venice mon amour
ciao ragazzi-
first off:
New Italian Cinema begins in San Francisco November 14th until the 21st. I am going. You should go with me.
thought i would post a real update again. this may be my last update unless i find my way back to my old internet stopoff in Rome on Sunday.
I am bleeding money in Venice. and its money i don't have. i should've shopped for friends, boyfriend and relatives in Rome. my fear of dragging shit around with me stopped me stupidly from buying early. ugh. so now everyone gets chocolate and cheesy murano glass wine stoppers. it's crazy expensive here, but i found a piece of pizza for 1 euro. awesome.
so here is what I have done:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
this may have been my highlight of Venice. Ironic that it's modern and postmodern stuff that would be my highlight, but not really if you know my background. The bio of her i read last year told a story of how an art collecter came to see her in Venice and they were standing next to the Marini statue of the horse and rider (you can unscrew the penis). she said to the art collector something along the lines of "all of Venice centers around this hard spot" as she held the penis. then she unscrews the penis and hands it to the collector and asks her to kiss him. he practically ran away. anywho....saw the sculpture!! laughed out loud. hope they gave that penis a good washing. highlights of the collection include the goauche Max Ernst painting, the Carlo Carrà collage, the George Grosz and the Stuart Davis sketch. easily the best part for me was seeing the Modigliani, Portrait of Frank Haviland. I think i sat on the bench in front of this for atleast 30 minutes, if not more. it made me so sad. it's not often you get to see a Modigliani, atleast for me anyway. i think i saw a work on paper in a gallery in the city. I can't think of any museum in SF that has one of his pieces. you can see Picassos, Miros, Matisses....etc. just not Modi. so usually i stand in front of his stuff for along time, as well as when i come upon an Otto Dix. same thing.
another nice part of the gallery was the visual timeline along the wall of how Guggenheim and Keisler built the NYC gallery. it featured some of the original chairs, and had some lovely gouche sketches. which i like, as you can tell. also, the headstone over Peggy's urn was nice and to the point, and her ashes are buried next to her 12 or whatever beloved dogs.
Churches
lets see...i have been to so many...the three that have stood out are the Church (and Scuola) of San Rocco, the Frari, and the Madonna of the Miracoli. i have seen so many Tintorettos. the man just likes to puke bodies onto the canvas, doesnt he? there was one, in the San Rocco church, which had me totally baffled and i still havent a clue what it is about. it had what looked like winged horses and many men running in angst. yep. the wood carvings with the school of San Rocco were amazing...totally blew me away and reminded me of the stuff that i saw in Urbino.
The Church of the Madonna of the Miracoli...if you ever go to Venice, go to this Church. its tiny and plopped down alongside a small canal. the entire outside basically moves with color. the Lombardo family used so many different colors of marble and made these patterns that both vibrate the church and help visually elongate its short length. you dont really need to go inside. its the outside that blew me away. hard as hell to find. i went completely in a circle around it. and the store across from it is a classical guitar shop and was spouting out Vivaldi's Four Seasons while i was climbing around the church. definately a moment.
So i'm really excited about tomorrow. instead of going to the Ducal Palace or St Marks Basilica and stand in the long lines, im skipping those and heading to the Maritime museum. 4 stories of nautical history of Venice. the city itself is nautical history. i looked it up and they have Peggy's gondola, the last privately owned gondola in venice. and i could use a day without seeing another Madonna con Bambino.
also, i found one of only like 3 places in Venice that builds gondolas. i think ill ty and fit that in on my San Polo trek to find glass for mom. so i think thats my last day in Venice. the internet cafe i am sitting at is like the hopping place...its run by brits and they are having a party here tomorrow night. for halloween. speaking of Halloween, i wish i could celebrate with you guys.
I love you so much, Italy! thank you for your wonderful people, your gorgeous landscape, your art in all of its forms, your language, your funny politics, your incredible reality tv, and the best food ever (vegans beware). arrivaderci! i land in SFO on monday at 1:30 pm, with a cute boyfriend waiting for me when i get off. sigh. burrito and my boyfriend. a perfect way to end my Italy trek.
first off:
New Italian Cinema begins in San Francisco November 14th until the 21st. I am going. You should go with me.
thought i would post a real update again. this may be my last update unless i find my way back to my old internet stopoff in Rome on Sunday.
