Bella Venezia ~ Beautiful Venice

To build a city where it is impossible to build a city 

is madness in itself,

but to build there one of the most elegant 

and grandest of cities

is the madness of genius.

~Alexander Herzen

VENICE 

Settembre, 2017

To say that Venice is photogenic would be a gross understatement. I suppose this comes as no surprise. It has been a painters dream location for centuries. Google the images of John Singer Sargent's watercolors in Venice and you'll see why. You could do the same with Monet, Whistler, J.M.W. Turner, Renoir, Manet, and for his many paintings for rich travelers on "The Grand Tour" Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto.

Looking up to beautiful mosaics on the façade of the Basilica of San Marco! 

The next view is looking down from the campanile which is also the top photo in this post! We got our tickets ahead of time online for both the campanile bell tower and the interior of the Basilica. It was a pretty low price, as I recall, and it was totally worth it! We walked right up at our appointment time and avoided the very long lines! 

We also made sure to be down from the tower before the bells rang at noon. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to hear for the rest of the day!

Peaking around corners, there are lovely views everywhere.

Puppets, reflections and laundry ...

There is something so different in

Venice from any other place in the world,

that you leave, at once, all accustomed habits

and everyday sights, to enter an enchanted garden.

~Mary Shelley

This next photo was just down from our apartment.

I love all the warm tones of the buildings as well as the unexpected colors, like the gorgeous green above!

When I seek another word for 'music', 

I never find any other word that 'venice'."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

I got as much wear out of my new hat as possible! The bonus of traveling with black clothes is you can generally go accessory crazy once you arrive. Especially in Italy!

A realist, in Venice,

would become a romantic

by mere faithfulness

to what he saw before him.

~Arthur Symons

I took so many photos! Everywhere you look is another gorgeous view. For now, I'll leave you with a bit of twilight over the beautiful waters of Venice.

Next up Verona and more exciting art from the Venice Biennale! 

Ci Vediamo!

A Presto!

Beautiful Water Bones by Loris Cecchini ~ Venice

Waterbones

by Loris Cecchini

Venice Biennale 2017

at the Fondaco die Tedeschi 

During the Venice Biennale there are art installations all over Venice. You just can't see everything. You'd have to spend a month! So, sometimes you have to go off of a photo and other times you just happen upon a space that has a sign out front and pop in for a look. In this case it was the former.

I'd seen an intriguing photo advertising this site specific installation by Italian artist Loris Cecchini and curated by Hervé Mikaeloff. It was made from thousands of movable thin steel modules. "A nod to algorithms found in nature and industrial design materials." 

To me it felt like being in some kind of space age organism ... 

"The title, “Waterbones,” underlines the morphological lightness and freeness and appears as a biological metaphor: The cells open and bloom, releasing molecular components in interaction with the space, developing autonomous and self-sufficient ways."

~Loris Cecchini

The shapes and materials were reflective and beautiful! Though they were not moving, they seemed to dance through space. I wish I could have laid on the floor under them and listened to Bach. They felt somehow musical to me. 

It's funny because I read the following quote after writing the above.

"The installation is composed of eight thousand identical elements in shiny steel linked together. The structure is continually varying thanks to the element’s hookup system. The particularity stands in the geometry of each element and in the fact that they are internally empty: This creates a great lightness in the overall structure that gives me the possibility to expand and contract the form in an organic way, almost as if it were becoming a biological element. The final result is a great “dancing” form in the space that is offered in continuity with the architectural structure."

~Loris Cecchini

As modern as the space looks, the actual building opened in 1228 and is a historic building right on the Grand Canal in Venice. It was rebuilt after a fire in the 1500s in the Italian Renaissance style. It's right near the Rialto Bridge and used to be the headquarters and restricted living quarters of Venice's German merchants.

In the 20th century it was used by Venice for the "Poste Italiane" and in 2008 it was bought by the Benetton Group. Rem Koolhaas was hired to incorporate a huge shopping area inside. There were a lot of beautiful things but I was on an art mission and didn't stop to shop!

“I have devised my creative language around the ideas of the object, the model and architecture. Often the work refers in different ways to the idea of inhabiting space. Currently, I am exploring the space of sculpture and of the environmental installation according to a notion of the parcelization of material, almost a sort of molecular deflagration of sculpture, in which scientific phenomenology becomes an intimate structure and go-between for vision ..."

~Loris Cecchini

View from the roof of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi

I love how seeing various kinds of artists broaden you perspective of what art can be and also how it  impacts your immediate mood or state of mind. This experience has happened to me over and over visiting many art exhibitions. On this occasion, I did leave with a sense of lightness and a burst of positive energy that still took me by surprise!

