Artnotes: 'the Best Surprise

 

Museum, Fermo  Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 8 x 16"  20 x 40 cm  390.00  Many years ago, there was an American hotel slogan:  The Best Surprise is No Surprise.  I always hated that idea, and never wanted to stay in those properties.  We just spent two nights in the absolute BEST surprise hotel:  the Palazzo Romani Adami in Fermo, Italy.   The trip had a rocky start with the car breaking down, but we were able to postpone our arrival (I hate booking.com, but I digress).   We left on Wednesday morning, Blair’s birthday.  The city we visited, Fermo, is just south of Ancona, on the Adriatic coast.  The city (a hill town) is about five miles from the sea.  We could see our destination from a distance. Iris from our Walk  Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  25 x17 "  61 x 43 cm  290.00 Fermo is a being “renewed”.  I have mixed feelings about ditching the butcher in favor of a trendy soap shop, but on the other hand, it’s better to adapt the beauty of the place than to let it fall to ruin.  We passed a piano store on the way up the hill – two storefronts full of instruments, and we saw the piano delivery van later in the trip. We eventually made it to our hotel where a greeter brought us to our room, two floors up, with an outdoor table and chairs on the balcony.  In fact, on that side, it was only one story up – the hill was a 30 degree pitch.  She bid us a good stay. I collapsed onto the sofa after a hardy walk from the car.  20 feet above, the ceiling was incredible.  In fact, we had three frescoed ceilings, bearing no resemblance to one another, each a masterpiece.  Blair bustled about and I lie there, and then in the other room, just to get a bead on things. Maroon Iris   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 16 x 10.5"  21x 27cm  350.00 We came to Fermo so Blair could see a ReUSE Italy project he might work on.   At the very top of the hill there is an underground cistern the city is thinking of turning into an art museum.  He toured it that afternoon.   It was a 1st century cistern, complete with puddles and barrel vaults, mold (this is why I didn’t visit—it aggravates my asthma) and brilliant green moss, giant cracks in the floor and level changes   Surprisingly, there were a fairly large number of visitors.  Blair is thinking things over. I continued to study the ceilings.  I couldn’t believe how affected I was by this powerful artwork.  It was a downright Epiphany for me.  I was touched by the genius of the artwork, transported from a magic realm into the rooms we were staying in.   Honestly, it was palpable, unlike any wallpaper or trompe-l’oeil paint job.   It was a performance, a presentation of the supernatural touching me. Fermo Piazza  Laurie Fox  Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00 It made me think about how important the “real thing” is.  It is the difference between TV and live theater; the sound of music performed on stage versus being played through my telephone; real strawberries versus strawberry soda.  I felt like I was touching the gods.   I realized how medieval folks might have felt when they saw the frescoes at Assisi(created by and for regular people).   It is why we are so magically moved by artwork, whether it’s the Vatican ceiling by Michelangelo, or the murals of Klimt in Austria.  It is there: the magic is eternal.   It made me examine my own work, and reassess its importance. Spring on a Black Backgroun     Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00  Wildflowers on a Dictionary Page   9 x 12" 21 x 30cm 125.00 I was sorry to leave the Palazzo Romani Adami on Friday, but drove away with such a revelation, such a surprise in my heart.

HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Art Notes: Coal Mine

Canary Iris  Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 8"  30 x 20cm  390.00  Imagine the Eiffel Tower being disassembled and reassembled as so many “winding towers” – metal structures with enormous open wheels and wires  to haul rocks from below the ground.  Blast furnaces, water towers, coal plants, machine rooms abound – not one or two, but over 350 photos of these dinosaurs.   We visited the show of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photographs at MAST on Saturday:  History of a Method. One and Two Tulips  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm   190 each MAST is a contemporary museum in Bologna, Italy dedicated to the manufacture of Art, Experimentation and Technology.   This show embodied all three.   History of a Method described the mechanical manufacturing that dominated  the Western World until after WWII.   The Bechers, born in 1931, had the foresight to realize these structures were disappearing and did what they could to honor and preserve them.   The name of the show represents the Method the Bechers employed for 40 years:  photograph the front, the corner, the side, the back of each building.  They chose to photograph in black and white, because the blue sky was different colors depending on direction.   They liked to photograph in the sun because if gave depth to some of the brutalist concrete building they liked.   It wasn’t beyond them to cut down a tree to get a better view.  They rode around in a Volkswagen bus, with their son Max (who helped curate this show) for a lifetime. History of a Method at MAST   It wasn’t entirely just commercial buildings.  They photographed houses and towns where these workers labored.   There were no people in any of the pictures (except the Becher’s house), and rarely a tree.    It was a remarkable body of work, which spoke to Blair and I. Beyond Wild    Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 17 x 25"  43 x 63cm  290.00 Blair and I have dedicated our lives to painting, but not to the extent of these people.  I kind of abandoned plein air landscapes after a disparaging remark by a collector.   What was I thinking?   Imagine the remarks the Bechers must have gotten.  You’re photographing WHAT?  Riding around Germany, France and Belgium with your child in a hippie car? (they also went to Pennsylvania and Ohio) I am reassured and thoroughly inspired. The Iris Return Eveny Spring Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 20 x 11"  50 x 27cm  490.00 The Bechers used a large format camera they would carry up to the place they were photographing (another reason we aren’t painting outdoors as much – equipment is heavy).  They had to work fast because access to some of these sites, which were at the brink of falling down, was limited.   We left the exhibit after more than an hour, exhausted by the volume and complexity of the work. Wild Lady Orchids  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas12 x 12"  30 x 30cm  290.00 We drove on to Chinese lunch, which always makes me think of how people choose to make a living. The current owner clearly loves cooking, but it is so apparent the children hate working there.  But it beats mining coal. Why flower paintings?  Before these industrial landscapes, Hilla Becher’s earliest photography was of the natural world:  leaves, flowers…

