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Safet Zec: Powerful Painting at the Correr
May 21, 2010 Events & Offerings 5 Comments
Doors and drapes, boats and baskets, paints and potatoes, Venetian façades: silent, radiant objects speak volumes to viewers at the Correr until July 18th.
Even though he’s acclaimed internationally, has had an atelier in Venice since 1998, and painted for decades in Sarajevo and Pocitelj (near Mostar), you still may not know the engaging, evocative works of Bosnian artist Safet Zec.
If you don’t, this adeptly curated exhibition would be the perfect occasion to make his acquaintance. These engrossing pieces vary widely in subject matter, medium, and presentation; some never before on exhibit. Visitors are routed past intimate watercolor studies and reflective pen and pencil sketches that are not only marvelous in their own right, but as precursors offer insight into the series of rich, almost life-sized watercolor, tempura, and oil depictions that follow.
The abundance of natural light filtering through the white mesh panels on the upper floor of the Correr is particularly complementary to a radiance that seems to emanate from almost every painting. Adding another dimension is the frequent and unexpected use of carta intelata: newsprint or other common paper stock treated to serve as canvas. It seeps and peers though images and brush strokes, incorporating itself seamlessly to become an integral part of the whole.
“I like that something discarded, dirty, and of little apparent value serves as the base for a work with grander intent,” says Zec. The result of his unique approach and intuitive, impressionable eye is a powerful, delicate, fascinating collection of paintings that seem to exude the very essence of their subject matter, making them a pleasure to behold.
Safet Zec: The Power of Painting
Through July 18
Museo Correr
10 – 6 p.m. (last entrance at 5 pm)
Extra, extra: Sior Rioba, to be whole once again.
May 4, 2010 About Venice, Vita venexiàn 2 Comments
The news arrived first the via a message from l’Associazione Olivolo (established to protect Venetian tradition), and seemed nothing short of a miracle: they found it. They found the head of our dear Sior Rioba.
The missing marble mass (along with its good-luck iron nose) was discovered this morning in the Sotoportego di Calle de la Racheta (the underpass that connects the calle with the Fondamenta San Felice) by some ecological workers in the area. They turned it over to the police.
On reading the news, I was ecstatic, beside myself, almost unbelieving. Reading others’ reactions on the Cercasi disparatamente Sior Rioba (Desperately Seeking Sior Rioba) facebook page, I saw they were similar. Relief, celebration, exultation.
The entire city had been so stunned and appalled by this senseless act; residents and social networks mobilized immediately, denouncing the defacement and calling for the Sior to be made whole again. But why the extreme reaction? There are certainly greater tragedies, on much larger scales and at human cost, occurring daily. Why all the fuss?
Perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps in these days of car bombs and national bankruptcies becoming as common as colds, senators comporting themselves as 10-year-olds, the term ‘financially successful’ now established as a synonym for screw-everyone-as-long-as-I-get-mine, a massive spigot belching black crude into an emerald gulf, series of natural disasters each more heartbreaking that the last, and an overall lack of respect for every one and every thing manifest in almost every type of institution from government to religious to business, the recovery of an ancient marble head so pointlessly removed from a statue held dear by locals and travelers alike was so welcome, you might have thought we’d all won the lottery.
Given that to win the lottery you have to enter, and that it’s easy to feel powerless in a world where uncertainty is the norm, I’ll celebrate this small, but precious bit of good news, and hold it very, very close. For in the end our Sior Riobas help us withstand the other muck: they are there, stalwart, impervious, unchanging; completely unperturbed by, say, Goldman Sachs’ uncanny ability to humbly endure a senatorial tongue lashing while simultaneously counting the billions they made off the misfortune they sold.
Hang in there, Sior Rioba. When we heard of your misfortune, a wave of indignation flooded the city as thoroughly as any acqua alta we have ever endured. We will now wait for the news of the grande festa once your head is back atop your rounded shoulders, helping you support your load of precious merchandise, keeping watch over the expansive campo named for you and your brothers.
I, for one, will touch that good-luck nose once it’s back where it belongs. We need all the help we can get.
Siòr Rioba: you don’t deserve this.
May 2, 2010 About Venice, Vita venexiàn 7 Comments
Crossing Campo dei Mori yesterday, on the way home from a magnificent row through the barene north of Burano followed by an abundant fish frittura hosted by the Voga e Para rowing club, I was stopped in my tracks when I glanced up at the familiar Moro merchant with the iron nose eternally perched on the corner of the campo to see that he’d be violently vandalized: someone had removed his entire head.
As reported in yesterday’s Gazzettino:
“The marble head of the statue “Sior [Antonio] Rioba,” a symbol of the long-lived merchant tradition of the Serenissima, was pillaged last night in the Campo dei Mori, Venice. Unknown assailants removed his entire head, cutting it off at the base of the neck.
One of the characteristics of the sculpture is its iron nose; the legend states that touching its face, just like the oldest of three [Mastelli] brothers of this merchant family from the east, will bring good fortune. . . .
At the moment, the act is theorized as vandalism. During the same night, someone also cracked the plate glass window of the Rioba restaurant. At this time there is nothing to connect the two incidents, but investigators are continuing to probe.
Venice’s mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, said he was ‘really struck and offended by this stupid, ignorant act that this night had mutilated one of Venice’s most important and popular depictions. I hope that the Rioba statue’s head is located quickly, and that it will still be possible to reattach it with as little damage as possible. This night’s vandalism reminds us once again of the fragility of our artistic patrimony, with its constant exposure to the ignorant and the boorish making it so difficult to protect.’”
This is such a heartbreaker. I’d write an entreaty for his return, but I somehow doubt whoever perpetrated this crime reads this silly blog. I’ll just go on hoping they find him.
For a more of photos of the statue before and after its defacement, see the the Facebook group Cercasi Rioba disperatamente (Desperately Seeking Rioba):, and Rioba.it.
Razzle Dazzle
Apr 29, 2010 Events & Offerings Leave a comment
On the off years of the art (as opposed to architecture) edition of the Venice Biennale, contemporary art fans can find themselves a bit lost here. There’s the Guggenheim, of course, and Pinault’s collection at Palazzo Grassi plus the works housed his restoration of the Punto della Dogana; and Ca’ Pesaro at the opposite end of the Grand Canal. Come of the smaller private galleries can get overlooked, unfortunately, because they don’t necessarily present Venetian-themed things, but nonetheless exhibit works that at least for contemporary art enthusiast would be worth seeking out.
One of these galleries is Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea, located in the luminous Palazzo da Ponte in the Calle del Dose, just off Campo San Maurizio. Caterina, in collaboration with Grainne Sweeney of the National Glass Centre in the UK, is currently hosting works by glass artist Richard Marquis until July 3rd.
photo Allegretto
These two series of marvelous, fanciful works have the unlikely inspirations of wartime razzle-dazzle ship camouflage, and the bubbly race cars that blistered the Bonneville Salt Flats in a bygone era. I wouldn’t dare delve into further explanations; suffice it to say that the show is easy recommendation for anyone from enthusiast to collector.
Richard Marquis – Razzle Dazzle Man
until July 3rd
Tue – Sat, 10 – 1, 3 – 7:30
Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea
People Mover moves out (sort of).
Apr 22, 2010 ACTV, vaporetto, & city transit, Instructions for Use Leave a comment
The long-heralded People Mover was inaugurated on Monday, amidst considerable fanfare. Here, at last, was a convenient, comfortable tram that would connect Tronchetto, the Isle of Parking, with Piazzale Roma, the last stop for wheeled motor traffic before entering Venice proper.
Until Monday, the means to get from one place to the other was limited to bus number 6/ (every twenty minutes), a water or land taxi, vaporetto Line 2, or on foot (for the truly fit, especially with luggage). And the Marittima port? The 6/ stops there (or, in front of the entrance to it), and there are secret, private motor coaches run by the various cruise companies, about which there is so little information that most cruise passengers don’t even know they exist.
It would be People Mover to the rescue however, regularly easing thousands of travelers comfortably into the Piazzale three car-fulls at a time, where they could then pick up the vaporetto, taxi or bridge or their choosing. Or, that’s what we assumed.
It’s true, the tram is running, and its spacious, climate-controlled, silent electronic cars loft frequently over the Santa Marta canal and wholesale fish market on their pilgrimage to Tronchetto and back — sliding right by the Marittima port stop. For reasons unknown to us all, the port doesn’t seem to be in any rush to make the second stop on the People Mover tram accessible to their passengers. Peering down from the tram stop (with its pristine platforms, elevators, and escalators to nowhere) as the train floats by, you can spy some activity among workmen below, but it’s clear that the wasteland between the port entrance and the tram itself will take some time to tame. And when it is finally complete, it won’t be, shall we say, exceptionally handy.
“Six months,” said one operator when asked how long til completion, which means nine, months minimum…well after a whole season of cruise travelers will have come and gone. For whatever reason, the port was unable to coordinate the landscaping of the tram access to the time of its opening. Not enough advance notice? Lack of permessi? Lack of (fill in the blank)? With as much power as the port wields in the tiny, infinitely famous town, that doesn’t seem logical. Add one more item to list of Things We Don’t Quite Comprehend About Venice.
The People Mover should prove some relief to pendolari who travel regularly to and from Venice by car, who’ll also be able to purchase monthly passes. To get to or from Tronchetto yourself, you can catch the tram after purchasing a 1€ ticket from the machine at the entrances, either on the Tronchetto end or at the Piazzale Roma entrance, located in the corner right next to the Baggage Deposit and the Pullman Bar (see the turquoise marker in the lower-left corner).
In the meantime, for you cruise passengers: arrangiatevi: you’ll just have to make do with current options.
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