Showing posts with label italia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label italia. Show all posts

Saturday, September 23, 2017

New Biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson





“Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar and a spellbinding writer. And what a wealth of lessons are to be learned in these pages.” —David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Walter Isaacson, author of a new biography of Leonardo da Vinci, discusses the Renaissance genius' wildly eclectic notebooks that contained everything from landscape sketches to math equations to 'to do' lists.

For more about
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson http://ow.ly/cHwn30d8Yrg

Book available for purchase at Amazon and Powell's


Also by Walter Isaacson
Steve Jobs

Einstein

Benjamin Franklin

The Innovators

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Trento Night

by Gregg Chadwick


Far from the haze of Milan, stars glimmer in the clear night sky over Trento. The city hums on this sultry night.  Trento at night is like a Fellini film: an otherworldly beauty tinged with memory. An elegant woman in a black slip of a dress slides by silently. Only the sound of the water flowing from Neptune's fountain can be heard. The actress Francesca Neri was born in Trento. Perhaps she is the siren gliding by us? 

Much of Italy often feels like a movie set. Intimate squares and piazzas backed by stage lit cathedrals and frescoed corridors. As if in a film cut, the darkened piazza is now lit by a swarm of electronic fireflies. A group of university students just left a nearby ice cream shop and their cellphone's blue glow creates a path across the square. Soon the quiet is broken as phones ring and calls are answered. I think of the innumerable conversations that have filled this spot. It is as if time has stopped. Almost perceptible shadows linger in a haze of half remembered experiences. 

A distant train whistle echoes off the Cathedral looming over the piazza. We are close to the Brenner line that runs from Verona along the Adige River up through the Dolomites and into Austria. The train quickly reaches the city. The rumble of its linked wheels seems to bounce off the pavement beneath our feet. Then, as if it was never there at all, the train hurtles forward into the future. And we are left in this city of memories.

Gregg Chadwick
Trento Night
24"x18" oil on linen 2016

In the Trento Cathedral during the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent convened from 1545 -1563. First proposed as an ecumenical council that was open to hearing the concerns of Protestant leaders, by its end the Council condemned dissenting Protestant views with the phrase "anathema sit" ("let him be anathema").  The 25th decree of the Council of Trent censored artists:


'every superstition shall be removed ... all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust... there be nothing seen that is disorderly, or that is unbecomingly or confusedly arranged, nothing that is profane, nothing indecorous, seeing that holiness becometh the house of God. And that these things may be the more faithfully observed, the holy Synod ordains, that no one be allowed to place, or cause to be placed, any unusual image, in any place, or church, howsoever exempted, except that image have been approved of by the bishop'

Superstition, beauty, exciting to lust, unusual images -  sounds like the almost naked statue of the pagan god Neptune sculpted two hundred years after the council of Trent and placed on top of the fountain in the center of the cathedral square. From my vantage point it seems that the fountain designed by Francesco Lavarone topped with the sculpture of Neptune by Stefano Salterio pokes fun at the conservative decrees from the council of Trent. Time moves on. Art is a long game. And art in Trento often has a sense of humor. In the Castello Buonconsiglio, not far from the Piazza del Duomo, a witty fresco of a 15th century snowball fight  emphasizes that joy in living is not just a modern concept. In fact, fun and laughter are part of what it means to be human. Art can often provide a ray of light in a dark time. 




 January Snowball Fight
fresco c. 1405-1410
 Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, 

Back in the square, looking out towards the Brenta Dolomites that circle Trento in a stony embrace, scattered patches of snow can be seen high up on the mountain peaks. The heat of summer will soon cool in fall and the snows of winter will move down the mountainsides and perhaps alight on this piazza. Trento seems to hold ancient stories hidden in the stones around me. 



"Trento Night" is part of a series of artworks inspired by and created in and around a recent art residency in Northern Italy. The historic city of Trento is named for Neptune's trident. In my painting, a glowing representation of Neptune's fountain graces the center of the scene. 


Trento Night is on view at Saatchi Art in Santa Monica in the exhibition: 

