VENICE.

Travels are for to step out of the usual. I needed a break and went to one of my all time favorite cities, Venice.

No cars, water everywhere, a labyrinth to get heavenly lost in (which one night I managed to do very well) and drinking lots of cappuccinos.

Three days were enough to charge the batteries.

I brought a good book to read.

My apartment was in Cannaregio, the old ghetto of Venice. I explored that neighborhood and discovered that even here one has to go to the limits to find peace and ‘real life’.

Did Aldo Rossi design these house blocks? Who can help me out? Street name: calle de Muschier.

Nor Sergio, nor Mauro had the answer.

The best part of Venice to live is Castello next to the Arsenale. You can still find little shops that don’t sell glass of Burano or masks made in China sold for ‘less than half of the price’. There are many quiet canals and squares.

SOUVENIRS.

I needed to buy presents for Gala.

I found the perfect ‘souvenirs’ in a shop next to Sergio’s studio.

In a little alley you find a bookshop that perfectly fits in a Tim Burton movie. I had seen it before, but it had always been closed.

Outside there are bookshelves with novels and other for the price of 1 or 2 euros. On the door hangs a carton box in which you deposit the money for the books you bought.

But the best is in the shop.

Sergio introduced me to Luciano, the shopkeeper. Apart from a bookseller, he is a ‘restauratore e reciclatore ricreativo’ and a ‘fisico teorico’. We had a lively discussion influenced by the smell of alcohol. Luciano needs to be inspired.

I bought two objects for Gala: a metal dog and a mini skateboard for incense. Luciano makes objects like these out of rubbish.

Luciano is ‘into wheels’. He makes dog sculptures on wheels and asked me why the wheel does not exist in nature. I got half way (he was pleasantly surprised). His explanation: all living things in nature grow. They need to be supplied and therefore veins that carry the ‘food’. The veins will snap in a situation of a turning object within another.

I came up the Wentelteefjes (invented by M. C. Escher), known to him too.

If the whole animal turns into a wheel, it does not count.

More subjects were discussed. If I had stayed for the rest of the week, we would have solved all the problems of the world. Luciano is that kind of a man.

I am concerned about the future of the Venice I love and charish. That is why I ask all of you romantic and lost souls to pay at least a visit to Lucianos shop. If a souvenir is too expensive, buy some books. It is not too late to act against all the into horrible tourist attractions turned monuments and shops!

TITIAN IN THE FRARI AND OTHERS.

I did not overeat on art this trip; I needed a break. But the Basilica dei Frari could not be left aside. Titian! Who can become so illustrious that in the same church where there is a painting, that same painting is copied in a basso relief in a monument that honors you?

This church is so overwhelming. The beautiful Bellini painting (sorry, no image, I can keep going on and on) and the outrageous monument to Giovanni Pesaro amongst others...

In this monument slaves carry the heavy load of the rests of dear Giovanni. In another part of the church three deformed hunchbacks carry the rests of Jacopo Marcello. Art is a heavy load to carry...

Of course I went to see some of the Biennale, but there was not really something that I find worth talking about. Time will tell if I am wrong.

Just one more image of Venice and then it is time to move on.

MILAN.

After Venice I spent two days in Milan and was washed clean by lots of rain. It did not discourage Mauro and I seeing modern and a little less modern architecture.

We were prepared!

How I love the Milan trams!

Milan is always shopping music and books.

I bought a book about the arts, it will help me much with my understanding of not only old art, I hope.

I did not find the cd I wanted of Renato Zero (Mauro is a fan too, see our hats). 

Renato Zero is by far the worst and craziest dressed cantautore. But after a couple of glasses of wine, he brings tears to my eyes. Maybe because he dresses the way he does. You just don't expect it.

For years I have resisted. When with Anna walking through Rome near Campo dei Fiori, she would indicate where Renato and his band would go for dinner; I'd always change subject. Only the last three years I am a fan.

I guess wisdom comes with the years or sentimentality or both...

SENTIMENTAL: OLD ART OF MINE IN MILAN.

This triptych I made in 1989, if I remember well, it is called 'Homage to Michelangelo'. It is one of two reasonably big works that are in Milano in a private collection. Sweet memories… I had a show and sold out, those were the days... 

To finish this a bit confused blog, with tears in my eyes, I'd love to have you listen to a song of Zero ('Magari', 'Cercami' or 'I migliori anni della nostra vita') but fear it is too hard core, so let's go back to Venice, city for lost and melancolic souls...

Click on the image for some Vivaldi.