Florence Italy Mimmo Paladino Sculpture Contemporary

Dear Art Lover,

     There is a lot of “meh” and actual disgust going around now in Florence, Italy, [at least among my Florentine and Florence-based friends here] because of contemporary artist Jeff Koon’s current exhibition of two art pieces…. And not JUST here in the Renaissance City, but inside and in front of the Palazzo Vecchio!  [City Hall and in the main square of Florence]. 

     I have been perhaps too vocal about my feelings surrounding this artist and his work on Facebook, so look him up if you are curious about what could possibly disturb me so.

    The great thing is that during this same time there IS a marvelously successful CONTEMPORARY art exhibit in front of an antique building that works beautifully together.  The body of work out front anyway is titled, “The Witnesses,” by Mimmo Paladino.  As you can see, I was there late at night and thus, I have not yet seen the inside.  However, I will certainly do that once back from London.

    These primitive looking figures appear to be made from a volcanic stone; the sign says tufa, which is apparently a more porous form of limestone.  See?  This exhibition has taught me something already!  The artist has also used wood and metal in this composition of figures. I very much love how this works so well with the stone textured wall of the basilica.  I enjoy this area of town and it is a shame that I have never lived in that zone.  That is pretty much the only way I spend any real time anywhere.  But there is a lot going on and I have fond memories of my first trip to Italy in 2004 since I stayed at a hostel around the corner from this piazza.  ‘Twas lovely!

   













     Enjoy these images.  I include a snapshot looking away from the statues because this really cute girl rode up on her bike and starting speaking with the cute guard who watched over for vandals.  I am happy the shot is in focus since I get rather shy about taking these sorts of photos and often move the camera too quickly, ruining my bold effort.  I also included a shot of my friend and fellow painter Susan in front of the stone figures so that you have a better idea of their sizes.

      Exhibition continues until 9 January 2016, which thankfully is longer than what we must endure in Piazza della Signoria.  [There I said it again.  Jajaja]
FREE entrance, Monday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
See another Mimmo Paladino installation in historical Florence (also a good fit) that I wrote about years ago:  http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.it/2012/11/florens-2012-culture-week-florence-italy.html
And here:
http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.it/2012/11/the-kindness-of-strangers-and-angry-nun.html
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Let us meet in London!

Art NOW - London!

The Artists Fair - London [Yes, in the UK!]
WHEN: OPENING Preview > Thursday October 22, from 4 - 8 p.m.

Exhibition Hours > Friday & Saturday, October 23 & 24, from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Sunday October 25, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

WHERE: BARGEHOUSE, OXO Tower Wharf, South Bank, London SE1 9PH
WHY? Featuring Kelly's pastels and charcoal drawings from Morocco

The Artists Fair London 2015 presents 50 emerging and recently established artists from 30 countries (random order): Japan, France, Denmark, Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Israel, United Kingdom, Martinique, South Africa, USA, Kosovo, Netherlands, Catalonia, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, Norway, India, Lithuania, Russia, Canada, Taiwan, Finland, Switzerland, Romania, Estonia.

Free entry for visitors.

The great location, steps from both the Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern, and the perfect time, following the Frieze Week, can find yourself, ideally, in the heart of an international, fresh and vibrant art scene.

Receive Priority FREE ticket(s) ... no waiting: http://www.art-now.net/pdf/ART%20NOW%20priority%20ticket.pdf

Feel free to contact us for any information by info@art-now.net
ART NOW The Artists Fair London: www.art-now.net

Thank you for reading and making it all possible.
Peace,
Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher

http://BorsheimArts.com

Florence Italy Artisan Fair

Dear Art-Loving Friend,

     Today is the last day for Florence, Italy's "Mostra Internazionale dell’ Artigianato" or as my friend calls it, "The Ethnic Fair."  She looks forward to it every year.  This was the first time that I had ever attended.  It is held in the Fortezza da Basso, a huge contemporary exhibition space and former stronghold for the city.

     We went on Sunday, with the reduced entrance fee of only 4 euro (instead of 5,50).  [It is azalea season here, so the entrance was pretty.  Inside there are TONS of booths and they are organized in various sections. 

     My sister and brother-in-law are a big fan of beers, especially the flavored beers or regional brands.  This book caught my eye long enough to get offered a shot of beer for breakfast.  [Alex says this means "Success." ha]

 

The following shot was in the home and garden section, I think.  It seems so Italian to me and is a fun idea:

     I enjoyed the building containing recycled crafts that featured hand-made practical things from everyday objects.  Although well designed, I am not sure that the purses made from inner tubes and tires would suit me.  I could smell them from a fair distance!  However, there were many clever and some attractive ideas. 

