The Harbor in Portosin

I started the trip to Spain in Portosin, a small fishing town on the west coast of Galicia. I photographed the harbor at night from my hotel window (see above).Earlier, I visited the harbor as the fishing boats were coming in to unload their carriage: mostly horse mackerel or carapau, a small fish that normally only locals eat. In Holland it is the cheapest fish you can buy and when you can it is mostly bought by foreigners. I learned to appreciate this fish in Japan where it is called aji. There is a very tasty appetizer called aji no tataki which is absolutely delicious but is nothing more than chopped aji mixed with freshly chopped ginger, chiso, and a little bit of soy sauce.

A woman ferries ice to cover each fish-filled crate with a shuffle. The harbor has its own ice factory and the woman went along to every unloading ship.The harbor is at its busiest at night; while the ships come in, the pubs are all open for drinks and bites to eat.

Venice Biennial, Part I

Evan writes on Monday, June 11th. The Biennial held a preview for professionals and press from June 7th through the 9th, and is now open until November 21st. You can visit the official site at http://www.labiennale.org/en/biennale.

This is my third day at the Venice Biennial. I've waited a few days to file. I was worried that my first impressions would not be accurate, since logistically the days have been a challenge. The challenges made me cranky and certainly influenced how I saw what I saw. As the weekend progressed, the situation improved, though I still believe this is a very difficult place to have this kind of an event.

The biggest challenge is just getting from one place to another. If you want to see something which is outside of the two principal biennial venues (Giardini and Arsenale), you can spend an hour or more in transit back and forth. It can really eat up the day. Long lines, prices bordering on extortion, challenging public transport—a lot of factors contribute to making this a difficult experience.

I could really start ranting on that topic, but I would rather stay positive and talk about the art. Where shall we start?

There is a lot of photography on view, as one would imagine. Of special note is a site specific installation by Thomas Demand. In his signature style he has created a photo of a fantasy grotto complete with stalagmites, stalactites, and rocky caverns made entirely with cardboard. The exhibit estimates that over 900,000 pieces of board were used. What is not typical for Mr. Demand is that the "model" (life-sized) and all of the process involved in producing the photo are on display as well. It isn't my favorite work but it was a fascinating glimpse into this artist's process.

Plenty of younger artists are on view as well. Yto Barrada is a photographer from Tangier. Her work, which I like very much, was highlighted in one of the first galleries in the Arsenale.

Also in the Arsenale was the work of Spanish artist Ignasi Aballi. On view was a collection of lists. Mr. Aballi cuts out various pieces of information from the newspapers. Numbers of dead, amounts of money, quantities of each nationality—the different categories create their own list. For such a minimalist subject, the photographs were quite appealing visually. From a political and taxonomic point of view, they are unforgettable.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was the artist chosen for the Mexican pavilion. Check this guy out. Really. Space prohibits an exposition of his work but to me it was one of the best. It combined gee-whiz cool with genuine artistic, intellectual and emotional content. Great.

But my most satisfying overall experience came at an exhibit outside the official biennial sites. Palazzo Fortuny had a show called "Artempo". The theme was the intersection between works of antiquity and contemporary art. Alex Vervoordt put this show together and he didn't miss a note. One after another, there were remarkable and eye-opening juxtapositions. Francis Bacon, Hans Bellmer, Paolo Giacometti, Anish Kapoor, and an especially rich and varied selection of Lucio Fontana’s work were all on offer. Mr. Vervoordt placed his well-known artists in contrast and context to other art. Everything from anonymous eighteenth-century art to Buddhist scrolls to lesser-known artists was fair game. The resulting conversation among the artworks in the space was one of the most scintillating I've experienced in years.

Next: more Venice pavilions. Art Basel and the satellite fairs begin today. I will file my impressions as I get a handle on the scene.

Truckshop

I used the time I spent at their place to buy some wine at my favourite vineyard and to take walks along the ocean beach and into the woods before leaving for Spain.

