With this in mind, Blair and I went to the “welcome summer” dinner at the café, 2 Passe, last night. We drank a vodka tonic in the name of
playful, and ate a delicious Paella made by Camilla, whose family owns the
little place. It doesn’t usually serve
food, but tables were set up on the little terrace in front. There were big, old fashioned, clear Christmas
lights, and music playing. It was a
younger crowd than usual for dinner in Rocca Malatina. Perhaps I had opened my mind and mouth a
little too much when I said to the owner, “I am so glad this isn’t ITALIAN
food”. Eeek. But in fact, other people at other tables
piped in to agree. Yes,” the owner said,
“Lasagna, tortellini, crescentini [are all good], but it’s nice to have a
change.”
I see a new Italy on the rise. Parts, like the fascist bits, are horrible
and I pray they don’t take over. But
there is a younger generation that wants a different life from the old corrupt
status quo. I believe much of the racist
rant comes from people (sadly) my age, who counted on getting their fair share
all of their lives, and now see a gutted country. They are seeking someone to blame, and
immigrants are a convenient scapegoat.
But I see young families, and people under 30 who want their country to
be part of the modern world. You can’t
have paella without a nod to Spain. I
see little black kids on the soccer team.
Blair and I have both been exploring new art venues. I am thinking about digital media, but it isn’t
an obvious fit for me. At this moment,
instead of painting in our usual voracious way, we are documenting the work we
have on hand here in Italy. We hired a
consultant to help us figure out how to manage our work as “late stage artists”
– I mean, are our sisters going to want to come and sort all this out after our
demise? We have sorted a few hundred
canvases and discovered over 200 pictures of people. I am compiling them into a catalog, which
will be available on ISSUU soon. The
point is to find meaningful (or just any-old) homes for these works. If you have any ideas for sales, shows or
whatever, please, please let us know.
Other collections will include:
Paris, French Countryside, Italian countryside, Floral and Still Life –
you get it, eh: there are at least 500
paintings here (and another 200 works on paper).
I am cooking steaks on the barbecue tonight and mixing
Negronis. Maybe my next painting will
stop by.
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