All That I Have Seen

Three months have gone by and now I sit here reflecting on all that I have experienced. I arrived in Florence not knowing what to expect, naive, full of excitement and now I don't know how to leave.

It was just three months ago that I was home going to school and work leading a simple life, I do not believe I can go back to that same life. My classes have been held under frescos, I have given presentations in the Uffizi and Bargello, for class trips I have been to the Venice Biennale and Rome, I understood this was apart of the program but I underestimated its impact. Living here has been something out of a dream, where everything is fixed with a walk and everything is made all that much better with a walk.

 

I will always remember the view from my window and I will carry Florence with me. 

Art and Science

Since the Renaissance art and science have dance with each other. We all know Leonardo Da Vinci and his contributions to both art and science but what about working artist today? The dance continues science pushes art and art, not only painting and sculpture but literature as well, pushes science. Both art and science ask the big questions, "How do we move forward?" "What is true?"and "Why?" Science fiction writers have been doing this out in the open for years with "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "John Carter of Mars,""Starship Troopers" to name a few. What artist dream up scientist are working to make a reality and the very cutting edge of science verges on art. Looking at a slide of a cell, almost any cell, is a beautiful photograph. You can see the foundation of life in all its complexity and beauty. So long as people are questioning their place in the world art and science will continue to dance.

The Height Of Fresco

It is one thing to learn about fresco painting and gain an understanding of how difficult the medium is it is another thing entirely to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel then the Last Judgment. Having just stood beneath this ceiling I am at a loss for words.

Again I find myself completely overwhelmed. There is so much to see, as I stand in the center and look up, still I can not see all it, it goes on past my field of vision. I walk back to the beginning, the creation of matter and slowly work my way to the life of Noah. Only after some time has passed do I begin to notice the pain in my neck and I am just looking up, Michelangelo had to paint like this for years and race against time. Only to be asked years later to paint the Last Judgment I cannot even begin to comprehend how he was able to one let alone both and his numerous other works.

Venice...

Never before have I been so overwhelmed. First there is the city magnificent and beautiful, I now fully understand why the Impressionist painted the way they did, it is the only way to do the city justice. Before going to Venice I had never known how air could have a presence aside from smog, now it is how I identify the city. It may be intangible but it is at the heart of the city. A snapshot of what it means to be a contemporary artist in a given country and the would is the Venice Biennale, this I knew but I was not prepared for the endurance needed. The endurance race of the Venice Biennale its self is equal to nothing. Each room has its own identity and it is as though the rooms will never end. With no windows I lost all sense of time, I became a pair of eyes moving form piece to piece, willing myself to give everything to each piece, how could I not? Eventually I made my way out of the labyrinth that is the Biennale only to find smaller shows from the participating countries. At this point I felt like jello I had already seen so much, I continued on. From here it is just a blur I was taken to the second half, the

Giardini, where I found even more rooms and more countries. Art on this scale is daunting, where do you start and once you do you better hope you know what you are getting yourself into. 

Curation

When looking at art, in a gallery, museum or anywhere else, I tend to forget the curation and focus on the art itself. Now this could be a sign of a poorly curated show or on the other hand how seamlessly the pieces were brought together. Then again I am biased, I too make objects so for me they come first and everything else is second. Manny shows, especially those financed by public institutions, are curated chronologically, for teaching purposes this makes complete sense, the history of the would through art or the life of an artist through his/her artistic development. What about a group show in a gallery, what brings these pieces together? These paintings for example were made by two different people at the same time chronologically they make sense, it can also be argued that the friendship between the two people brings them together but is that enough? Curation can make or break a show, what if anything brings these two painters together?

Graffiti Meets Renaissance

Christ taken off the cross, we immediately think of an image, or the idea of Christ being taken off the cross. So when I came across a weeping Marry over her dead son I immediately recognized the image but what I saw was not painting or sculpture but graffiti. On my way home I looked up at an end of road sign, a “T” on a blue field with the top of the “T” red and the rest white, and I am confronted with this image. Marry is in the streets still weeping over her dead son, I can still see a ghost image of christ’s body having been previously hung on the cross, “T”. This image is so loaded it is perfect for the political side of graffiti and at the same time the maker of this image is having a conversation with every artist who has ever made such a work of art. In no way do I think the maker is mocking the church but is choosing to reappraise the image. Even if the maker is mocking the church he/she is subtle in his/her stance.

