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - Barry Friedman Ltd - Wendell castle

New York – May 24 – Barry Friedman Ltd. – Wendell Castle: Rockin’.  The Wendell Castle solo exhibition, Rockin’ until June 26th at Barry Friedman Ltd in Chelsea features twelve unique stack-laminated wood chairs.   With decades of experience as his backdrop, Castle’s new work is imbued with an animated optimism.   While the organic, curvilinear forms of this new collection link it to many of his past masterworks, there is a confidence and quickness of gesture that suggest a new dimensionality.  For example, Ghost Rider, 2010, above, a large attenuated rocking chair, illustrates his ability to intertwine complex technique with bold and graceful lyricism; with the pod-like seat suspended quietly between swooping legs, it is a calm in a storm of motion.  Castle is often credited with being the father of the art furniture movement.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - Judi Harvest

New York – May 24 – Judi Harvest.   Judi Harvest the Miami-born artist working in New York City and Venice, Italy, in painting, sculpture, glass, collage and video.  The multi talented artist created the Buddha sculptures, which form part of the Fragmented Peace works, as a reaction to 9/11.  They express the message of fragility of life and the search for beauty. “Today world peace seems an impossible dream. Inner peace, too, seems unobtainable. Yet without the beauty, art, and belief in the world and ourselves, nothing is possible. This work is intended to remind us that it is not fragments we need, but peace in its entirety.” Judi Harvest.

The Battalion, 2003.  Twelve wounded Murano glass lost wax Buddhas with red felt in original wooden barrella (stretcher) from Murano.

A detail.  A close-up of The Battalion. The “Buddha dust” is the white powder on the Buddha sculptures and part of the process of the creation.  It is there to remind us that not everything, including the mind, gathers dust.  Time and conscience produce dust. Removing it or not is up to the individual.” Judi Harvest.

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK - Gagosian Gallery: Claude Monet

  

New York – May 24 – Gagosian Gallery - Claude Monet: late Work.  At the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, Claude Monet: Late Work until June 26th was curated by Paul Hayes Tucker.   This is the most significant gathering of Monet’s late paintings to take place in New York in more than thirty years.  The show focuses on the most important late subjects drawn from his gardens at Giverny – Nympheas, Le Pont Japonaise and L’Allee de Rosiers are among the painting on show, which are amongst his most treasured paintings in his long and prodigious career.

Photograph courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Nympheas (Water Lillies) 1916-1919.   “The instantaneity of Monet, far from being passive, requires an unusual power of generalization, of abstraction… Monet declares: here is nature, not as you or I habitually see it, but as you are able to see it, not in this or that particular effect but in others like it. The vision I propose to you is superior; my painting will change your reality.” Michel Butor, 1962

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