How Italian Artists Get Stuck in Galveston

HOW ITALIAN ARTISTS GET STUCK IN GALVESTON Art writer Debra Barrera gets the inside scoop on some of the banana-peel art put up by Italian artist Davide Savorani for this past weekend’s exhibition at the Galveston Artist Residency compound at the corner of 25th St. and Ships Mechanic Row: “Savorani explains The Can’t Get Away Club as part of the nature of living in a place like Galveston; the calm sea breeze, the cheap booze, and endless reasons to never return to a big city can keep people stuck. Each year promises are made, ‘Maybe next year I will move to Houston . . . Maybe I will finally start that popcorn ball franchise.’ From Firenze, a small town in the north of Italy himself, Savorani is familiar with this syndrome and decided to immerse himself in Galveston: ‘I came here with nothing and I wanted to try to understand the city. Something I experienced was this idea of a place where you really face yourself.'” And face others who are celebrating, apparently, Barrera continues: “What I admired most about both Savorani and [his assistant, Michelangelo] Miccolis was their ability to immerse themselves in a completely foreign place and use materials that were part of their daily lives. In the studio, when I asked about a strand of plastic beads hanging on the wall, Miccolis remarked, ‘Yes! We were at some parade and they were just throwing them! We kept grabbing at the air! This is what the city gave us; why not make art out of it?’” [Glasstire] Self-portrait at cottages between 28th and Winnie: Michelangelo Miccolis

9 Comment

  • So, this underachiever thinks Mardi Gras beads are art because he doesn’t understand them. If a prerequisite for art is that someone does not understand it, then a Calculus book must seem like a masterpiece for any artist.

  • Commonsense, I once came to your defense, insisting that you are NOT a troll…but then you go and do your best to prove me wrong…

  • No, he understands the form of the bead and celebrates that, even though he doesn’t understand the function. The great thing about unpinning the beads from their symbolic meaning is that you get to create your own.

    Or, he’s seen Carnival in a few places and totally enjoys messing with the interviewer.

  • From Firenze, a small town in the north of Italy….

    Does the writer not realize that Americans refer to Firenze as Florence, whose metro area is 1.5 million?

  • Yes, Carl my thoughts exactly. Obviously the writer has never been to Florence.

  • Firenze a small town in the north of Italy……. Wow.

  • I think it is unanimous – Debra Barrera needs to get out more. As St. Augustine said, “The world is a great book; {s}he who never stirs from home reads only a page.”

  • To commonsense: I know quite well what beads are and how their meaning change in the years.I usually study the folklore of the place where I’m going to work: it’s the starting point of my thoughts. Before writing useless commments, you should learn something about the subject that you’re about to comment.
    Don’t be an undeachiever “reviewer”.