Punta Della Dogana (Materia Prina)

The Prima Materia exhibition held at Punta Della Gogana was meant to explore an alchemistic ideology for which the show was given its name. Now that being said I thought they were unable to follow this rather broad theme, making the 34 artists involved and very large space in which the artists showed their work, a bit of an art overload. There were numerous themes and jests being thrown with absolutely no continuity, only the ego of the individual artist (some certainly bigger than others). After seeing the many artists I cannot say that I was entirely disappointed just a bit overwhelmed and there was no doubt many artists that stood out prominently to me, and I will name three.
First there was Roni Horn a female artist from Ney York here she made several thick glass cylinders filled with water frozen in the still atmosphere of stagnant indoor air. I am not sure as to what she wanted to portray or simply to ask you to look into depths with the water, to see how light disperses and refracts or maybe a place to ponder. The second artist that stood out most to me was American Mark Grotjahn, his art at first glance expressive but methodical. I only had one real problem with this artist and that was the support he used to paint on, cardboard. I am not sure why that frustrated me so much maybe because as with many other works of contemporary art it is just no longer meant to last. Finaly there was artist Adel Abdessemed he made four large scale sculptures of the crucifix out of twisted razor wire, with this piece I think either you understand it or you don’t.

Palazzo Grassi (Rudolf Stingel)

     At The Palazzo Grassi this year in conjunction with La biennale di Venezia, only one artist is featured throughout the Palazzo, all five thousand square meters devoted to renowned artist Rudolf Stingel. Rudolf is an Italian painter known for pushing the bounds of painting and how one paints. He was born in Merano (1956) where he splits his time and work between there and a home in New York. For one to understand his work presented here I must first elaborate on the building itself. Upon entering the palazzo you realize just how large the building really is, all three stories can be seen from the ground level like square discs encircling the inside of the building and held up by massive marble pillars. It is from this space that Stingel begins his dialog with the viewer.
     Stingel is known for his elaborate presentations of his work and here at the Palazzo this is no exception. Save the pillars, staircase and central ceiling the entirety of the building is covered in Oriental rug like carpet; accentuating and complementing his mostly black, white and silver paintings. As you pass through the labyrinth of rooms and hall ways covered in this carpet you can’t help but to imagine yourself passing deeper and deeper into some abstract construct; whatever that may be. Texture seemed to be an important almost ruling law connecting his work and especially the many paintings throughout the Palazzo; even though many of his works of art were very realistic and other completely abstract. Because of this the same mood was felt throughout the show, one work seamlessly giving way to the other.

Pinchuk Foundation (Future Generation Art Prize)

The Future Art Generation Prize at Venice 2013 was an international art exhibit hosted by the Pinchuk Foundation to further the development of the younger generation of talented artists worldwide. This is the second year this Prize has been held and like in 2011 both were held at La biennale di Venezia, giving an international platform for an international art competition. The prize itself consists of a US$100000 investment to the winner and up to US$20,000 can be divided up between up to five Special Awards given to promising artists. Now the more I read into this foundation to more and more important it seem s to be, for example the board and administrative body consists of renowned artists such as Jeff Koons (a Post Modern Powerhouse of an artist), Elton John and famous visual artist Damien Hirst. Not to mention the multiple Museum Directors, Curators and prominent art critics.
This year out of the 4083 individual applications only five Special Prize winners were selected and of course, the Main prize winner of the Future Generation Art Prize Lynette Yiadom-Boalye, the exceptional and moving 36 year old artist. While I was there I have to say I completely agree with the choice for the Main Prize Winner Lynette is an amazing artist, her art work is mostly done in oil on canvas, depicting such incredible depth into the figures she paints. I praise her for how she uses subtle color differences allowing the subject to appear as if apart and within the composition simultaneously; although the most incredible parts of her paintings are the emotion and movement of every brush stroke. I must say it was enlightening to see the direction in which the world of art is heading, I only hope to someday be a part of that.

