I will be posting information about art at my old website. Please return to it and read what I have been doing in the art scene.
Go to Arttalk.blogspot.com
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the grand tour. You should plan to take it some time.
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Grand Tour - A Look Back
We began planning for the Grand Tour in January 2007. Our original intention was to visit the four major art events in Europe in the summer of 2007. Well, we made 3 of 4. Julia Chaplin writes about her grand tour in The Times.
We arrived in Basel, Switzerland on the opening day of Art Basel 38. The weather was perfect. Art Basel is an annual event. In fact, it has grown so large that there is now Art Basel-Miami held in December of each year.
This is an event where everything is for sale. About 300 major galleries from around the world apply and are selected to have a booth where they will showcase works in their collection. Many of these works are by well-known artists. The crowd at Art Basel was clearly well-heeled and ready to buy. The website for Art Basel 39 is already up and ready for your viewing. You can read articles about Art Basel from The New York Times. My final thoughts about Art Basel. I can't say I saw a lot of new and exciting art. I was most taken with a very large painting from China, a performance piece with William Hunt in a car filled with water, and by the Russian videos. The peripheral events such as Scope provided access for some of the lesser known galleries and artists. Perhaps those are the ones to watch in the future.
Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany was entirely different. Documenta began in Kassel in 1955 and was curated by Arnold Bode, an artist from the area. You can read a history of this event from their archives. Documenta occurs every 5 years. As with Art Basel, we arrived on opening day. Again the weather was just perfect. Now while Art Basel seems to be located in a large convention center type of space with booths from various galleries completely adjacent to each other, Documenta is located in 5 main spaces in this small town of Kassel, some 2 hours north of Frankfurt. The show was curated by the husband and wife team of Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack. Unlike Basel, this show is for the intellectual. Works of art are not for sale. Rather it offers an opportunity for works of art from a global perspective. Much of the work is from 2000 and upward, with many pieces from 2007. This is more conceptual than Art Basel or even the Biennale. You can read what The New York Times has to say. You can also see a slide show of some of the art works. What can I say about the art? I found the large sculpture by Ai Weiwei constructed from old doors and windows and located in the open garden space just behind the Orangerie wonderful. I did not like many of the video installations. This exhibit was extremely varied--with many new works that were challenging and interesting. Much of the art was very political.
We left Germany by car and plane and flew into Venice on June 18. The Biennale has opened a week earlier so I think we made a good choice in coming at this time and were able to avoid some of the crowds. As its name implies, the Biennale occurs every other year. The oldest of all these art events, the Biennale began in 1893 with the city of Venice passing a resolution to set up a biennial exposition of Italian art to begin in 1894. Read this detailed fascinating history up until World War 2. And for a recent historical account you can go here. For the first time, the Biennale has had an American curator: Robert Storr. Storr was named Dean of the Yale School of Art in 2006. Prior to that time he was at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and New York University. The Biennale is unlike either of the other two art events. First of all, it has a very long history. Permanent pavilions are located in Giardini in Venice. About 76 countries were chosen to be in the Biennale. I want to make some comment about the art. My favorite painter was Sigmar Polke. The canvasses were monumental in nature. He used materials that were really hard to discern. The content of the paintings was so enigmatic that I found myself wondering what I was looking at. As with Documenta, I found much of the art political in nature. The work by Gonzales-Torres got a lot of press, but I am not really sure why. Sophie Calle's installation in the French pavilion of responses by women to her "dear John" letter did nothing for me.
Now, unfortunately we ran out of time and never got to the Munster sculpture show. And it won't be up for another ten years. But I read that much of the work was old.
This turned out to be a marvelous experience. Art looking and family bonding were definitely two highlights. I can't forget the wine and beer and the other wonderful experiences all of us had.
We arrived in Basel, Switzerland on the opening day of Art Basel 38. The weather was perfect. Art Basel is an annual event. In fact, it has grown so large that there is now Art Basel-Miami held in December of each year.
This is an event where everything is for sale. About 300 major galleries from around the world apply and are selected to have a booth where they will showcase works in their collection. Many of these works are by well-known artists. The crowd at Art Basel was clearly well-heeled and ready to buy. The website for Art Basel 39 is already up and ready for your viewing. You can read articles about Art Basel from The New York Times. My final thoughts about Art Basel. I can't say I saw a lot of new and exciting art. I was most taken with a very large painting from China, a performance piece with William Hunt in a car filled with water, and by the Russian videos. The peripheral events such as Scope provided access for some of the lesser known galleries and artists. Perhaps those are the ones to watch in the future.
Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany was entirely different. Documenta began in Kassel in 1955 and was curated by Arnold Bode, an artist from the area. You can read a history of this event from their archives. Documenta occurs every 5 years. As with Art Basel, we arrived on opening day. Again the weather was just perfect. Now while Art Basel seems to be located in a large convention center type of space with booths from various galleries completely adjacent to each other, Documenta is located in 5 main spaces in this small town of Kassel, some 2 hours north of Frankfurt. The show was curated by the husband and wife team of Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack. Unlike Basel, this show is for the intellectual. Works of art are not for sale. Rather it offers an opportunity for works of art from a global perspective. Much of the work is from 2000 and upward, with many pieces from 2007. This is more conceptual than Art Basel or even the Biennale. You can read what The New York Times has to say. You can also see a slide show of some of the art works. What can I say about the art? I found the large sculpture by Ai Weiwei constructed from old doors and windows and located in the open garden space just behind the Orangerie wonderful. I did not like many of the video installations. This exhibit was extremely varied--with many new works that were challenging and interesting. Much of the art was very political.
We left Germany by car and plane and flew into Venice on June 18. The Biennale has opened a week earlier so I think we made a good choice in coming at this time and were able to avoid some of the crowds. As its name implies, the Biennale occurs every other year. The oldest of all these art events, the Biennale began in 1893 with the city of Venice passing a resolution to set up a biennial exposition of Italian art to begin in 1894. Read this detailed fascinating history up until World War 2. And for a recent historical account you can go here. For the first time, the Biennale has had an American curator: Robert Storr. Storr was named Dean of the Yale School of Art in 2006. Prior to that time he was at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and New York University. The Biennale is unlike either of the other two art events. First of all, it has a very long history. Permanent pavilions are located in Giardini in Venice. About 76 countries were chosen to be in the Biennale. I want to make some comment about the art. My favorite painter was Sigmar Polke. The canvasses were monumental in nature. He used materials that were really hard to discern. The content of the paintings was so enigmatic that I found myself wondering what I was looking at. As with Documenta, I found much of the art political in nature. The work by Gonzales-Torres got a lot of press, but I am not really sure why. Sophie Calle's installation in the French pavilion of responses by women to her "dear John" letter did nothing for me.
Now, unfortunately we ran out of time and never got to the Munster sculpture show. And it won't be up for another ten years. But I read that much of the work was old.
This turned out to be a marvelous experience. Art looking and family bonding were definitely two highlights. I can't forget the wine and beer and the other wonderful experiences all of us had.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Home at last
There was Richmond ready to greet us. We were finally home. And only one small suitcase was lost. And luckily it was delivered the next day. Stay tuned for more art adventures.
Frankfurt Hotel
In keeping with showing you our hotel rooms, this one was quite good. 
Lufthansa put us up at a new, clean, and quite nice hotel near the airport. We had vouchers for dinner and a free breakfast and transportation to and from the airport.
For those of you who like adventure, I should tell you we were able to catch an early plane--flew standby--but had quite good seats and got home much earlier than we expected.
Lufthansa put us up at a new, clean, and quite nice hotel near the airport. We had vouchers for dinner and a free breakfast and transportation to and from the airport.
For those of you who like adventure, I should tell you we were able to catch an early plane--flew standby--but had quite good seats and got home much earlier than we expected.
Lufthansa's Counter
I have discovered in my many travels that being pleasant to service people goes a long way. Unlike some of our fellow travelers, we were able to get some supplies from the airline that made our additional stay quite manageable.We were given emergency overnight packages from Lufthansa. They included an extra large t-shirt, tooth brush and tooth paste, comb, deodorant, and a razor.
One lesson I learned. Always carry a change of clothes and a toothbrush with you until you reach your final destination. You might not be so lucky to encounter a helpful person. I have been reading about lost luggage at Heathrow Airport. I wouldn't want to be stranded without anything.
Leaving Venice
I seem to have become addicted to the sudoku craze--it has replaced crossword puzzles. Now I have gotten my daughter involved.Actually we needed a break from looking at, talking about, and enjoying art.
Our art trip finally over, we relaxed as we awaited our flight to Frankfurt. Little did we know that the flight would be late and we would have to spend the night in Frankfurt before returning home.
