An Invitation

A while back I received an invitation to show my work at an exhibition titled “Time Space Existence” organized by the European Cultural Center. It was due to take place in Venice in 2021.

The prospect was very exciting, even though there was no funding from the organizers to cover any expenses. I would have to raise funds from sponsors if I wanted to make this project happen

Nonetheless, I went to work on a model that I thought would be perfect for an exhibit of this scope. Thinking about how Venice was at a time a naval powerhouse with its ships sailing to the farthest reaches of the world, I focused on an evocation of sailing. My first title for this work was Full Sail, but after observing the Stabile for some time, I saw it was more like the gathering of sailing boats before a race and decided that Regatta was more descriptive of the sculpture.

After much thought and conversations with family and friends as to the pros and cons, I decided that the costs of this project were too prohibitive. I had to take in mind many factors such as materials on such a large piece, transportation and doing all this during a pandemic.

Even though it is not 7’ to 15’ high as I envisioned and is not exhibited in Venice, I do have a new Stabile maquette that I like very much. I titled it “Regatta”.

Here is a photo…

Below is a Photoshop rendition of the yet to be painted model that I placed in a photo I took in Venice in 2009.

At a larger scale here is what it might look like…

Below, is a photo of my Stabile “Coming About” placed in a photo of the Campo San Lorenzo.

“Coming About” Campo San Lorenzo

Still, the idea of this project is not entirely without merit. One could easily envisage a crowdsourcing event in the line of what Christo, who I believe was the first art crowdsourcer, may have done.

Possibly the whole project could be made in Italy, thus following in the steps of Alexander Calder who’s first very large Stabile “Teodelapio” was fabricated in Italy. This was in contrast to his later such works that were designed to be bolted together in order to be broken down and reassembled elsewhere. “Teodelapio” was welded in place. Quite a monumental undertaking!

Giving an idea of its scale, here is a photo of yours truly standing in front of “Teodelapio” in Spoleto, Italy in 2009.

I remember hearing about “Teodelapio” when I was a kid. It was exciting to hear that you could actually drive a car underneath it.

When I was about 14, I was fortunate to see at least a half dozen large Stabiles, two of which were “Le Guichet” and “Guillotine pour Huit”, in front of Calder’s studio in Saché, where I lived. I was in awe and being amongst them had a profound effect on me.