 

     In the section of health products, my friend and I got to sample "Ass Milk" [a Kelly translation!] on our hands.  This lotion is made from donkey milk and appears on the expensive side.  But it felt good and was not at all greasy.  Naturally, I bumped into a friend of mine.  He patiently waited to say hello until I was done with the ass.

 

     The rich colors of spices never cease to charm me and there were several booths offering up these colorful and tasty treats.  I just wish that I knew more about what to do with them.

 

     Enjoy some of the largest loaves of bread that I have ever seen:

 

     And what patterns these umbrellas en masse make!

 

     My friend and I spent most of the time in the lower level of one building... what she calls the Ethnic Fair.  It is arranged by country, so it reminded me a bit of Disney's "It's a Small World" or Epcot... I bought rocks, but there were plenty of other temptations.  The little girl dresses are from Madagascar and really adorable.  Just another reason to go see that island country.

 

     I had to get the dog shot in since I love dogs inside... who knew really until I had my own companion.  He changed everything.  Italia is definitely open to allowing dogs in anywhere.  I just wish that Firenze had more public garden spaces for the animals to enjoy.

 

     This next is an image of one of the several varieties of 3-D "carving" machines.  I know that sculptors are jumping on board this idea of scanning their designs or creating sculptures on a computer and then cutting them out using a program and automatic blades, but for me, that is just not sexy enough and takes the tactile fun out of it for me.  However, the technology is in use and I cannot stop "progress" even if it ruins my own career.  And truthfully, I am still fascinated by machines. and engineering.

     This last building we entered contained more of the finer arts.  This last image is not a painting.  It is one of the images created in "pietra dura" (literally translated into "hard stone").  It is the fine art of mosaic and each piece of stone is carefully choosen for its colors and patterns and then precisely hand cut to fit into the next shaped stone.  I have mixed feeling for "Pietra dura."  If the right stones are chosen and the design is artistic, then I tend to feel awe when I see them.  If not, they look kitsch and horrid.

     Today is the last day of the Arts and Crafts fair at the Fortezza.  It is open until 10 p.m. today and I am told it is bargaining day more than any of the others were.  Last night was Firenze's "Notte Bianca" and between that and having friends in town this week, I am getting a late start on the day.  Today is also another one of those Italian spring holidays.  So, I need to get to work now!  Thank you for reading.

Vermeer Exhibition Rome Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

We went to Roma recently to see the exhibit “Vermeer: il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese” ("Vermeer: the Golden Age of Dutch Art"), although being the multi-taskers that we all are, Vermeer was not the only reason to go to Roma (as hopefully you gathered from my recent blog posts). The exhibit was inside the Quirinale in the central part of the city and is easy to find.

I enjoyed the display. Each painting was hung on its own colored wall. There was a warm feel to the room by the variety of colors chosen and the personal attention given to each work. The artist’s name was written at the top of each wall, except Vermeer’s. His purple walls signified royalty, and like royalty, one need not be given the royal person’s name. One is expected to know these things already.

It is quite possible that I “people watch” as much as I look at the art on the walls. I was enchanted by a father who took his young son to each painting. They spoke at length about each one, longer than most people generally stand in front of a work of art. They are in the foreground of this image I secretly took of one of the Vermeer’s paintings on exhibit. (See the purple wall?) Until someone can explain how my flash-less, noiseless behavior is hurting the art or the viewers of it, I will continue to take images without permission. Most of the time, what I am interested in is not something that I will find on a postcard, or even sometimes in the catalog. And there you have it: another human behavior noted. We all justify our own actions, good or “bad.”

This painting of the girl in the red hat by Johannes Vermeer is the one that is being used on all the publicity. It is quite beautiful with a wonderful use of color and, of course, light. But I had not expected it to be so small, perhaps 8 x 6 inches? It is no surprise that the qualities that I enjoyed about the Vermeers were the soft edges, atmosphere, and the dramatically soft light.

As my friend Roberto pointed out, “The Lute Player” (shown here) is lovely because of its intimacy. The majority of the paintings in this exhibit were by contemporaries or perhaps students or followers of Vermeer. However, most were not to my taste. In general, one could appreciate the skills and technique involved. Painting is, after all, a difficult thing to do well. Besides the occasional poor drawing skills, the edges were all so sharp that I wondered if these artworks were painted in the fast drying egg tempera. When edges are consistently sharp, the viewer can have the impression that the work was a bit formulaic, not unlike a paint-by-number situation, although I am not intending to be so ugly.