 Noise

• Noise was a fun and interactive Collateral Event featuring sound as the aesthetic medium of choice, but after one is done enjoying oneself on the sort of exploratory, futuristic display's one can begin to see meaning in all this noise present at the exhibition. To me it was a reflection on the how noise is present in our life and in the world around us; for example the Digital Mirror a pane of glass capable of reflecting fractured light representing the noise one might see coming from a computer or television screen. Then there was a mixed media sculpture (a log or dead wood), that once sat on made noises of the forest, well I am quite confident you can figure this one out.

Personal Structures

Personal Structures was an interesting and at times intrigue dialog between artists from around the world; thus it was an international art show but with no definite theme or direction. This structure of artist lends well to the title of the exhibition, artists simply getting together to do their own thing. As for me I have found a common factor in the ambiguous themed art show i.e. you find artists and their art work you like some you rather don't care much for. The artists that most stood out to me were Elena & Vatliy Vasilieva and their works on form and the human figure. A somewhat disgruntled show but still with plenty of great art.

 Bart Dorsa. Katya

• Bart Dorsa's exhibition as a collateral event was one of the most provocative and emotional pavilions at the biennale. Dorsa is an American artist based in Russia giving him and his art an interconnection that seek meaning between the differences in life and culture. The Show is called Katya and follows the very personal life of a young Russian girl that Bart Dorsa has taken in as his primary artistic model and muse. I liked everything about this show, the way it was presented to the beautiful and intimate photographs, I found myself a new favorite artist.

Poland

• Poland pavilion was amazing I loved the sound piece. The art work consisting of two large church bells, the sound becomes simultaneously recorded then played back through a bunch of large speakers on either side of the bells. This produced an increasingly loud environment requiring ear plug, the sound was so heavy that the whole building would shutter and move along with the vibration. This engineering dream child was made by Polish artist Konrad Smolenski and the title of this excellent event and exhibition is Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More.

South Africa 

• South Africa's Pavilion was quite large this year featuring many artist all with seemingly unrelated themes. The show called Imaginary Fact:  Contemporary South African Art and the Archive, which in all reality is fairly ambiguous allowing the country to showcase all of there best talent without any conflict between theme and work. That being said one artist stood out most prominently to me, Wim Botha and his expressive sculptures made using the layered pages of South African encyclopedias.

The Netherlands 

• Mark Manders' "Room with Broken Sentence" consisted of multipule works of art in multiple mediums utilizing many different textures and materials to achieve form. His work is very individualistic, that is it tends to be seem from a personal perspective devoid of time or prejudice. Within the pavilion he has several installations set up to portray a working environment as if entering the building was a mistake a wrong turn found only due to poor directions, but a good mistake. 

Montenegro

Montenegro's pavilion was in an area shared by three other National Pavilions but none the less each had their own individual appeal. Montenegro had three rooms each an installation by artist Irena Lagator Pajorvic, the first room was dark with only minimal light containing thousands of golden strands reflecting just enough light that you bump into it. The next room was filled with mirrors with light coming from small pin holes in the dark cloth walls, creating a starlight effect. the next room simply white. Overall a great Pavilion.

Lebanon 

• Lebanon's Pavilion now this I remember quite well, another emotional video installation. It took a moment for me to understand some of the child like symbolism purposely made apart of the short film; never the less leaving you with a feeling hope and forgiveness. I'm not going to decipher the film for you, analyzing it would only ruin the emotional value it holds with me, but I will say this, the film helped on my view on the Israeli Pavilion and just how much major actions can affect so many people in so many different ways. 

Latvia

• "North by Northeast" features work by two Latvian artists Kaspars Podnieks and Kriss Salmanis, in this show the two artists made video in conjunction with photography installations. Here they seemed to push the boundaries of perspective imposing the ordinary person upon a photo taken from a distance, at first glace the projected man or women seems natural but the... Wait something just doesn't seem right! Take a look at the photo to the right, you'll know what I mean.

Republic of Kosovo 

• The republic of Kosovo had an intriguing exhibit with a giant birds nest like shelter suspended off the floor. The artist responsible for this intricate weaving of sticks and branches was Albanian (ethnic) artist Petrit Halilaj. To me this pavilion seems like something one might imagine as a child or read in children's story book and for that reason I think it appealed so much to me reminded me of the forts and tree houses I would make when I was younger and my imaginary adventures I would have among those early creations. Also I saw a bird inside there so apparent something else thinks it familiar.  