Venice - Gloves
We saw many of these kind of shops all around the byways of Venice. Didn't buy any gloves, however.
I am struck by how artfully the Venetians arrange their goods for sale. If I didn't know better, I could see this as a piece of art.
Across the water from Arsenale
Known as the Arsenale di Venezia, this area is part of the Sestiere di Castello. The merchant and military fleets actually sailed from here. A big part of the exhibit we saw was housed in the main building. This view is set across from the Arsenale. We saw these large pieces, but never went to look closely at them.
Arsenale - Chinese Pavilion
Situated at the end of a long, hot walk, the Chinese pavilion exhibited these beautiful sculptures.
The first Chinese pavilion was at the 51st biennale--two years ago.
I don't think I agree with Michael Kimmelman when he says the biennale is subtle and sober and just a little bit of a bore. I wasn't really bored--although I wasn't quite bowled over either.
Arsenale - Italian Pavilion
Two artists were represented in this pavilion: Giuseppe Penone and Francesco Vezzoli. Penone 's lymph sculptures or leather trees were in sharp contrast to the contemporary videos of Vezzoli. This exhibit, curated by Ida Gianelli, were housed in this new Italian pavilion.
Arsenale - Happy Together
You can read about this work in Gardner, Storr, and Braun's book of the same name. This is an account of the Dutch photographer Jan Christaan Braun and his travels through New York looking at gravestones. The book came out in combination with this exhibit.
Arsenale - Y. Z. Kami
The Arsenale
The next day we spent at the Arsenale. This series is by Riyas Komu from India. Here you can read Megan Williams letter about the Biennale in general. These oil on canvas paintings were done in 2006.
Venice - Opera in the Palace
We were treated to La Traviata one evening in a palace. Jim was interested in the ceiling in one of the rooms.
Biennale
This and the next photo were constructed out of a material that appeared to be chalk, but wasn't.
Biennale- Japanese Pavilion
Here we had an opportunity to do a rubbing. The stones were taken from a train station in the old ujina station in Hiroshima city. Masao Okabe, the artist, has spent 9 years depicting towns and architecture. These come from bombed stones. You can read more about this technique called frottage. Can also learn more from Jeffrey Rosen's thoughtful article. 
Russian Pavilion
This shower stall was quite amazing. You can just see if you look closely the shower head hanging from above. The room was about the size of a shower. You stepped inside. All videos were scrolling down in each of the panels and sound was on.One of the few pictures we have of Jim, who liked it as well.
Biennale
Quite a range of work was available and I have decided to post for you to get a sense of what we saw. Dartboard. Wendy Dembo comments on this and others at the Biennale.
Felix Gonzalez Torres - Biennale
He was supposedly one of the hits of the show. I wrote about him much earlier. Here is Judy pondering the meaning of these licorice candies--perhaps a metaphor for who knows what.Venice Biennale - Sigmar Polke
Equally large, this piece is much more enigmatic. I read that he uses a variety of chemicals and substances. We couldn't really tell what this was, but it was in many layers and you would need to look at it for a much longer time to discover what was underneath, let alone what the meaning was.Venice Biennale - Sigmar Polke
I think of all the art I saw in all three locations, I liked the Polke work the best. This was one a number in the largest pavilion devoted to a number of artists. I am not sure you can tell about size, but it was enormous. It seemed to me that these little children were looking down on something sort of magical, but who is to really say.Venice Biennale - Belgium
There was an overwhelming amount to see here. The majority of the art, as I mentioned before, was housed either in Giardini della Biennale or Arsenale. In the former site, there were many separate pavilions representing different countries. Much of the work was in the Padiglione Italia and many different countries were represented here. In the remainder of the spaces, different pavilions housed work by artists from that country. We could not ever figure out how the curation was done--but my best sense is that Storr did the curation for the main pavilion and the details of each country's pavilion were left to representatives from the country--perhaps in conjunction with Storr. Located in the Belgium Pavilion, this piece is by Eric Duyckaerts. http://tagr.tv/2007/eric-duyckaerts-palace-of-mirrorsIt is Palace of Mirrors and Discoveries href="http://weblogart.blogspot.com/2007/06/eric-duyckaerts.html web
Venice - Biennale
I'm not exactly sure what Robert Storrs meant by think with the senses - feel with the mind - art in the present tense, but it was the title of the 52nd Venice Biennale.
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