Marco De Luca

The exhibition I went to MAR to see was by an Italian mosaic artist Marco De Luca.  His work was not only incredible, and of a scale rarely seen in Australia, but it was exhibited in such a way that the mood and lighting set the works off brilliantly.  I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see this artists works, most of which seem to have come from private collections for the purpose of the show.  Purchasing the catalogue was essential. I now have a record of the scale and detail of his way of working.  Quite architectural even though not graphic.  Textural while being predominantly flat although worked onto 3D surfaces. Compared to the crowds throughout the rest of Ravenna we were virtually alone as we explored MAR.  This provided the opportunity to really enjoy seeing what was on offer.  At one stage, the attendant in the Marco De Luca exhibition had a chat.  Named Stella, this lovely lady must have been in her 70's.   I asked whether it was ok to take photographs.  I had seen no signage to indicate either way, so did the mime to check with her.  Well, in addition to saying yes, she settled in for a chat.  Holding my hand and patting it as we talked.  Her in Italian, me in English.  Then, she came after me to tell me it was ok to use the flash to take photos.  We chatted some more, so I gave her my business card, to try to explain why I had enjoyed the exhibition so much.  She seemed tickled pink, chatted some more, then we left to explore the bookstore, knowing that the Museum was due to close for siesta.  Truly a highlight to what was a wonderful day. 25.10.2012

MAR Ravenna

A message from Sonia King on Facebook had alerted me to the fact that there was another mosaic exhibition of note on in Ravenna.  So as well as visiting the basilicas, and the tomb of Galla Placidia, we sought out MAR.   The Museum of Art, Ravenna is incredible and well worth a visit. Located in a large building on the extreme edge of the tourist precinct the facility must at one point have been a covent or something simliar.  With three levels around a quadrangle, it is quite a beautiful space.  It has a strong focus on mosaic but also exhibits more traditional art forms.  The strange thing was that the painting exhibition upstairs had a fee for entry, whereas the mosaic exhibition was free.  Hey, who am I to argue? There is also a collection of contemporary mosaic.  Whether it is a permanent part of the collection or not I could not work out, but the quality of the work was astounding with large works from the 1950's thorough to now.  The other interesting thing was there were a number of drawings, again on a large scale, that then had a completed mosaic hung next to them.  Again, something I have rarely had the opportunity to see.  I perused these works for some time.  Unfortunately there was not a catalogue of these works, however I did buy a couple of books in the MAR bookstore relating to contemporary mosaic so came away armed with more fuel for research and development of ideas. 25.10.2012