I must admit, I was in a not-so-great mood yesterday… trying to figure out what on earth I was doing out here, why I was working so hard for seemingly nothing… schlepping my bag, computer, and all kinds of nonsense everywhere, and basically feeling like I don’t fit in here for a million reasons.

Late dinner (pizza, again, at the only place I know that is open late), another scoop of gelato, and a hard sleep did me good though.

Today we visited the Peggy Guggenheim collection here in Venice.  Very nice, had a lot of abstract expressionist work and Futurism (meh), BUT THEN there were 2 awesome pieces by Wim Delvoye and an exhibition of rarely seen pieces by Robert Rauschenberg.  Totally uplifting.

THENNN we were given early access to part of the Biennale and a chance to speak with an artist named Alfredo Jaar from Chile about his piece.  Very interesting, and probably very important to Italian culture, but what I really enjoyed was wandering around the other exhibitions.  We were hoping to sneak into the Arsenale early, but No Permisso…  Press only.

Although I did sorta kinda lie and say I was press (actually, I said: “Can I just lie and say I’m press?”), and got a sweet tote bag with FEAR printed across it in big black capital letters. The show opens friday.  There are some sweet posters for the exhibition all over the city that Brian, and subsequently me, hope to snag.  They match the totes and printed material for the Biennale.

Oh, Shepard Fairey is here. Hoping to run into him soon…

So are about a million Rich Art Bitches. Snobby and wearing crazy clothes and too much jewelry.

And the biggest effing yachts I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m fairly certain you could play a game of basketball on any one of the 6 floors of the boats… there are about 4 parked off the coast at San Marco.

And with that, I will sign off…

Photos soon.

Now: coffee and shopping.

ciao!

This is coming at an opportune and inopportune time, as in a matter of days I fly to Italy for a month. Very exciting, I realize.  And yes, I know the more I mention it, the more annoying it is to hear.

Anyway, welcome.  Take off your shoes, relax for a bit.  Good things are coming this way, I promise you.