I am bleeding money in Venice. and its money i don't have. i should've shopped for friends, boyfriend and relatives in Rome. my fear of dragging shit around with me stopped me stupidly from buying early. ugh. so now everyone gets chocolate and cheesy murano glass wine stoppers. it's crazy expensive here, but i found a piece of pizza for 1 euro. awesome.
so here is what I have done:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
this may have been my highlight of Venice. Ironic that it's modern and postmodern stuff that would be my highlight, but not really if you know my background. The bio of her i read last year told a story of how an art collecter came to see her in Venice and they were standing next to the Marini statue of the horse and rider (you can unscrew the penis). she said to the art collector something along the lines of "all of Venice centers around this hard spot" as she held the penis. then she unscrews the penis and hands it to the collector and asks her to kiss him. he practically ran away. anywho....saw the sculpture!! laughed out loud. hope they gave that penis a good washing. highlights of the collection include the goauche Max Ernst painting, the Carlo Carrà collage, the George Grosz and the Stuart Davis sketch. easily the best part for me was seeing the Modigliani, Portrait of Frank Haviland. I think i sat on the bench in front of this for atleast 30 minutes, if not more. it made me so sad. it's not often you get to see a Modigliani, atleast for me anyway. i think i saw a work on paper in a gallery in the city. I can't think of any museum in SF that has one of his pieces. you can see Picassos, Miros, Matisses....etc. just not Modi. so usually i stand in front of his stuff for along time, as well as when i come upon an Otto Dix. same thing.
another nice part of the gallery was the visual timeline along the wall of how Guggenheim and Keisler built the NYC gallery. it featured some of the original chairs, and had some lovely gouche sketches. which i like, as you can tell. also, the headstone over Peggy's urn was nice and to the point, and her ashes are buried next to her 12 or whatever beloved dogs.
Churches
lets see...i have been to so many...the three that have stood out are the Church (and Scuola) of San Rocco, the Frari, and the Madonna of the Miracoli. i have seen so many Tintorettos. the man just likes to puke bodies onto the canvas, doesnt he? there was one, in the San Rocco church, which had me totally baffled and i still havent a clue what it is about. it had what looked like winged horses and many men running in angst. yep. the wood carvings with the school of San Rocco were amazing...totally blew me away and reminded me of the stuff that i saw in Urbino.
The Church of the Madonna of the Miracoli...if you ever go to Venice, go to this Church. its tiny and plopped down alongside a small canal. the entire outside basically moves with color. the Lombardo family used so many different colors of marble and made these patterns that both vibrate the church and help visually elongate its short length. you dont really need to go inside. its the outside that blew me away. hard as hell to find. i went completely in a circle around it. and the store across from it is a classical guitar shop and was spouting out Vivaldi's Four Seasons while i was climbing around the church. definately a moment.
So i'm really excited about tomorrow. instead of going to the Ducal Palace or St Marks Basilica and stand in the long lines, im skipping those and heading to the Maritime museum. 4 stories of nautical history of Venice. the city itself is nautical history. i looked it up and they have Peggy's gondola, the last privately owned gondola in venice. and i could use a day without seeing another Madonna con Bambino.
also, i found one of only like 3 places in Venice that builds gondolas. i think ill ty and fit that in on my San Polo trek to find glass for mom. so i think thats my last day in Venice. the internet cafe i am sitting at is like the hopping place...its run by brits and they are having a party here tomorrow night. for halloween. speaking of Halloween, i wish i could celebrate with you guys.
I love you so much, Italy! thank you for your wonderful people, your gorgeous landscape, your art in all of its forms, your language, your funny politics, your incredible reality tv, and the best food ever (vegans beware). arrivaderci! i land in SFO on monday at 1:30 pm, with a cute boyfriend waiting for me when i get off. sigh. burrito and my boyfriend. a perfect way to end my Italy trek.