Throughout the history of art there have been collectors and connoisseurs and with graffiti any and everyone can be both. All you need is to take a moment and look around, take a picture if you want, question its motivations, ask questions that cant be answered. Decide for yourself if graffiti is art, if so why, what is good, what is bad, what do you like, what do you want to see? Graffiti has no patron but is a product of its time and place. Only here in Florence could I see Marry weeping over her dead son’s body in class then go to any museum and see it in person and be in aww of its power as an art object and on my way home see it again this time new and fresh as graffiti. 

Painting...

What is there to say about painting that has not already been said, all I can offer is my personal experience. Sometimes it goes well, other times it is rough and then there those rare times when you have lost track of everything, so much so that there is no memory, then something jolts you back to reality and one, two maybe three hours has passed. No mater what state you are in, good, bad or in a trance the only thing that matters is the work and if is good. When everything is going well it is easier to fall into old habits and then fall into that ever so fun rough patch. It is there that the painting first begins to form, before that it was just an abstract idea. Now you are confronted with all of your decisions and you must decide to stop, to continue with your plan, alter it, to step back and wait or just scrape everything off and mix batch black? This choice defines each and every painting and changes form painting to painting. Knowing what to do is an art itself, and only becomes slightly easier after having made hundreds of paintings.

Paint can be manipulated to look like anything and at the same time why would you want to when paint is so luscious on its own. The first thing you see when looking at a painting is the paint itself, why would you want to detract from that? Now when I walk through museums I see great works and I am in awe and then I remember the paint that I am seeing is a record of the artist decisions. How far to push this or that, scrape off what was bad and begin again, touch this up, get that reflection just so, capture the essence of the moment with the perfect blue, not so dark that it is black but just sits off on the line and remains blue.

Beauty?

In one of my painting classes I was once given the assignment, make a good painting and a bad painting, when we all came to the next class our definition of painting was changed forever. Some of us tried to make a bad painting by breaking every rule, the subject was in the center, using contrasting colors, etc. and some of us chose to depict something bad, a gas mask and fire. Those who made "ugly" paintings made quite good painting for all the reasons that they should have been bad. It was then that I realized painting, art for that matter rarely is bad or "ugly."

"1st Wire Bridge," 1971
Florist wire, nails, 37 1/2 x 38 1/2 overall
The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas 
The works of Richard Tuttle can be seen by some as bad or "ugly," yes they can be difficult to understand at first glance but then you realize the subtly in them and they are no longer what you first encountered.  Some are as simple as a pencil line drawn on the shadow of a wire or a length of rope nailed to the wall. 

"3rd Rope Piece," 1974
Cotton and nails, 1/2 x 3 x 1/2 inches
Collection Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, New York

Beauty can be found in most anything, therefore art cannot be ugly but it is also not always beautiful.

Walking In Florence

I have never walked so much in my life before arriving in Florence. Coming from a society that only walks to their cars and that is to far, this was quite a shock. Walking is a means of transportation and is treated as thus, when you have to be somewhere you walk there, when you are just about the city you stroll, look in windows take in the sights and when your hands a full of groceries you maybe surprised at how quick you can get home. After having been in the city nearly a month now I fully understand what it means to walk and what it means to walk in Florence. Never before did I walk down a street and be keenly aware of each sound, is that a bike, a bus, a car or just someone in a hurry. Each day we all participate in this dance, going to school you may become engulfed in a tour group, you were just on your way to class but now you are determined to escape this sea of people. So much so that if you were walking with others you all stop talking and begin slip in and out of the group without hesitation, only to reassemble and continue on your way.

There is a freedom that comes with the ability to drive and it is something those of who drive know but I have learned over this last month is there is also a freedom in going for a walk. Maybe its because I don't enjoy driving like most that have become so fond of my walks but they simply make me happy. I know no where else where I can get lost then find my way to a monument or piazza get lost again and again find a monument or piazza and make it home. These walks take me to new places, some familiar ones and from time to time I see familiar faces too. Each walk is different but when I am just out for a walk I still find it difficult to believe I am here. It was only a month ago that I was walking to my car and now I routinely walk to Piazza della Signoria.