Venice Fellowship - Day 11

Galleria Traghetto SAS

A tiny space of only three rooms, this gallery featured work by Jeff Koons and many other famous artists, as well as lesser known Artists.
It was all very contemporary, and I did find a few pieces that spoke to me aesthetically. It was great not to think too hard and just appreciate things for the beauty of the object or the humour behind it.
When working at the Biennale and having to explain our concept, or going around galleries filled with classical or very religious work, Art with a sense of humour is a breath of fresh air.

Museo Correr featuring Printing Evolution 1450-1500
The Museo Correr was a very valuable experience for me. The first part of the walk around the building was a tour around the old palace, looking at the old furnishings and gorgeous lavish decor. I was astonished by the quality of prints, sculptures and drawings in the place.
They had an exhibition on the evolution of printmaking within the 50 years between 1450 and 1500, and it was one of the best exhibitions I have been to on this entire trip.
It had so much information on the processes, where it began, how popular it was, even how much printed books cost back in the 15th Century in Venice. But it also had beautiful original copies of old manuscripts and books and prints on mathematics, theory, philosophy, religion, history, astronomy - you name it!
The best part for me was seeing an original print in a book by Albrecht Durer from 1498, entitled 'Apocalypsis cum figuris'. The amount of detail and masterful use of this printmaking technique blew me away.
They also had original woodblock and letterpress blocks as well, so it was fun to see how some things change in printmaking and others really don't.

Museo della Musica di Venezia 

Whilst exploring, I found myself outside an old Church which had been converted into a museum of musical instruments. I believe all the instruments in there were of Venetian craftsmanship, which made it that much more special.
I found a beautiful Mandolin with a butterfly inbetween the bridge and the fretboard.

White charcoal, graphite and fineliner.



Galleria dell'Accademia
The Accademia was the highlight of the day. I walked there just to see what was on out of curiosity, and found myself faced with two exhibitions focused on the work of the old masters Tinteretto and Bosch.
They were both beautiful. I enjoyed Tinteretto more because of the magnitude and the scale of the paintings, and the masterful way that he used his medium.
The Bosch exhibition, like Tinteretto, featured a lot of work referencing Biblical texts and historical events, often in Triptychs. It was great for me to see triptychs from a Master painter, because it gives me a basis to consider how I would put together a series in that way or hang paintings together that belong in a triptych, so this feeds back into my own practice.
On the outskirts of the gallery, away from the central exhibitions, I found two paintings that had me hypnotised.

The first, 'The Meditation' by Demenico Fetti. The original work featured a woman sitting at a table, surrounded by books, staring fixated on a skull that she holds in her hands. I was utterly fascinated by the smooth beauty of the oil paint, the way that they had created such depth in the image. I decided to focus on a dog which was painted into the bottom right of the image. Aside from its head, it was almost completely obscured in shadow, so I wanted to focus on this.
 

The second, 'The Mystical Marriage of St Catherine' by Paolo Callari. This painting was so huge, so detailed, that I almost had no choice but to focus on my favourite part. Highlighted in the centre of the image, cherubs descend from heaven holding a crown. I got to work with my fineliner, which was strange at first considering the painting was so smooth - I almost felt wrong to draw lines where clouds should be, but I loved it. I think considering that it was impulsive, it came out very well.

At the end of each week, I would like to do a round-up of imagery that I have collected and create a sort of collage to join this all together. I am finding imagery that I would love to make monoprints from and paintings from in the future, but while I am here in Venice I think this is the best way to keep moving my work forward.
My next challenges are to incorporate a written or textual element into the images I create, like I would at home, sort of thinking on to the piece. Maybe a reaction to things that happen while I am working at the Giardini could be a good place to start experimenting with this?