Art of the day

There are nation pavilions all over this city with "official" Biennale exhibits;there are also "collateral" exhibits and events. Yesterday, we took in two of the latter.

Robert de Niro, Sr. was as good an artist as his famous son is an actor. I had seen a bit of his work over the years in NYC, including menu covers he created for Tribeca Grill. There is a wonderful exhibit of right now in the Casa d'Aste in San Marco. A delicious assortment of bright, colorful paintings, pastels and charcoal drawings show his range and considerable talent. I've placed an example with the rest of the photos at the bottom of the posts.

We were so looking forward to Artempo,Where Time Becomes Art, an exhibit of ancient and modern treasures at the grand and gorgeous Palazzo Fortuny, also in San Marco. Most of the work is very interesting and quite thought-provoking and the idea of mixing ancient and modern in each individual installation is at least somewhat original. But the place is so dark you can hardly find your way let alone enjoy viewing works of art, the "art cops" are out in force here, and the air is thick with snobbery. Still, there are a couple of clean, well-lighted spaces along the way where the Marcel Duchamps, for example, can be enjoyed and a spectacular sculpture by Anish Kapoor which made it almost worth the price of admission.