January 30. 2014 At last-the Venice Biennale

Just close your eyes, click your heels, go back in time to October 2013 and we are at the Venice Biennale.  I had read dozens of articles and reviews about the 2013 Biennale but, after walking about 30 minutes from our hotel, it was a real thrill to finally arrive at the ticket booth in time for the 10AM opening. 

 Not to mention actually entering the Arsenale, one of the two main venues for the show.  The other was the Giardini where pavilions from all the countries were located. In addition, other related shows were scattered all over Venice in palazzi, churches and other public locations.  It would have taken several weeks to see everything but we had only a day and a half and did our best.  This is the first of a series of posts about this incredible show.

Entering the Arsenale, the first exhibit to take your breath away was Il Palazzo Encliclopedico, the famous structure by Italian-American artist, Marino Auriti.  For an excellent explanation of this model and why the Biennale was structured around its theme, see  http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/bien/venice_biennale/2013/tour/palazzo_enciclopedico.  This site will also let you get more information on any one artist you may be interested in.

The Biennale included contemporary works and also works from the past.  Plans for the Encyclopedic Palace were first filed in 1955 but this massive sculpture, Belinda, by Robert Cuoghi was dated 2013.  Rising from the floor like some giant encrustation of trilobites, it was a force to be reckoned with.

Equally strong but much smaller was the photographic work of J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere which encircled the first exhibition room around the Encyclopedic Palace and Belinda.  These gelatin silver prints which began in the 1960‘s documented women’s hairstyles and head wrappings of Nigerian women.

With work in every possible medium, I soon felt batted around like a ping pong ball.  These delicate and lovely drawings on paper by Lin Xue (1995-98, 2012) were done with a sharpened piece of bamboo dipped in ink.  Depicting fantastical landscapes and plant forms observed on mountain hikes, his work speaks to the energy found in nature and the similarity of forms found in the biological and geological  worlds.