Artnotes: Liberation

 

Cherry Blossoms on the Walk   Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 20 x 24"  50 x 60  490.00  I got a Whatsapp message on Sunday morning.  “George is going to be in Bologna,” it read.  “Maybe you guys could get together.”  George is the painting guru of one of our friends from America we paint with.  She often stops in Italy on her way to Greece, to George’s workshop. I wrote him and instantly we decided to meet for coffee at the airport.    He is an ambassador for a Daniel Smith Art event in Bologna and would be busy other days.  It was a great idea.  We met, and ended up giving him a lift to his hotel.  Sometimes, the Universe works out just right.   White Wildflower  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  17 x 12"  41 x 30cm  290.00 George has worked as a physicist all of his life, besides doing art.  I tell him Richard Feynman (famous physicist) is my hero.  We talk about Feynman’s lectures at Cornell, available online.  I love how Feynman could explain anything, simply, understandably:  that is the most important thing about physics, George tells me.   Feynman felt the key to understanding was to not have preconceived notions Our meeting was brief but ever so fun, and it encourages me to make more effort to get out and DO SOMETHING.  It’s easy to stay home these days – fuel is now $10.00 (US dollars) per gallon.  On the other hand, I am living now and need to do my best with current conditions.  Our only real extravagance is Chinese food. Apple Blossoms Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  11 x 16"  27 x 41cm  290.00 We did find a Moroccan store near where I get plain white notebooks in Vignola.  Plain white paper in notebooks, not to draw on, which is really expensive, but to write on, is rare, it seems.  I have been reading a lot about the benefits of actually writing  rather than typing into a processor.   I can testify that my written poems are better than my typed ones.  And I love unlined, ungridded paper in notebooks. We bought a Moroccan dish, lamb chops, a preserved lemon and that fabulous flat Moroccan bread (msemen).  I will use all today for lunch.  It’s a holiday in Italy.  25 April is Liberation day, commemorating the liberation of Italy from Nazi German occupation and Fascist collaborationism.   Our friend Mino is giving a speech in the center of Roccamalatina, condemning the facismo of Trump and Netanyahu.  I suggest Russia might earn a place in that group, but many Italians, particularly around Modena, remember the Russians liberating them.  It all goes to show how sides can change.  We could bring anti-Trump signs today, but I remind myself we are guests in this country and rabble-rousing doesn’t become us. Begonias  Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper  17 x 25"  41 x 63cm  290.00 I just try to do my best to get along, be kind, be generous.  Governments and ideologies are all so changeable and unrelieable.   Who we hate now, we might not in 80 years, and vice-versa.   In the meantime, we’ll eat our Moroccan lunch beneath the pine tree and play Billie Holiday  for the birds (she’s their favorite).

HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: Collection

 

Unlocking   Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas x 9 x 18"  23 x 46cm  390.00  The Maramotti Museum is one of my favorite museums.  This year has been particularly good, with guest exhibitions by women artists, who are, frankly, over the top.   It is a year of honoring women for the museum, and they have also formed a liaison with a similar contemporary art museum featuring women, in Indonesia. I wrote some weeks ago  about Malgorzato MirgaTas’s work there, about the Rom People.  This new exhibit was as good.  Coincidentally perhaps, both of these works suggested fabric, a crucial element in the continuing Max Mara clothing business. Clover and Small Pink Flower     Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm   190 each This exhibit, entitled Cannon Fodder, was inspired by the artist Guiditta Branconi painting on her grandmother’s linen wedding dress.  The fabric was light, and it allowed the paint to appear on both sides of the surface.  This idea was further illustrated by a part of the exhibition where one could walk through a “tunnel of paintings”, illuminated by the natural lighting in the room.   It was fascinating. From the Exhibit:  Guiditta Brondconi at Maramotti Cannon Fodder seemed an odd name for the exhibit, but it was meant to represent the barrage of information we are inundated with on a daily basis.  There were many words in a variety of languages; stencils, social media posts, and images of vulnerable creatures.  All presented on this thin linen support, which had meaning for the artist.   It was a flood of information that one could spend a very long time with.   We loved it. Zocchetta View Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00 I liked it because it was a little like my work, too.  In fact, when I showed pictures of it at the art salon, people thought it was mine.  I paint often on newspaper, so words and pictures bleed through ever so slightly from behind flowers and soft images. Obscure as it may seem, my art is connected to world events. Zocchetta View  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 21.5 x 18"  55 x 46cm  490.00 We try to see an exhibit a week while we are up in Roccamalatina.  There are a plethora of museums up here, in Parma, Reggio Emilia (like this one), Bologna…   I can’t resist an interesting museum – not necessarily art, either.  I equally enjoy historical bits, or plants, or whatever someone collected.  I think of the button museum in Waterbury, Connecticut where I have whiled away many an afternoon.  Blair is more of a collector than I am – I can never narrow it down. Ajuga Flowere   Laurie  Pessemier  Acrylic/paper17 x 12"  43 x 30cm  190.00 I find things at the side of the road for example.  This week, in an old telephone booth turned library, I found the most beautiful cookbook I ever saw.  It was issued by an Italian cookware company, whose focus was the design of pans.  Italians are the best industrial designers.   The cookbook contains great recipes, including sauces and preserves.  The photography is truly magnificent.  I’ll add it to my collection. Terra Cotta Friends    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper   15 x 11"   38 x 28 cm  190 each 2 for 300

HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM