Giudecca 795

Two cultural events will enliven the Carnival on Giudecca Island, both organised by the Il Leone di Plastica association at the Giudecca 795 Art Gallery under the title "Art and Chocolate": the first one is the show "Maschere d'Artista" (Masks by Artists). The gallery will exhibit non-Carnival masks designed by three artists pursuing very personal artistic journeys -- Maurizio Baccanti, Gloria Deandrea, and Benny Katz -- throughout the Carnival period from 6 to 16 February 2010. The opening -- with cups of hot chocolate -- is on 6 February starting at 5:30 pm. Info: www.giudecca795.com

The second event is "Venezia dall'alto -- Venice from Above", an exhibit of some of the aerial photos by Giampaolo Agostinelli that make up the photo book of the same title. The show will be held from 12 to 18 February 2010. During the opening on 12 February beginning at 5:30 pm, there will be a presentation of the photo book, again with hot cups of cocoa. The book, in bilingual edition (Italian/English), features a preface by the City Councillor for Cultural Production, Luana Zanella, and is curated by Rosalba Giorcelli.

Website and info: www.venicefromabove.com
Images: http://www.veniceword.com/vda/presentazione_vda.jpg

Giudecca795 Art Gallery, Fondamenta S.Biagio 795 (100 meters from Molino Stucky - Hotel Hilton). ACTV: 41, 42, 2, to the Palanca stop.
Phone: (+39) 3408798327 - www.giudecca795.com 

DETAILS:

• MASCHERE D'ARTISTA - Already known by the Venetian public, the styles of Baccanti, Deandrea, and Katz are unique, yet they are similar in their search for distinctive perspectives in themes such as respect for the environment, the life of the theatre, and the world of advertising. The peculiar masks presented by Gloria Deandrea were designed and made for the theatre version of the "Turandot" by Bertolt Brecht. Much bigger than normal size, the masks were worn by the actors as hats and not over their faces, thus exasperating the desired effect of flattening the human shape and cancelling its real image until the actor turns into his or her own "avatar". This search reverses the direction of the traditional quest in visual arts by starting with 3D figures and attempting to convert them into 2D. Baccanti displays his "plastic grins", sculptures between caricature and the grotesque style, and the DVD shows the "do-it-yourself grin". Katz presents his new series of masks, permeated by the zany irony of his sculpture-paintings.
  Opening hours: from 6 to 16 February 2010, 3.30 pm - 8 pm and by appointment.  Vernissage: 6 February 2010 from 5.30 pm. Free entrance.
  Infotel: (+39) 3408798327 - www.giudecca795.com

• VENEZIA DALL'ALTO - The most recent photo book about Venice, Italy -- "Venezia dall'alto / Venice from Above" -- gives you the extraordinary and relatively exclusive opportunity to admire Venice and her Lagoon from above. This is the first book to show the MOSE system and the not-as-touristy areas of Venice. Try to imagine what it would be like to rise higher than the St. Mark's steeple, which stands at almost 300 ft., and soar over the city: it is a breathtaking source of new discoveries. Flying at low altitude over Venice is a rare experience and a tough job, but thanks to Giampaolo Agostinelli, an extraordinary photographer and aviator, we are afforded the rarest of opportunities to discover Venice and the lagoon from on high. We have selected 114 photos and added brief descriptions and maps to help readers find their bearings in the maze that is Venice. This is the very first photographic book about Venice to feature the Ponte della Costituzione (the Calatrava Bridge) from above (it is the fourth and newest bridge to span the Grand Canal), but it is only one of the many reasons why this book is so special. It's as if one were dreaming of flying over Venice.
  
  As the City Councillor for Cultural Production, Luana Zanella writes in the preface: "Venice, one of the most photographed cities in the world, has an unquestionable and strong fascination upon all reporters - no matter if professional or amateur photographers, or simply tourists - all attracted by its uniqueness, by its magical and touching enchantment. Giampaolo Agostinelli, photographer and aviator, can't escape the power of Venice, but his shots from the helicopter offer back totally unconventional images, new and surprising perspectives. Browsing this splendid book, it is impossible not to be astonished, once more and even more, by the urban structure of Venice, searched and depicted by his lens, with such angles offering wider and closer views, overall glances which are precluded if walking or riding the canals. It's a confirm but also out-and-out turnover of inner landscape for the ones who, like me, have been living and working here since their birth, and who know most of the Venice representations made by photographers, filmmakers, painters. The aerial photographs collected in this book are also valuable in providing important documentation, useful for the urban analysis and for the urbanistic design, as the fruit thru centuries of a unique relationship between Nature and culture, of the miracle match of stone and water, like John Ruskin said), as well as the comprehension of the most recent transformations."
  
  Websites:
  http://www.veneziadallalto.com (Italiano);
  http://www.venicefromabove.com (English)
  
  Opening hours: from 12 to 18 February 2010, 3.30 pm - 8 pm and by appointment. Vernissage: 12 February 2010 from 5.30 pm. Free entrance.

United States artist and 2008 winner of a Special Prize from the 3rd Annual International Art Prize Arte Laguna, James King will be having an exhibition of 15 of his richly layered, mixed media paintings from February 28 to March 15, 2009 (opening 6 pm on February 28). Various metaphors that may seem like mixtures of children's stories, fairytales, or dark, half-remembered dreams are the types of imagery that King addresses in this recent work. Son of an evangelical Christian minister. Took a degree in Biology/Pre-Medicine and eventually Masters of Fine Art in Painting. Has studied painting at the Museum of Fine arts in Houston and at the University of New Orleans. Has worked in chemical plants as a laboratory technician on the night shift and has taught University courses in Color Theory and painting. Primary concerns are to communicate a kind of self-consciousness and ambiguity that still remains potent enough to be translated into multiple levels of interpretation, both intellectual and visceral, both mundane and metaphysical. He states "Painting Fairytales is a metaphor for the Fairytale of painting. My goal is to create something luminous and truthful and complete in itself. Something shining that temporarily supersedes this incomplete life, the non-fairytale one, that I will have to eventually let go of when my story is over."