I do not know art history as well as I should, I suppose, but it seems to me that the Dutch were interested in portraying their own contemporary Dutch life sooner than many other painters had moved away from mythological or religious concepts. I enjoyed how often dogs were painted into these scenes. I miss my dog Zac a lot and remember well how important these companions are in our daily lives. I was also amused by the artists who wanted us to see dogs peeing, even inside of a church!

The painting that I found myself drawn to again and again was the self-portrait of Carel Fabritius. A student of Rembrandt and tutor to Vermeer, he died at a horribly young age, in the famous Delft Explosion. Carel Fabritius died of his injuries after a gunpowder store exploded. Most of his paintings were lost as well.

This self portrait from 1650 (four years before his death) is beautifully done and we studied it for a long while. But what is up with that hat on the right side? Seriously, had it made sense and been symmetrical with the rest of the form of the hat, it would not be nearly as interesting a shape! How does one invent such joys? Also, as I commented to Roberto, the eyes do not match up as we are taught to do, but they work. However, I do not think the eyes would have worked if the shoulders did not work with them. There is a quality – je ne sais quoi – that is consistent in the body language. It is the illusive thing that we artists want to capture… the essence of the emotion in the gesture. Hmmm….

The exhibit “Vermeer: il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese” ("Vermeer: the Golden Age of Dutch Art") continues at the Quirinale in central Rome until 20 January 2013.

Here are some lovely large images from the Vermeer exhibit, including a study that Vermeer did from a Florentine artist. It is interesting to see the changes that he made to the original: https://art4arte.wordpress.com/tag/jan-van-der-heyden/

You might also enjoy this link: http://www.alaintruong.com/tag/Carel%20Fabritius.

Buon compleanno, Roberto! Your enthusiasm is contagious and pure.

P.S. These latter images are some of the views I had while inside the Quirinale in Roma, Italy.

Roberto Castellini Art Santa Margherita Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

One of my long-time friends, Roberto Castellini, is currently having his first art exhibit (mostra) in his hometown of Santa Margherita in northwestern Italy. Santa Margherita is on the coast in Ligure, near the more famous Portofino. I visited there once two years ago, but never recognized the place as Roberto’s hometown because he has always described where he grew up as “my little fishing village.” I include a snapshot of part of Santa Margherita. See if you can understand my disconnect!

Roberto has exhibited and sold his work in England, where he has spent most of his years since I met him in Firenze back in 2006. He was a bit nervous, I think, to show his work in his own town, but mostly because he did not have enough of it available for the Castle where his work now hangs. [This is not an uncommon problem for artists who sell their work!] Here is the Castle in which you may find the paintings and drawings of Roberto Castellini (“little castles”) each weekend until June 30. The Castle is easy to find in the center of the coastal town.

This Italian artist enjoys painting landscapes and still life compositions (much kinder in English than “natura morta” [“dead nature” is the literal translation for “still life” in Italian]). While I was trying to get shots of people at the inaugurazione on 9 June, you may see some of the paintings in these images. He has already received some inquiries for purchases and a potential commission for this genre.

That said, Roberto has begun to focus primarily on portraits. He has spent the last nine months working in Firenze with models, painting exclusively from life. He did not choose to exhibit all of these paintings and drawings though, preferring to show a variety of subjects and skills.

We have a lovely group of artists that get together each Thursday after the art history lecture given at the Charles Cecil Studios in Firenze. Several of us made a car trip up to Santa Margherita to help Roberto start this event in a fun way. I only state this to apologize in advance for the goofy photo of our friend Caroline and me goofing around. She is British and we have been having fun with our personal favorite phrases, as well as pronunciation differences. Caroline often uses the exclamation, “Delicious!” and since I did not particularly enjoy the taste of the drink in my hand, I was being a bit sarcastic about it as we teased each other. That said, I included this shot because the portrait in charcoal that is behind me was my favorite portrait in the exhibition.

Finally, I wrap up this blog post with a photo of me with my artist friend Roberto. I love it that the shot (taken by one of his family members) includes a nude and a portrait. Here are the visiting hours for the show, which sadly ends with this month. The Castle is rented out during the summer for weddings and other festive events. The organizer of this space told me that only in June and September are they able to start showing artwork. Get over to Santa Margherita if you can. Lovely art, lovely little fishing village!

Exhibit hours:
• Saturday 10:00-12:30 and 17:00-22:00 (closes 10 p.m.)
• Sunday: 10:00-12:30 and 17:00-19:00
• Last day = 30 June 2012