Kenya

• Kenya had a strange exhibit this year considering most of the artists represented were Chinese, not sure what that was all about but non the less there were some great works of art after you made you way past Asian tourists leaning on paintings and disrespecting other art works and installations among the exhibit. Oh well the two artists who were actually from Kenya were Kivuthi Mbuno and Armando Tanzini. Personally I think had these two artist exhibited on there own as representatives of Kenya the Pavilion would have been better off.

Ireland

• "The Enclave" With Richard Moss was one of the exhibits I remember most fondly. while there I could not make it through the film section of the exhibit and I'm not the person who gets all teary eyed over little things, but this seemed real, the colors vivid and engulfing. Everything so powerful so alive I wanted to disappear to a different place, fall into those images not to know whether I'll return or not. I suppose this is what great art looks like, this exhibit rally made my trip, Thanks Ireland.

Israel 

• Israel's Pavilion "The Workshop" features artist Gilad Ratman. Upon entering the Israeli Pavilion you encounter a hole in the flour from which apparently people were able to crawl through signifying some existential form of renewal or birth or something (I wasn't much into it), anyway there was a lot of loud annoying moaning playing over and over again apparently upstairs there were some video pieces but I was out of that building before I could watch the whole film pieces, I didn't like the set up or theme, very very uncomfortable.  

 Iraq

• The Iraq Pavilion was a complicated one with eleven artist and their work all packed into a first floor apartment. There were plenty small, large and unidentifiable political innuendos personally I felt rather claustrophobic. That aside Iraq through their years of war have turned out some very talented artists and worthy works of art to the contemporary realm of international grade art.  

Holy Sea

• The holy sea I believe was from the Vatican and artworks there of, contemporary mind you. Called "In Principio" or In The Beginning, featuring several artists with an array of preferred media, from Ice painting to interactive display art with a touch sensitive screen allowing you to leave a digital hand print. It was interesting to me to see the Vatican's view on contemporary art and from what I saw at the biennale they weren't to far off.

Greece

• The more I think about the Greece pavilion the more I like it. At first the films presented seem long and somewhat boring or at least don't overtly catch your attention but as you go through each film you can slowly put together the puzzle. The film shows a lonely man in some lonely city looking for scrape to sell to recycle companies, But on this day the man is really down on his luck and ends up getting his own thing he found stolen only to then find a bouquet of origami flowers made out of money. What these films mean is certainly up to interpretation but the place were they filmed it seemed reminiscent of post war or a place where people simply have leafed, which made for an eerie setting. The Pavilion is called History Zero, the artist was Stefanos Tsivopoulos. 

Great Britain  

• "English Magic" was an enjoyable pavilion and made me a fan of Jeremy Deller and his serious yet satirical art work (free tea was nice also) the only thing this pavilion, in my opinion did not have going for it was the use of space in conjecture with to much art that did not fit any real theme. I mean "English magic" what is that supposed to be. The art work was so fun and well done that I can easily look past the poor theme, but in a time and place where a good theme can actually carry with it a certain degree of power, why waste it on something so damn stupid!?

France

• France had an interesting Pavilion this year showing the work from artist Anri Sala. The works consisted of a combination of film and music. The Pavilion itself situated in the former Germany pavilion at Gardini. Now the to the film representing two classical pianists playing with only their left hand while simultaneously the music of the two separate pianists are combined to form a full composition. The title of the exhibition is "RAVEL RAVEL UNRAVEL", The unravel part being a film showing the artist combining the two sets of sound and film together. The end result is something not altogether harmonious nor do I think that it was meant to be. there is a slight hint to political examination but not to heavily.  

Finland 

• The artist representing Finland's Pavilion Antti Laitinen is an absolutely creative individual, in the exhibit there is a video showing him building himself his own island and outside the exhibit chopped up pieces of fire wood reconstructed into the form of their original shape the aspen tree. Then there is a photograph (seen to the right) where he set up and organized all of the materials from one square acre of forest from the top soil to the top of the trees, bunching those materials in squares and rectangles until the mess of matter again measured one square acre. Then of course he photographed it. 

