The Art Scene of San Lorenzo: The Faces of Anna Laurini

 We first saw Anna Laurini's work--her woman, here, in two pasteups--on a phone booth on via Tiburtina in San Lorenzo, just a stone's throw from where the great consular road begins. A stylized woman's face, with a musical score as background. 

In the days and weeks ahead, as we walked the San Lorenzo neighborhood, well known for its radical, working-class, and student politics, its tolerance of any kind of graffiti or wall art, and its suffering from the 1944 American bombing, we saw more Laurinis, variations on the theme--some pasteups, some modest-size wall paintings, apparently accomplished some time ago. In one variation, the lips were not red, and the background was not a music score:

In another, older and painted, the lipstick conforms to the mouth, the eye is blue (and the pupil more pronounced), and the background is even-older wall graffiti:

This one seemed to be merging two, or three, faces. And the eyes (and hair) were purple.

One pasteup was in black and white, another was colored only in orange. Below, Laurini apparently used existing graffiti for the lip color. You can see there's a lot of competition for attention on San Lorenzo's walls. 

One painting was "framed," by the blue hair of two women facing each other. 

And this one, in pink and black, with the color of the pink lips "contained" but also emphasized by the surrounding pink, used drips to dramatic effect.

We couldn't resist the opening and vernissage, an event that was the norm pre-covid and now is much less common. It took place at the Proloco gallery at via Dei Latini 52, in San Lorenzo. We were immediately offered a glass of wine and joined the crowd, inside and outside the gallery (as is the custom--see photos at the end of this post). 

Usually we introduce ourselves to the artist, but this time we did not. We are quite sure she is the 2nd from the left in this photo:

And that this is her mother, shooting a video: 

A gallery flyer described Laurini as well known in the underground circuits of London, Paris, and Lisbon. It described Laurini's work as merging the "sophisticated" and the "simpler," and her style as both "rapid" and urban, "almost like an ideogram of the soul and identity." Her work "invites the viewer to reflect on the multiple identities that mix in the great cities." "The enigmatic faces painted by Anna Laurini act as mirrors of the soul, asking observers to look inside themselves to confront their own essence." 

I (Bill) was intrigued by the work, as this post reveals. I think I was taken by its simplicity of color and form, by the ways in which the basic model could be differentiated, and by what I saw as the presence of Pablo Picasso, here employed by an artist generations removed. I don't think it helped me look inside myself in search of my essence, but that would have been a lot to ask. 

Bill 

Buon vernissage!

Another Triumph for Romanian Academy - new artists, new works, new approaches

[Note:  update on more "promenades" at end of this post.]

Get thee to the Romanian Academy (Accademia di Romania in Roma), by Friday, if you’re in Rome.  The current exhibit, Spazi Aperti X is the 10^th annual “open spaces” group exhibition the Academy has sponsored.  This year’s exhibition features 30 artists from a dozen academies and cultural institutes in Rome and has been given great reviews by art critics here, as it should.

Spazi Aperti closes this Friday at 7 p.m., with a finissage (we love the word – a take off on a “vernissage” – an opening event with extras).  The finissage will include music and sound performances from 7.30 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.   Besides the special events (see more below), the exhibition is open 4-6 p.m. Monday - Friday.

and you can too

go Kate!

in the Academy - collaboration of Marcel Saegesser
(Swiss Institute musician) and Claudia Zloteanu
(Romanian Academy)

Among our favorite works are the vinyl bubble in the outside courtyard by Ana Rewakowicz of Studio del Quebec a Roma.  You can help put it up and take it down (see photo) in the evening and several times during the finissage.  It needs to be protected at night and from winds that could blow it away.  We also were taken with the 2008 piece by American Kate Gilmore, who is physically kicking and poking herself out of a chimney-like box.  And I liked the rotting apples on the main floor.  And the artists at the Romanian Academy are great at using the Academy's more unusual spaces.

apples by Colin Darke, The British School

Today (Sunday, June 10) there’s a 6.30 p.m. performance and 7.30 video screening plus debate, and you can run across the street to The British School’s opening of the exhibit “Where you live now,” which is coordinated in times with the finissage.

Valerio, right, interviewing 2 artists and unidentified woman

We went to Saturday’s walk (“promenade”) in Villa Borghese with artist Valerio Rocco Orlando - most of it was in English because it involves artists from several academies.  Valerio is interviewing artists and questioning the role of the academy in today’s art milieu…more on that in a future post.  He’ll be doing a couple more walks this week.  When we get the details, we’ll post info on those as additions to this post; we highly recommend joining Valerio. [see end of post for update]

A dozen academies participated.  We don’t mean to be niggling, but where were the Americans?  Do they think they’re “above” group shows?  As we said, more on the whole academy experience in a later post. 

And kudos to curator Eleanora Farina.

More promenades - June 27 and 28, 5-7 p.m., meet Valerio at Piazza di Spagna in the Villa Borghese.  These are part of MAXXI's re-generation program. 

Dianne

Directions to the Romanian Academy: it’s in Valle Giulia on Piazza Jose’ de San Martin, just down the street from Rome’s modern Italian art museum (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna – viale delle Belle Arti), at the back (north) of Villa Borghese.  You can walk there from Piazza del Popolo – through the Villa, or take Tram 3 to Piazza Thorwaldsen (end of the line).  In the later evening hours, the M bus gets you close.

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

Yoko Ono Comes to Rome and Sees the Future

As loyal readers know, we love vernissages, where the Romans turn out at art galleries for a bit of wine, snacks, and people-watching in addition to examining the art.  One of this year's better vernissages, that covers all those bases, is Yoko Ono's installation in the Trastevere section of Rome. 

Ono recently got turned on by the Futurists at the Tate Modern's (London) vast exhibit.  Some of the Futurist Manifesto "hit my eyes," she says, and "my eyes rapidly became filled with tears and I could not read on."  The slogans of the Futurists spoke to her:  "sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness... Courage, audacity, and resolve will be essential elements of our poetry"  - "Exactly!" she adds. 

Ono's exhibit in Rome features a wall-size photo of the major Futurist figures (see above) plus some objects, including her red hat, John's glasses, and a fish wrapped in Le Figaro, the French paper that published the Manifesto (written by Marinetti) in 1909, making the movement an international sensation.  The gallery space she chose was the small one where Futurist artists like Boccioni, Carra' and Severini (with Marinetti and Russolo in the large photo) exhibited their work in the first part of the last century.  She spread camphour on the floor - you know, the smell of moth balls.  We'll let you figure out what that meant.  I was overcome by the smell and took my wine outside - to engage in the intense people watching (photo) ala Romans - leaning against someone's car, propping the wine glass on a car roof  - a perfect summer evening. 

The installation is open until October 30, at Studio Stefania Miscetti, via Delle Mantellate 14, in Trastevere.

Dianne

Let's "chattare": Is the Italian language losing it?

It's a bit scary for me to take on the Italians' adoption of other languages into their own.

All languages do this (witness "disco" from "discotheque" - even tho' our daughter-in-law [really, probably both of them] childes us that "disco" is passé (there you go, another one from the French!), and the word is now "club" - in many languages). And, we in the U.S. are particularly good at turning verbs into nouns and vice-versa. My favorite, from a local sports announcer (you have to be an American football fan to understand this one): "the team first-downed." You can catch an older post from the Constructive Curmudgeon on this last turn (ho ho) of events.

The Italians seem to be especially good at absorbing other languages. Some of this seems healthy for the language. We like, for example, the Italian use of the word "vernissage," which is a bit like "lagniappe" for New Orleanians [which means a little something extra - like the 13th donut in a baker's dozen]. "Vernissage" is (usually) an opening, such as an art opening, with something extra - wine and cheese, beer if it's at the British School, a full spread in some cases. And, because we love these "extras," we like the word "vernissage." I don't think it has a plural in Italian.

Or the word, "kermesse." While it supposedly means "festival," I think the closest meaning is a "happening" [I know that's old and cold too] or "event." From the Dutch, it appears. I'm told we English-speakers use it too; I've only encountered it in Italy.

But... (and here she goes), "CHATTA" for "CHAT"?? I searched the site of one of Italy's major newspapers, La Repubblica and found the use of "chatta" for "chatting" on the Internet, etc., goes back there 10 years. The ad above, for the Italian telecom company that is promoting its wireless service, says "Luca chats with his friends and drinks a coffee."

I can take "club" (pron. "cloob" - like, hmm, boob). But "Show girl" for, well, "show girl" (witness the recent stories about Berlusconi's candidates for political office)? "lo stress" for "stress"? "il weekend" for "the weekend"?

And, it really bugs me that yahoo.it caved in to "mappa" for "map," when the Italian word is - or should I say was - "carta" (as in "paper" or "chart" - the way we use "cartographer").

There's also the consumer industry appropriating terms - such as the Fonz, from Happy Days, illustrated at right.

I recall our friend Patrizio N. was keeping a list. And I really should have checked in with his list first. But I'll just throw this post out there and see if some of you want to add particularly odd usages to the list.

And, to close the post, I'll throw in "aperitivo panty", which you may recall from a post almost a year ago - a photo from our local (coffee) bar - at right. (And, yes, I know, "aperitif" is often used in the U.S.)

Ciao all, and let's drink to that - preferably a cappuccino.

Dianne