Dear All,
Had the very good fortune to be in Venice over the weekend and, aside from...
I didn't see a car or hear a honking horn in four days.
I never really found my sea legs on the Vaporetto.
The Italian's have such effortless style. (Clichéd I know, but 65-year-old guys in pressed shirts and orange corduroys!)
It's like living in a Canaletto.
...there was some inspired and inspiring art.
The old Customs House on the Punta Della Dogana has been beautifully restored by starchitect Tadao Ando to house the art of French billionaire François Pinault. (Pinault paid for the 18 million Euro refurb himself.)
And, as his holdings include Gucci, Christie’s, and the Château Latour vineyard, one could expect impeccable taste. One wasn't disappointed.
Curators Alison M. Gingeras and Francesco Bonami were allowed to select any piece from his extensive collection (only one third is on display) with the simple brief: "Surprise me...and the public."
Highlights for me:
'Dymaxion Skeletons' by Matthew Day Jackson.
Says Jackson: "Though the skeleton is dead, it is strong and walks upright. Its hands seem capable of movement, gesture and construction. The skull, though made of poisonous lead, surmounts the golden geodesic rib cage. The dymaxion skeleton presents a utopia of being: the utopia of the body as a vehicle for consciousness."
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'Fucking Hell' by Jake and Dinos Chapman, 2008.
Nine tabletop tableaus, peopled with over 30,000 remodeled, 2-inch-high action figures, many in Nazi uniforms and performing egregious acts of cruelty.
Watch their video here. Just overwhelming really.
[click to enlarge]
Above, 'Kandors, Full Set' by Mike Kelly, 2005-2009. An entire room filled with his mystical landscapes.
The 53rd Venice Biennale runs from 7 June to 22 November.
The mind-expanding Punta Della Dogana is open year-round.
You wish you were here.
