Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Venetian Griddiness

Not really a grid, but with the interplay of colors and late afternoon light, as tidy and subdued a geometric composition as one is likely to find here.

Manhattan is famous for the grid layout of all but its oldest sections, but grids are usually the last thing one associates with Venice, which typically avoids--or, thanks to its unstable soil, falls away from--the strict right angle in a way that William Blake would have much appreciated (as, indeed, Ruskin did).

Which, for me at least, only makes those surprising appearances of anything approaching a grid here all the more striking.


A very large warehouse door within the Arsenale

Sheets of white paper conceal renovation work being done in the garden of Casa dei Tre Ochi on Giudecca

Stairwell window in apartment/office building near Piazale Roma

On Calle Bembo

Parking garage near Piazzale Roma

6 comments:

  1. Piet Mondrian, eat your heart out! Brilliant selection.

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    1. Thanks, Ella--though Piet has nothing to worry about! (By the way, have you ever seen his pre-grid paintings, they're pretty amazing & very different, in the Symbolist style).

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    2. Yes, always felt it was a bit sad he's mostly knows for that much later, less interesting work

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    3. Without the later work I suspect he'd be remembered much less, and as simply an example of a style that's more of historical interest than enduring influence--the end of something rather than the start of something. But I'm no art historian, and I enjoy the dramatic contrast in a single artist!

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  2. My favorite is On Calle Bembo. The shadow of the window grate and graffiti
    remind me of valley towns like Modesto. All are evocative of a close eye for detail, mood and color.

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    1. Ah, I know those towns well--I grew up in Modesto! Definitely a lot of bars on windows there, though not quite as stout as the ones here, and I can almost imagine (or remember) the kind of place there that you have in mind (I'm thinking of liquors stores, and places like Stockton's old Skid Row, to which I used to deliver soda water). I'm glad you liked the images.

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