There Are No Foreigners in Art

Back again at school in Castiglion Fiorentino, we decided to take a break from school and go wine picking for the day.  Wine picking is no joke.  I thought it was going to be like that one I love Lucy episode where Lucy gets to crush grapes with her toes, but no, it was not.  Instead you had to hunch your back over in the heat cut grapes off the vine and stack them in buckets.  The benefits of Grape picking: 1) Eating grapes off the vine is delicious. 2) You were able to drink Vino while working. 3) Miss class, we did get in trouble for it though... 4) We got a free dinner from the same winery where I posted the seven course meal, two post back, so delicious.

This Wednesday for our field trip we went to Asisi.  For some reason, Assisi sounded strangely like home to me and I didn't know why.  Then I realized it was because my Saint, Saint Frances, resides in this town.  It definitely brought me back to my good Ole' CCD days of being a good catholic boy.  I remember I choose Assisi because he was the saint of water and animals, he was a good dude. 

   

After visiting the church we were free to roam the town.  There is one of the best preserved castles in Asissi so that is where I decided to go so i could interact with the coolest ghost, Robin of Lauchli.  It was pretty awesome to see a building designed for killing people.

 Now I don't know if I was just too Geeked out to walk around a castle or what, but I fell down these little slippery spiral stairs... 3 times!  I had bruises all over the place the next day.  The castle did me in.

  Sniper Slits.

 Doin' Damage!

That weekend we went on a field trip to a Land Art park.  This is the area of Landscape Architecture I want to get involved with, so this was my favorite trip we have been on yet.

I liked this piece of art because it looked like a reptile scales.  Created by Fabrizio Corneli

I enjoyed this art piece, not because of what the artist wanted to accomplish, but because of what was subconsciously repeated in the background. The connection between the rows of copper caskets and the rows of olive groves interplay with each other.  Two different structures and entities connecting together.  Created by Magdalena Abakanowicz

This was a very fun exhibit.  It reminded me of a clown house with distorted mirrors.  Instead it was mirrors connected in an artistic way, to make you question what was going on.  This structure basically looked invisible from the outside, and once you walked inside you were confused by bright colors and mirror images.  Loved this work of art

This structure was like a sky space, but instead more like a tree canopy space.  I love tree canopies and breaking them down into dark and light, they create very interesting patterns.  Created by Susana Solano.

This was a small passageway through a dense forest.  On the right side people walked on all natural materials like stone and wood.  On the left side people walked on all man made materials like steel and copper.  These two pathways were no more than 6 inches wide at all times.  It was a fun little journey through the forest.  Created by George Trakas

  This Mushroom was like 3 feet wide!  I went to touch it and this Italian guy started yelling at me with some serious concern in his voice, so I decided not to touch it.  Created by Mother Nature herself.

This work was created by a husband and wife.  They usually do indoor installation and this was their first outdoor installation.  What I like about this piece of art is the fact that it is meant to be dynamic with weather.  These huge pieces of metal and stone are meant to be viewed when it is raining and the waterfall is full.  They basically created rapids in a stream, I mean who thinks of that?  Land art is sick.  Created by Anne and Patrick Poirier, how cute.

Above our two buoys that can float around this river throughout the day.  The goal of the artist was to not draw more attention to the object then the reflection that it lay on.  I enjoyed the fact that these two objects can interplay with each other.  Created by Marta Pan 

 

 

This was another amazing exhibit.  The artist used light to paint a picture.  In order to view his work you had to walk down a long corridor that led under ground.  The only light was let in from the sky glass box above.  It created this very filtered light down in the underground area making the user see everything in this black and white image.  Above is the sexy Coral Withsosky posing in the spot light.  Created by Bukichi Inoue

Above is a very long sloped triangular piece of concrete.  The goal of the art work is to draw the viewers eye up into the canopy of the trees in order to appreciate the effects of tree canopy and light.  I love how the artist can go in with an intent to make you see his vision, and accomplish those goals.

Here is my lovely classmates hanging out in a musical courtyard.  The artist took advantage of the natural slope and made steps of the amphitheater form into a point.  I would love to watch some B Spears performing here.  Created by Beverly Pepper

This was another fun interactive piece of art.  In the reflection on the left side of the photo you can see my class mates entering the Labyrinth.  After walking in a weird maze with angled floors and walls you come to a dead end!  I thought it was funny to make people walk through a maze to enter a place that you could not escape.  Created by Robert Morris.

Above was probably my favorite piece of Land art.  The simplicity of a natural material in a geometric shape, really makes me absorb the entire landscape as a whole.  Instead of focusing on the art of the object you focus on the surrounding environment, nature.  Created by Ulrich Ruckriem.

I loved this field trip.  It was not the best examples of Land Art I have seen, but I have never seen a collection like this in one place.  There is definitely not enough Land Art in America.  Parks need to be something more than a bench, they need to be playful, interactive, intriguing, and colorful.  Remember art can be expressed in all forms, you just have to try.  Point Italy.

P.s.  Dj T.P. Loved hearing your comments on Rome.  I loved that place, I can't believe you were hanging out in Rome for 3 months.  What an amazing town, I understand why you love L.A. so much now.  We will definitely converse on the European experience when I get home.  And to everyone else, express yourself through art!