MARK-MAKING

Recent Works by LA-Based Artists

with Special Guest

Danielle Krysa aka The Jealous Curator

Opening Thursday, February 16, 2017

5-6pm Meet & Greet with The Jealous Curator

5-9pm Opening Reception


MARK-MAKING is a new exhibition on view in Santa Monica and online at Saatchi Art. Curated by Saatchi Art curators Katherine Henning and Jessica McQueen, the exhibition continues our series of shows around the world.
The exhibition highlights the work of 25 emerging artists represented by Saatchi Art, the world’s leading online gallery: Jess Black, Gregg Chadwick, Jonas Fisch, Maria Folger, Carlson Hatton, Jessus Hernandez ,Melissa Herrington, Lucie Hinden, Bryan Ida, Campbell Laird, Chase Langford, Robert Lee, Jesús Leguizamo, Tahnee Lonsdale, Michael Microulis, Pete Oswald, Relja Penezic, Aaron Stansberry, Annie Terrazzo, Laura Viapiano, Robert von Bangert, Wayne Chang, Donna Weathers, Adrian Kay Wong, and Vahe Yeremyan.
The exhibition is on view from February 16 to June 1 at Saatchi Art, located at 1655 26th Street, Santa Monica, CA. Gallery hours: Monday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday by appointment. Please email to schedule a visit during gallery hours. Gallery contact: curator@saatchiart.com.
All works will be on sale at the exhibition and online at Saatchi Art.
1655 26th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404

#MarkMaking #TrentoNight #GreggChadwick




Tuesday, July 24, 2012

La Vita Trasparente (The Transparent Life)

La Vita Trasparente (The Transparent Life)

Gregg Chadwick

La Vita Trasparente (The Transparent Life)
48"x36" oil on linen 2012

Inspired by the poem
La Vita Trasparente by Luigi Fontanella:

LA VITA TRASPARENTE
Luigi Fontanella

Apre la città le sue strade,
corrono biciclette senza persone,
alla finestra s'affaccia
e sparisce un volto di donna,
le vetrine offrono sessi
per ogni stagione,
giro di vite:
balla una coppia agile e magra
nella piazza deserta,
la corsa degli uomini,
agita chiome il bosco
in controluce,
passi su foglie
e solchi di fango duro,
viale d'autunno
carrozza regale
pioggia di rugiada
e di carta:
la vita trasparente.

The Transparent Life
by Luigi Fontanella
(translation by W.S. di Piero)

the city opens its streets,
bicycles go by riderless,
a woman's face in a window
appears then vanishes,
shop windows offer fetishes
for every season,
lives turning,
a slender agile couple dances
in the deserted piazza,
the race men run,
the hairy woods shivering
against the grain of light,
footsteps on leaves
a furrow of stiff mud,
avenue of autumn
royal coach
rain of dew
and paper -
the transparent life.

More at:
Luigi Fontanella

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Venetian Night

La Notte
Gregg Chadwick
La Notte
14"x11" oil on linen 2012

La Notte, my latest painting, was begun shortly after I returned from my latest excursion to Venice, Italy. Venice, poised between sea and land, is a place where light, shade, color, and reflection merge and recombine in the city's watery environment. In this mirrored world, past and present seem to coexist. History’s shadows slide in and out of darkened alleys and slip along narrow canals.


The color and light found in the artworks of the Venetian painters Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Tiepolo, seen up close in the city of their creation, is always revelatory. These artist's artworks glow like light upon water. This effect of reflected, sparkling light bouncing off canals, is called gibigiane in Venetian dialect. The liquid nature of transparent oils glowing from within, as if light lived within the pigment, seems to fix this quixotic glow onto canvas.



Thursday, March 25, 2010

Glen Hansard (The Swell Season) - "Drive All Night" Live Feb 7, 2010 in Milan


Glen Hansard (the Swell Season) belts out a chilling version of Springsteen's Drive All Night.
Recorded live in Milan on February 7, 2010


Edward Norton introduces and sits in with Glen Hansard as he sings Bruce's Drive All Night at Crowdrise benefit on March 22, 2010.

Glen Hansard says: "Help me raise money to get my Maasai friends a truck. It will help them protect their lions, get people to health clinics and much more."

Donate at:
Crowdrise

More at:
Gli Swell Season, il sole, una chitarra scassata

Monday, July 27, 2009

Due per Mio Fratello: Streets of Fire & Born in the USA - Udine - July 23, 2009


Springsteen and the E Street Band
Born in the USA
Udine, Italia July 23, 2009


Springsteen and the E Street Band
Streets of Fire
Udine, Italia July 23, 2009

Due per mio fratello!

My brother Kent has an amazing piece in the Bainbridge Review:

"My son Luke has been a great example to me of living right side up. Luke’s never met someone he didn’t want to greet. Over his 22 years of constant illness Luke has perfected living for today. Luke’s greatest joy is in making someone smile."

"What Luke shows me is that living right side up spreads blessings all around you. He makes you feel good. So the whole community rejoiced when he had a successful double-lung transplant last year and had 12 great months of walking and feeling strong. He’s had serious setbacks this last month and is recovering slowly over at the University of Washington Medical Center. Knowing the greatness and fragility of life as it shines in Luke makes me want to share in it, right side up."
- Kent Chadwick


More at:
Right Side Up
Jimmy Buff's