For more of the interview with Loris Cecchini click here

More Links

Loris Cecchini (official site more works and a slide show)

Fondaco Rooftop Terrace

Duty Free Venice/Fondaco dei Tedeschi

Venice Biennale

Ciao Tutti!

Blessings and light!

Bella Venezia ~ Wandering around Venice

It is the city of mirrors,

the city of mirages,

at once liquid,

at once air and stone.

~Erica Jan

How can an artist not be inspired by the beauty of Venice?! This oil painting was for my solo show in December. I mean, who doesn't love a gondolier?

Venezia

The night we arrived in Venice we took a water taxi to our little apartment. There was an incredible downpour with lightening over the water. It was exhilarating and yet a bit scary! I kept wondering about the likelihood of being struck! 

The first time I heard Vivaldi played live was in Venice ... 

When we entered the apartment we rented we were even more in a state of exhilaration. This next photo is out the window of my bedroom. 

It was like a dream! A beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with beamed ceilings, antique furniture, beautiful new bathrooms and the best view EVER!

My boyfriend laughed when I sent him this photo. He has an appreciation for my wardrobe changes. In this case, I'd moved on from my plaid cotton shirts I'd been wearing in Scotland to more fitting Italian attire. I don't think it's neccisarily true but I feel a little more in keeping with Italian fashion when I wear black. 

On our first full day in Venice we were blessed with beautiful blue skies. It was a glorious September day. I'd been there in December of 1996 and it was so cold that the fountains were frozen along with part of the canal. I still loved it. I wondered what I'd feel about it now, but as soon as I started to wander down the tiny narrow streets and over the bridges, I knew I felt the same love for this wonderful city.

This was the summer of the 2017 Biennale and art was everywhere! I happened on a lovely Palazzo and discovered a new artist. Well, she's not new but she was new to me. The sound of classical music (no I'm not making this up) came in through the opened windows along with a light breeze that moved the art with its every breath. It was stunning.

Art Installation by Beverly Barkat

Libreria Aqua Alta 

This bookstore was incredible and filled to the brim. The place apparently floods like crazy so they have to keep things off the floor when the water comes in. As you can see there is a very large gondola in the middle of the store that is used for displaying "molti Libri."

The view from the back patio of the bookstore.

One more of the bookstore for my friend Evelyn, who has a thing for books and kitties!

 Gallerie dell'Accademia

Venice

I don't think we made it here in 1996 and it was high on my list for this trip. In part because of Giorgione painting The Tempest which I couldn't get a good shot of for you. There were too many people around it! It lived up to the hype. It was enchanting. You can Google it. ;)

Here is a tiny sampling of the incredible collection.

Polittico Lion con l'Annunciazione

Lorenzo Veneziano

Don't forget to look up!

Look at all those faces in the ceiling. There were hundreds! Thousands!

This room, below, was incredible. One of the large paintings installed was by Titian but I couldn't get a good shot of it.

Antonio Vivarini e Giovanni d'Alemagna's La Madonna col babino 1446

Madonna in trono che adora il Bambino dormiente

Giovanni Bellini 1516 (?)

(detail)

Below, an enormous painting of Saint Mark's Square by Gentile Bellini, 1496, called Procession in Piazza San Marco. It's Tempera and oil on canvas. He must have had to run back across the room over and over to see what the whole thing looked like. He was 67 at the time.

It's hard to take in these monumental paintings sometimes. They are so massive and there is so much going on that they can be overwhelming.

The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine (around 1575)
Paolo Caliari detto Paolo Veronese

When you zoom in and notice the details ... the clutching of pearls and intricate brocade it's absolutely incredible. I guess it's not surprising since it's Veronese but you really have to take the time with some of these pieces.

And look at these faces! The expression of the angel on the right side is so beautifully felt.

This panel, below, was on the wall as I was leaving. It's so high you can't photograph it well but it was so wonderful in its color and movement. Plus, I have a thing for gold!

Leaving the Gallerie dell'Accademia

Oh! And, here's the blouse I got in Glasgow. It's all about the sleeves.

That first day, walking around Venice, was magical. I took a day to myself and just wandered around and got reacquainted with this incredible and unique place on our planet. It feels like it's its own world, quite apart from any other. Even with all the tourists (like me!) it's completely magnificent.

At the bridge I stood 

lately in the brown night.

From afar came a song:

as a golden drop 

it welled over the quivering surface.

Gondolas, light, and music

drunken it swam out into the twilight.

My soul, a stringed instrument,

sang to itself, invisibly touched,

a secret gondola song,

quivering with iridescent happiness.

~Did anyone listen to it?

~Friedrich Nietzsche 

Venice, 2017

6 x 12" 

oil on wood panel

(sold)