Collectors, a Rare Breed

Rome made me think about collectors. People like the Popes, the Borghese, the Medicis or the Farnese, who transformed Florence and Rome. 

I also encountered other kinds of collectors, those who just buy and buy, often the same things over and over again like Evan Gorga. For instance in the current exhibit at Pallazzo Altemps, he owned multiple examples of mortars (for pestles) in the shape of fingers.

And the impulse is everywhere. Look at Graham Barker who collects his navel hair or Natasha Goldsworth who has an enormous Hello Kitty collection.

And of course, the famous/infamous Herb and Dorothy, with whom our interest shows no sign of abating.

Art News publishes the top 200 collectors every year or one might look at a more historical list of collectors. And so on and so on.

If 98% of Americans have a moving experience with art at some point in their lives, why do only 27% think artists should be paid reasonably for their labors?  ,,,Let us now thank collectors one and all.

Echo Shapes

Echo shapes eternally reinterpreted. The strategy connecting old and new.

Veni, Vidi, Selfie

I am still amazed by the connectivity of all our new devices. Here I am on a super fast train (250 mph +) from Rome (heyday 200 b.c.e.) to Florence (heyday 1400 to 1700 a.d.) and I'm using a smaller than a deck of cards 64 gig wireless hard drive loaded with a SD card from my camera to send images directly to my phone where I am blogging via the internet (so now.)

Selfie, Selfie, Selfie

The current wild wave of selfies has given rise to a host of controversy. And has spawned a new industry.  Guys now walk around Rome selling sticks that will hold your cell phone far enough away to get yourself, your loved ones and a monument. Monumental vanity?

Jet Lag

I think I am going to be too jet lagged to post this Tuesday so I will just share some of my snaps from the last time I was in Rome plus the foot that I'm sure inspired Philip Guston and my two favorite paintings I did in Rome. And Rome is worth how many words?  Oh, just one. Bellissima!

Bella Roma — Love letters in paper.

Going back to my beloved Rome next week. Looking for more inspiration for my work. I need to revisit the sources for a body of works in paper that I created two, three years ago. You can see there is quite a variety in the techniques: marbling, painting, working with charcoal, using copper pulp, doing dye transfers and more.  I was pushing paper in a lot of different ways as I learned more and more. Dieu Donné helped me with all of this. No concept was too weird for them to help me figure out a way to do it.  They didn''t even kill me the first time my dyes and charcoal migrated through the pellons to  add surprise color to many sheets of paper. They just gave me the most stained and worn out pellons, used metal sheets between the layers and washed those disgusting pellons in detergent so I could use them again. 

I will also get to visit again with Roberto Mannino, an italian paper maker. He does drawings on the paper he makes. Going over and over the lines until the graphite looks like silver, And he does very interesting installations. Last time I got to visit his studio which was great because I love his work.

Of course working will not stop me from eating pasta and artichokes and strolling by the Tiber. What a pity. Lacrime di coccodrillo.

Roma Day 2 -- Andy is here

Naturally heard a long story from a waiter because I was drawing in a restaurant. "A man was drawing on the menu. after he left another patron offered the waiter 100 lira for the menu. he sold it. Later the waiter realized it was an Andy Warhol." Why am I connected to Andy where ever I go?