Speed of Life

“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

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 sh...

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...

Gregg Chadwick Il Poeta di Milano (The Poet of Milan) 24"x18" oil on linen 2012

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.

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

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 Chadwi...