Egypt 

• The Egyptian Pavilion featured two artist:  Mohamed Benawy and Khaled Zaki. The exhibit was called "Treasuries of Knowledge" this title set a theme that I thought the artists followed very well, as you enter the building you are greated by ancient cave like paintings on the walls moving on eventually to an abstract sculpture that is very mechanical in nature, setting a sot of precedent for the future. Moving from cave painting, to pottery. computers and finally the abstract AI future. Or well at least that is the way I saw it.

Denmark

• The Danish pavilion entitled "Intercourses" is an installation piece by Jesper Just featuring a play on light and life as seen by the plants which are illuminated by purple light or rather a mixture of blue and red light. Then there are the short films dispersed among the ruin like building showing a strange connection between places such as a small Paris built in China. I liked almost everything about this pavilion, the maze and ruin like building the strange atmosphere between films, the themes and the pavilion itself.

Czech Republic

Czech Republic

• The Czech Republic featured two artists:  Petra Feriancova and Zbynek Baladran. the show was called still in the same place the theme as a mention to the country and were it stands; although mostly in a physical manner and not overtly political. Seen here are shells from Czech beaches and photography of Czech life and animals. My favorite type of exhibit SIMPLE!

China 

• Along with the Kenya Pavilion and other events round and about the venice biennale Chinese artists were well represented. China had seven major artists representing them at their pavilion. There is no question that china is a rising force in the art world but they seem to be making art in a way that is just not very appealing almost commercial. in essence. The area they used rented at the Arsenale was simply put Massive with several full length theater projector screens. and artist very talented in every field of traditionally speaking modern art. There was as a side note no political or any such jests in this pavilion... Wonder why?  

Chile

• This year Chile presented only one work of art though it was no doubt complicated and intricate. featuring an island modeled after the Gardini and periodically the model would sink into a large tube of water only to reemerge minutes later. The artist resposible for this "cool" contraption was Alfredo Jaar and the title of this exhibit was "Venezia, Venezia"

Canada

• Canada's exhibit called "Music for Silence" was to me creative and well orchestrated but unfortunately rather boring. The artist representing Canada was Shary Boyle. Her work included mostly sculptures one being more ornate than the others (shown to the right) a white sculpture, sort of blank canvas used multiple projectors to fill the sculpture in color; though it was a bit overwhelming and difficult to fully distinguish shape and form with just how many things they had going on in the background. 

 

Brazil

• "Inside/ Outside" featuring artists: Helio Forenza, Odires Mlaszho, Lygia Clark, Max Bill, Bruno Munari. Brazil's exhibit display some promising artists and their works I especially liked the book sculptures, and how they were put together with graphic works on the wall. I suppose that is what the theme was meant to imply.

Bahrain, Kingdom of

Kingdom of Bahrain

• This is the first year that the Kingdom of Bahrain has exhibited at the Biennale. The show was called "In a world of your own" featuring artists Mariam Haji, Waheeda Malullah and Camille Zakharia. the art at this exhibit did not really make much to me when compared to the theme of the show, the artists seemed to very much work independently indicating a poorly done job of curating on Bahrain's part. The INDIVIDUAL pieces done by the individual artist displayed good talent and style, though in my opinion the overall exhibit was not a great success.  

Belgium 

• The Belgium Pavilion featured artist Berlinde De Bruyckere, and one of her sculptures. The exhibit is called "Cripple wood" for which the sculpture is also named. The art work being made from a variety of materials resembles the dying trunk and limbs of a hewn down tree. Patches of inky red dye seep out of cracks in its realistic bark, the dark room in which the behemoth lies give the place a somber feel and leaves you with an undeniable feeling of loss as if something great is no more. 

The Bahamas

Austria

• "Hello Pal" is the title for this years Austrian Pavilion featuring a three minute film called "Imitation of Life"  a labor intensive hand done cartoon involving a donkey and a musical number. I thought Austria's pavilion short, sweet and to the point. The theme was easily identifiable, with simply put an enjoyable experience, a tip of the hat to Walt Disney classics.