Florence Biennale Opening Day

December 5 Click on images to see larger view

biennale heralds drum and march through the pavilion on opening day biennale heralds drum and march through the pavilion on opening day biennale heralds drum and march through the pavilion on opening day biennale heralds drum and march through the pavilion on opening day biennale heralds drum and march through the pavilion on opening day

Opening day. After rising, I ate breakfast, did a short bit of email to DH, and I headed down to the exhibition hall. I did participate in the Biennale every day of the trip. Eventually my emails started reading same s-t different day. But I had not yet reached this phase, and everything was still new, shiny and exciting. I didn't realize it but unlike the set up days when the hall opened at 8 AM, for the show, the hall was not officially open until 10. I was there at 9:30 before the show opened so I got to have a nearly private preview of the show. There were still at least 30 spaces without art, but art did continue to arrive for many days after the opening.

reports cram the entrance trying to get a shot of the Italian presidenttable of compimentary artists literature at the biennalejake beckman's name on biennale roster wall

On this day I met my homies so to speak. Else Pia Martinsen Erz had the large avian paintings next to mine. Lynne Iggulden was there with her hubby Bob; she painted rustic items in a realism style. Anita Fleerackers and her mate were there; Anita did bronzes and her abstract bull became my favorite sculpture of the whole show. Gunnel Hillerstrom painted abstracts and representational abstracts in a variety of media. Stefanie Krome had a large installation - I think it was supposed to represent a toilet paper role and was social commentary of the role of women and concepts of beauty in society. Simon Borst did impressionistic landscapes of the suburbs. Esther Wertheimer, an older woman with the most active social life of us who did whimsical bronze figures. All of these artists and their companions were in the immediate vicinity and all spoke English and were very friendly. In addition there were a couple of non English speakers in the area too, Haydee Las (Argentina) and her husband; she did impressionistic paintings of trains. And Caterina Fuccella was there with her father(?), she did brightly colored heavily stylized paintings of cats and things. Anyway the immediate neighborhood was a very friendly bunch.

But I kept wander off and introducing myself to other artists for the duration of the show. Tawera Tahuri and Lianne Adams, both from New Zealand offered to let me come crash with them in their apartment, but my hotel rate was predicated on an extended stay so I was unable to take advantage of their offer. Tawera Tahuri brought these 7 massive Po, which are kind of like Maori totem poles, although she made them out of nontraditional materials such as fiber glass.

anita fleerackers and esther werthiemer ham it upjake beckman and hayat gul near the bird walljake beckman else pia martensen erz anita fleerackers with elses arttawera tahuri and her 7 giant po

On this first day there were some artists, Elisha Ben-Yitzhak, Jackie Levine and Eduardo Chirino, whom organized a meeting of US Biennale participants. So we all got together and introduced ourselves. I also met with Anne Drosendahl, a Phoenix AZ artist like myself. She introduced me to Bronwyn Towle from California. Jaime Eduardo Chirino put together a list of email addresses of the Biennale artists. Elisha, Jackie and Eduardo were and are very ambitious. Anne and I went out for a Panini. On this day the "get artists to sign my book" project formed; it was all very high school yearbook-like, but I found it to be a great icebreaker in general.

Haydee Las very excitedly told me the judges had been looking at my work, but nothing came of it.

I met Regina Miele, from Washington DC, who was on the other side of my wall. She does large moody landscapes.

stefani krome and else pia martensen erz chat about stefanis workregina mieles moody landscapes jaime eduardo chirinos wall mounted sculpture simon borst manning his station at the biennale

For dinner, Hayat and I went to a Pizzeria near her hotel and that is where I learned that there is not much difference between some 3 star hotels and some 4 star hotels in Florence Italy, except price and the appearance of the lobby, her room was no larger or well accommodating than mine and apparently Hotel Arizona had a better breakfast spread.

Random Art Pictures

Leslie Andelin abstract paintingsLene Von Thiess Abstract figure paintingsLee Campbell Moody Landscape paintingsKimberly Berg monochromatic figure paintings

Next Day: December 6 

 
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Florence Biennale Opening Day
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