MACRO: the Toilets

We were having a rather ordinary glass of white wine in the new and extra-ordinary bar in the striking new addition to MACRO, Rome's municipal gallery of modern art. 

Touring the men's room at MACRO

A group of "suits" walked in, well-dressed visitors, anyway, with briefcases and the like.  There to inspect, or to learn.  Important people, obviously, on a mission.  They were touring the gallery, we surmised, for the first time.  The bar was nice, and they looked around, approvingly, before focusing their attention on THE TOILETS, poking their heads in, and poking around, the men's room (right).  In all earnestness, of course.

And why not?  MACRO's bathrooms are high tech if not high art--or high narcissism.  All radiant color (e.g. red when the hand-dryer goes on) and mirrors and high-modern design, with the gleaming wash-basins--nearly dysfunctional in their shallowness, but cool--in the middle of each room. 

Only the shiny stainless steel "trough" in the men's room, reminiscent of the head at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills football team, seemed out of character. 

We liked the signs for "Men" and "Women," too. 

So have a large Coke, check out MACRO, and head straight for the toilets.  
Bill

PS from Dianne - we've taken delight in MACRO at other times; for example when the new wing opened.  And we promise a more thorough post on just MACRO in the future - and presentation of some arguments as to which is the better modern art gallery - MACRO or MAXXI (the latter, by Zaha Hadid, gets much more press).

Vernissage-hopping: An Evening in Rome

Guerrieri at far right in khaki jacket

One of our (i.e. Rome the Second Time’s) favorite evenings is to do some serial vernissage hopping.  That is, we check out a few art openings on the same evening.  Recently there were 4 listed in Trova Roma, 2 within a nice walk of each other and 2 others further away.  We started with one in the Centro, on via di Monserrato, home to several upscale galleries. 

Dianne trying to figure out what it all means

The show here at Galleria Ricerca d’Arte is a 50-year retrospective of the Italian abstract painter, Franceso Guerrieri.  The crowd here was older and tonier than we’re used to seeing at openings, no doubt because of Guerrieri’s stature in the Italian art hierarchy.  The paintings are bold and visually arresting, if not in our usual canon of likes; and the vernissage was very much in our canon – full glasses of wine, substantial offerings of food, including little panini and Dianne's favorite: almonds.  And, medieval Rome.  Hard to beat.

We wandered through the curving streets, across the Tevere to Trastevere and an opening at a small gallery at the end of via San Francesco de Sales, nestled near the looming gates of a centuries-old villa. 

Sculptor Guillermo Mora's work

Dianne still trying to figure out
what it means

 At galleria “extraspazio” the artist is a 30-year old Spanish sculptor, Guillermo Mora.  In keeping with the theme, the vernissage – outside on the street near the small gallery – included sangria and guacamole.  The sculptures here, with the title “No Fixed Form," are certainly that.  We heard a lot of Spanish being spoken.

But, placed in the gallery like installations (in corners, at angles, up high, down low), the works gave us much to talk about.  And I would’ve taken one back to the states, if I could; they’d look at home in Los Angeles.  And, to cap a wonderful opening, a daughter of a good friend recognized us and came by to talk for a bit.  In Rome, a city of 4 million, and we run into someone we know!

Vernissage in Trastevere

We took one last stab at a gallery with the name “fuori centro” – outside the center.  It isn’t too far from where we’re living.  But by the time we made our way there at 9 p.m., it was closed.  Even with that (a new venture into a new area), we deemed this gallery-hopping evening a grand success.      Dianne

Home is where the art is: "in situ" from Rome to Los Angeles

The wall-to-wall art displays in Renaissance Roman palazzi never cease to amaze us. That there are collections still in place is more amazing still.