One day my sister-in-law went by a “truck shop”: a large truck that carries all kinds of general supplies.Because the countryside population is disappearing, the shops of course also disappear. When those who are left must shop, they usually have to drive over fifty kilometers to the nearest stores, which for this area is a lot. Not even fifteen years ago would you be able to find anything you needed within your own town. Not anymore. So now they come with these trucks to provide the people with their needs. This includes perishable foods: fish, meat, and now also bread.

Photo-London, Part II

In my last post, I promised to talk about the panel discussion called How to Collect Contemporary Photography. This was a discussion moderated by Anna Somers-Cocks, founding editor of The Art Newspaper, with Francis Hodgson, head of the photographs department, Sotheby's London; Jeffrey Boloten, partner, ArtTactic; Greg Hobson, curator of photographs, National Media Museum Bradford; and William Hunt, partner in Hasted/Hunt gallery (and well known to Aperture audiences).

Mr. Hodgson weighed in passionately about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: conservation.  He mentioned that when the photo conservator at the V & A, Elizabeth Martin, passed away four years ago, her position was not filled.  He stated that this has left a backlog of photo conservation and restoration projects at the major British museums that would take "lifetimes" to complete.  Remarkable!  I think there needs to be much greater awareness—and tons more information disseminated—about how to care for photographs.  Mr. Hodgson's comment elicited multiple responses from the panel, including Mr. Hunt remarking that his own awareness about the non-archival quality of face-mounted plexi [Plexiglas] had prompted him to insist that no artist in his roster use it.  Of course, it was mentioned that the "most expensive photo in the world," a.k.a. Gursky’s 99 Cent II Diptychon, is on face-mounted plexi.
 
(Stay tuned for next season's programs at Aperture. We will present two of the finest conservators in the world discussing just such issues. It's such a big and challenging topic that I hope to make a regular fixture of Tuesday nights at Aperture.)

This was a fabulous panel.  Each member was articulate, informed and passionate about the topic.  Debate was lively and spirited.  It both answered questions and posed new ones.  Really a treat.

A few last notes about art on view:

This was billed as a contemporary photo fair, which meant that there were fewer mid-century blue chip photographers on display and many more up-and-comers.  In the blue chip category, Camera Work from Berlin had a stunning vintage print of William Klein's "Smoke and Veil."  London gallery The Approach had a number of John Stezaker's collages of found images. I have seen this work at a number of other fairs and most recently at the auction to benefit White Columns in New York City.  The work always attracts my eye and engages my mind. Even though similar techniques are applied to all of them, each one looks fresh and original.Also looking as good as ever to me was a large scale urban landscape by Stephane Couturier. I continue to be impressed and engaged by this artist:Filed under up-and-comers, Laurence Demaison at Parisian gallery Esther Woerdehof has been exploring self-portraiture for a number of years. Her best, to me, have been where she explores her relationship to and with water. There have been a number of series where she submerges herself in a pool to be photographed. Some of these just present the natural distortion of the water, while in others she creates wave patterns to further evoke a painterly effect. I think there is a link to the work of Susan Derges who I mentioned in my first post. Derges' Observer and the Observed series also uses water and self-portraiture to striking ends. In Demaison's newer work, water is just a puddle in which to catch fleeting glimpses of a fractured self. In a B/W format there is also some question to the viewer about whether the liquid is water. Titled "Jour de Sang," I am told the phrase translates as “day of suffering” or “sacrifice.”Next stop: Venice Biennale.

Mitch

My eldest nephew, Mitch (pictured in the first photograph and then again with his brother Nils on the left), has a very special gift. He knows literally every dinosaur by its Latin name, and all specifics about each of them. He draws the animals all the time and he must have hundreds, maybe thousands of drawings of these dinos. When asked, he refused to give me one and so I asked him to draw a couple in my diary, which he did.
When you look carefully, you will always see the little eye in the head. Also he draws them almost with one stroke; he almost never takes his pencil off the paper.