Venice Day 3: More Art (New and Old)

I woke up at 8 AM (!!) with sun streaming through the crack in the curtain. Last night a bat was flying around the courtyard and two lizards were climbing the walls. After another hotel breakfast, I went straight to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection which was showing Ileana Sonnabend: The Italian Portrait. Some highlights:


Jeff Koons, Buster Keaton


Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Venetian)



Arman, Portrait of Mike


Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, Venice, Las Vegas #3

Highlights from the Permanent Collection:



• Giacomo Balla's Mercury Passing Before the Sun


• and my most coveted object in the entire museum was Yves Tanguy's (my favorite Surrealist) earrings for Peggy Guggenheim made in 1938.


The view of the Grand Canal from the sculpture garden was equally incredible. I've deduced I can watch how traffic moves (and what kind of boats - UPS, police, armored bank boats, gondolas, water taxis, etc.) in the canal indefinitely.

[One more I'm going to be so tired of these mozzarella and tomato paninis for lunch if I have to eat too many more of them before I return.]

The Venice in Venice exhibition was a big let down mainly because of the space. Why? It's location in the Palazzo Contraini dagli Scrigni was less than ideal for many reasons. The artwork represented (Robert Irwin, Ed Kienholz, etc.) was mainly from the 1960s-70s which did not go well with centuries old decor. A Kienholz bathtub sculpture surrounded by wallpaper and furniture 300 years old, did nothing to separate the artwork from the location. I learned that when I am overwhelmed with so much artwork, I start to concentrate on presentation and this one clearly failed. The view outside the window looking toward the Grand Canal was really nice however.

The Cyprus Pavilion with Elizabeth Hoak-Doering's schizophrenic, moving furniture pieces as kinetic sculptures to make drawings held my attention for quite some time. This table proved to be the most effective mark maker though I was vying for the mattress but it didn't move around as much and the drawing was more static.



I was enamored with this presentation by Galim Madinov and Zauresh Terekby in the Central Asia pavilion. Here are 250 paintings displayed as if they are books - I love the overlap, the sheer amount, and the objectification of the flat object.



Two of my favorite paintings spotted out of the corner of my eye at the Contini Gallery (unfortunately I can't find the name of the artist on their website!).





Next up... OLD (1575-1581) artwork: the Tintorettos at Scuola Grande of Saint Roch where I couldn't take any photographs but it looks just like this (via):



I spent a great deal of time wishing I had a roving mattress underneath the ceiling so I could view the artwork better. The stationary mirrors placed sporadically throughout the space were not up to par. It was my first introduction to (gasp) liking Renaissance art! The only disappointment was the (yet more) scaffolding that covered 1/2 of The Last Supper. The light was also very poor in some areas of the Upper Hall.

Next up Anish Kapoor's Ascension on the island of San Giorgio. Waiting for the steam to rise was like watching for Old Faithful. I gave it 30 minutes but it never happened and I even stuck my head in one more time thirty minutes later to no avail. The next two images are examples of all the postcards by the front door of what the piece was supposed to look like:





When in actuality, it was doing this (nothing):



My mind drifted to the space as I was waiting and I couldn't help but wonder if the steam from Kapoor's piece would harm the artwork in the church but that doesn't seem to be that big of an issue in Venice.

The last exhibition of the day was Real Venice, a fundraising project of the charity Venice in Peril. Fourteen photographers were asked to make images based on their experiences in Venice, Italy and donate a print.



This Nan Goldin photograph, Leonardo with his Grandfather, Palazzo Papadopoli, held my attention because I've been spending my days constantly wondering about how rich this city once was versus it's current state. Here lies a boy posing in front of his well-off grandfather in a different time, yet the same social class.

Coming soon... my feeble attempt to float some postcards in Venice.