The first time I can recall seeing one of these "my art tops your art" excesses was the Pitti Palace in Florence. And one of the Rome ones we saw recently for the first time is Galleria Colonna very close to the busy Piazza Venezia (and the wax museum). Inured as we are to Renaissance excess, Galleria Colonna is a stunner. Perhaps because it doesn't have blockbuster pieces that people come to see, ignoring the rest, we were enthralled. Maybe too because it's only open for a few hours on Saturdays (and not all of those either, as we painfully discovered), it seems exclusive. Adding charm as well is the cannonball remaining on the interior steps of the Galleria, where it landed when shot thru the Palazzo Colonna wall in 1849. The cannon belonged to the French who were then besieging Rome to take it back for the Pope after it has been claimed by the Garibaldi forces; the French and Papacy won that one, but lost for good in 1870. http://www.galleriacolonna.it/ (click on the British flag at the bottom right for English)

In keeping with our theme of Los Angeles/Rome comparisons, the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation museum, which we recently toured seemed to us a modern version of art-in-every-room-of-your-house, and on every wall and surface. It too has an exclusivity, since tours are only for a few mid-day hours Monday-Friday and you must be accompanied by a docent for the hour and 40 minutes, as well as make a reservation ahead of time (and arrive only within 5 minutes of that; waiting on the streets of the exclusive Holmby Hills, just west of Beverly Hills, is prohibited). Weisman has some blockbusters too, and some Italians, including an interesting, relatively colorful DeChirico and several Giacomettis. (photos of the interior generally are not permitted; best we could do is this photo of the "sun room"; the website has good photos of the rooms)

Art put in place by collectors must drive curators nuts. And we have to admit having only a sheet of paper with names of the works of art and the artists by room - where you have to hunt for the works - can be frustrating. But there's also something pleasurable about the surprise and even idiosyncracy of the vision of a self-educated collector. Seeing Giacomettis next to flowered chintz overstuffed chairs (the Weismans kept the furniture in the house as they bought it - tho' why one can only guess). One of the stories we heard about Weisman is that he kept a hammer and nails beside his bed - and would wake up in the night and move the paintings around. Another tidbit - Frederick Weisman is the father of Richard Weisman, from whose LA home millions of dollars worth of Warhols were stolen last week.

We encourage suggestions for everyone's favorite "private" gallery in Rome (or even elsewhere - the Frick in NYC?) - Doria Pamphili? Spada? Palazzo Corsini in Trastevere?

Dianne (title by Bill)

Austrians, Art and Ambience

Is contemporary art is alive and well in Rome? Our answer is yes, but of course, we had to see for ourselves.

The Spring shows of many small private galleries who belong to the Associazione Romana Gallerie D'Arte Moderna (A.R.G.A.M. - i.e., the Association of Rome's Modern Art Galleries) kicked off the night before last with new shows, music and, of course, the vernissage (a little extra - i.e., food and drink).

But we began our search for the answer to our own question off the beaten track a bit, at the Austrian cultural institute or, as it's called, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Valle Giulia. The institute itself is a well-proportioned 1935 building with a storied history that of course includes the German Anschluss in Austria, the Germans taking over the institute too (and making it a German history institute), the institute being taken over then by the Allies and then the Italian state (if I read the placard correctly), and finally returned to Austria and restored relatively recently.

We had wanted to see the Austrian institute for some time (Rome the Second Time features arts academies, but we had never been to this one). We stepped inside the gate and immediately felt an (very un-Roman) Austrian presence of precision and cleanliness. The art installations by Austrian sculptor (yes, I heard her say to one of the few Italians there, this all IS sculpture) Katharina Heinrich attempts to intervene and contradict the clean lines of the institute. Where they let her playful interventions go, she is successful - as we hope you can see from the photos - but much of the institute remains rigidly itself. Still this was our chance to get into the institute and have some free (for Bill, always a huge plus) wine and a nice spread of Italian foods.

Another disappointment to us, and no doubt to Katharina, was the small turnout. In our hour there, the first it was open, we saw about 40 people, mostly speaking German. And, from the size of the food and drink table, they weren't expecting many more. Where was the rest of the Rome art community? Has the Austrian cultural institute been too small a player on this scene? The sculpture and opening deserved more, and the sculpture will be there through September.

We then went into the Tridente ("trident") area near Piazza del Popolo to hit a couple of the A.R.G.A.M. galleries. The art ranged from not so hot to very good, but then you'd expect that in small galleries anywhere, including Soho and Chelsea. By the time we ended the evening the musicians were packing up, the "friends" were sitting in chairs telling their gallery owner friends how wonderful everything was, and the tourists were taking their tired limbs to the same tired restaurants - ignoring all this verve around them. And so we scootered home over the Gianicolo...what could be better? Dianne