Kaleidoscope Celebration of Color 2008 Photos

I had such a quandary deciding whether to go to Kaleidoscope as a performer or a photographer. In the end, I decided to spin poi and let my awesome friend Connor Hays man the equipment. I had a wonderful time and he did a fabulous job.

Kaleidoscope Celebration of Color 2008 Photos



(It seems some of you can't see some embedded photos in my blog. Please be patient. This will change when I upgrade my web server next month. )

Gas Meters + Soda Bottles = Art

Doing my laundry, I noticed someone's been getting creative in my basement.

Hot Sculpture on Sculpture Action

There are a striking number of man on man sculptures in Florence with a strong domination theme. I gotta say, it's pretty hot.












Art historians wonder if the man on the bottom of this Michelangelo sculpture is a self-portrait of the artist.



Hmmmm ... let's see ... a guy with a beard with a hot young man on top of him.
Yeah, my money says that's Michelangelo.

David Mania, Delicious and Disasterous

There so much more to be said about David. But I wanted to separate the sincere from the sarcastic. Ready for a huge helping of tragic and tacky? Here we go....

There is entertainment to be had while viewing the David. The slightly uncomfortable looks on the American frat boys' faces betray their delicious inner turmoil. "Dude, I'm being told to look at a naked man as an object of beauty. I don't know how to cope with this."

It seems other people are curious about the model as well. Here's a fascinating bit of visual speculation about David.

The whole city of Florence is in the grip of David Mania. Now, when I say the whole city, really I mean tourists and the vendors who sell them crap. I'm sure the locals wouldn't touch this stuff any more than I would.

Some of it is done with a certain charm and affection. David Reloaded by Maria Paola Pozzoli offers many reinterpretations of David.

CARTIER DAVID


DISCO DAVIDS


DEVIL AND ANGEL DAVIDS


GAY PRIDE DAVID


and my favorite ...

ROCKY HORROR DAVID


Remember Mel Brooks' merchandising pitch? "Spaceballs the T-Shirt, Spaceballs the Coloring Book, Spaceballs the Lunchbox, Spaceballs: the Breakfast Cereal and Spaceballs: the Flame Thrower"

It seems the world's most famous set of cock and balls needed this treatment. And since the official museum gift shop is not inclined to serve this crass market, Florence street vendors offer David's not-so privates on everything.

DAVID'S JUNK THE APRON


DAVID'S JUNK THE POSTCARD


DAVID'S JUNK THE PUZZLE


DAVID'S JUNK THE POSTCARD WITH SUNGLASSES


There's really no end to it. It's pretty horrifying but I have to admit there's a little part of me that likes it. Florence may well be the only city in the world where man parts are proudly displayed on every street corner. That's awesome.

The Perfect Form

I saw the David today. Again, photography is both prohibited and superfluous, he must be experienced.

I deliberately chose to view David last in the small museum where he lives. As I entered the long hall I delayed looking at him for a few moments, to clear my mind and breath in the anticipation of what I knew would be a moment to remember for all of my days. I wanted to savor the experience and to take this mental image as the last of my trip.

There and so many details you don't see in pictures of David ... the veins in his arms and hands, the squiggly little tufts of hair in his sideburns, the way the sling wraps all the way around his body, the stone concealed in his hand, the perfect lines and curves in his muscles, his foreskin, his eyebrows, his elegant fingers, his cute little navel and his pensive, faraway gaze.



(This photo is from Wikipedia.)

A fit male body is a thing of beauty. And I don't think Michelangelo was as much a fan of biblical myth as he was a connoisseur of the male form. David is exquisite.

I wonder if the model was a real man, one whom Michelangelo admired, loved or perhaps even worshiped. Or maybe David represents an ideal, the artist taking the best features of many men to create the perfect man. One thing is clear from his years of labor and the pinnacle of art David represents, this was a work of devotion. Michelangelo adored David. It reminds me what love feels like.

A Day of Beauty

Today we went to the Borghese Gallery, which lies in a beautiful park. The museum doesn’t allow cameras, so it was to be an afternoon of just the art and me. But that’s OK. I find photography inside museums to be mostly useless. Unlike landscape photography, it rarely captures the subject well and detracts from the viewing experience. These photos are of the park and garden outside.



The photos advertising the gallery depict lovely but sparse, plain, white statues, no backgrounds and nothing else. So as I ducked through the curtain in the entryway, I was completely unprepared for the sight that awaited me in the first hall.

It is stunning. Every surface, ceiling, walls and floors is covered with beautiful frescoes, paintings, inlaid marble and mosaics. There are a dozen, thrilling, dynamic statues in different materials in the first hall alone. There was literally no direction I could look and not see art.



Every hall is this way. I’ve never experienced such absolute saturation of art in my life. Yet it was not cluttered. Despite the dizzying diversity and quantity of great works, the rooms had wonderful harmony and themes … Italian mythology, Egyptian mythology, satyrs and gods, hieroglyphs and heroes, lovers and babies, battles and glory, life and death, it’s all there.

At the end I came back to the first hall to experience again that first breathtaking moment. I chose an image of a bold Roman solider charging over a hill with red cape flowing to fix in my mind as my memory for this experience. As I did, I wept tears of joy that there could be such exquisite beauty in the world.

This is what I came to Italy for.

Theater Recommendation

I hope the knowledge that I've never used my blog to recommend a show will help emphasize just how freaking awesome I think How the Theater Failed America by Mike Daisey is. He's an incredible story teller, the likes of which we've not seen since Spalding Gray.

Go! Go now! Go often. Take your friends.

I Am Mr. Sparkle

The Next Big Thing

If you thought the iPhone was big ... the Apple Phone is gonna be huge! (on view at the MoMA)

Dorks on Subway Art

Alright ... dorks? Definitely. But art? Well ... you decide.

A Man With His Own Medium

Today on the A Train I met a man who makes sculptures out of used
Metrocards. He was very sweet and flattered that I wanted to take a
photo. He gave me the one he is holding in this image.

Cubism

Igneous Is All The Rage This Season, Baby

My friend Mike invited me to see art in Queens. Apparently in Queens
art is rocks. Maybe next year they'll have fire.