Tag Archives: exhibitions

Biennale Bites – Preview Day 1

A glorious day; even if it did threaten to be a bit drippy, it never quite followed though. Between the ground that must be covered to get your press pass, the many square kilometers of the Giardini, the expansive Arsenale, and seemingly endless number of exhibitions that take place there, composed of and constructed from every conceivable form of medium imaginable — a day is barely enough to get started. I love the corderie (where all the ropes for Venetian vessels were once hewn and wound), a soaring space, which as you walk it presents you with once concept after another: some massive, some grouped, some walk through, some painted, some constructed, some inscrutable, some in your face. “It’s a photograph,” comments one onlooker. “I did one of these at university. Everything old is new again.” Contrast the ancient Corderie with a bright, blooming Giardini, dotted with pavilions large and small, each devoted to a single country, each proudly hosting this year’s representative exhibition.

But expression will not be confined, and neither will the Biennale. It’s as if exhibitions have rained down over the city, searching for a suitable space — and if there was one, it now hosts some irrepressible form of contemporary expression: palaces like the Prada-restored Corner, the Scuola della Misericordia, the Palazzo Grassi, the Fortuny; others like the Punto della Dogana, and more, and more. Sure, some are renovated for hotels, some hold regular concerts for tourists. But it seems the Biennale knew that these spaces were also ideal for something a bit more — vibrant — and has managed to bring the point home.

Whether the works are new or revived, comprehensible or less so, it’s a joyous thing for lots of reasons, this Biennale, not the least of which is being a catalyst in bringing old structures back to life and filling them with enough contemporary expression and vitality to the degree that every journalist who had the mean, the commission and who could spell the word “art” is here to see just what emerging artists from almost every country in the world have to say.

The former queen of Cyprus would be quite proud, I’d imagine. Do you think she’s keeping an eye out?

 

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A Millennium of Glass Mastery at the Correr

“The Adventure of Glass,” a brilliant exhibition of Venetian glass and the largest of its type since 1982, is at the Museo Correr through April 25th.

Most everyone who comes to Venice knows that Murano is famous for art glass production, though not many know why, or even what distinguishes it from any other sort of glass. Too few visitors portion out their limited time to become even mildly informed of the fascinating +1000-year history of Venetian glass — short of taking a “free” taxi ride offered by every lodging and guide in the city to a single commissioning furnace. What a pity.

Fear not, curious visitor: fi you’re traveling to Venice through April 25th, you’ll want to take in “The Adventure of Glass.” It’s a captivating and inspired exhibition at the Museo Correr, a reworked continuation of the one just ended at the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento.

The exhibition coincides with the imminent celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Museo del Vetro on Murano (a too often overlooked introduction to Murano glass), founded in 1861 by Abbot Zanetti, whose permanent collection houses many of the works on view at the Correr.

One of the most fascinating and surprising portions of the exhibit is the ancient glass recovered from lagoon and canal beds – on display for the first time, and attesting to just how long glass has been an integral part of the Venetian identity. They comprise some of the over three hundred objects you’ll peruse that include archeological glass (Roman and early Venetian), works from the Golden Age of the 15th-16th centuries to the inventive 17th and 18th centuries applying its elaborate, imaginative ingenuity to both form and material composition. After the subsequent decline, the modern renaissance of the 19th-20th centuries demonstrate how designers and glass masters began to collaborate to combine contemporary perspectives with the art form’s rich past to not only revive, but re-invent it with ingenious new techniques.

Note too, that during Carnevale (from the first week in February), over one hundred more items from the Maschietto collection will be added: presented in Venice for the first time, and combined with a selection of 18th century drawings from the Correr collections appropriate to Carnevale.

The Adventure of Glass: A Millennium of Venetian Art
Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco
Through April 25th, 2011
10am – 6pm, last entrance pm
Tickets €8 / €5 reduced

Click the image below to view the slideshow:

Photographs © Nan McElroy

Safet Zec: Powerful Painting at the Correr

Doors and drapes, boats and baskets, paints and potatoes, Venetian façades: silent, radiant objects speak volumes to viewers at the Correr until July 18th.

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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.

ZEC 04.jpgIf 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.

ZEC 012.jpgThe 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)