Teatro La Fenice di Venezia (La Fenice Theatre in Venice)

Venice itself is a museum and treasure box. From every angle, one sees something astonishingly beautiful, if somewhat aged and tired looking, though the charm of Venice does reside much in the apparent ancientness.  The main opera house in Venice, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, however, does not attract one's attention with a flamboyant or stories exterior; it's a rather subdued classical structure, solid and unpretentious, and one hardly expects to encounter the remarkably exuberant Rococo beauty inside.

La Fenice (The Phoenix), dating back to late 18th century, was aptly named because it indeed re-emerged several times from fire and ashes, with the latest devastating fire taking place in 1996 and rebuilt subsequently from 2001 through 2003.

Quoting Wikipedia, "La Fenice was rebuilt in 19th-century style on the basis of a design by architect Aldo Rossi and using still photographs from the opening scenes of Luchino Visconti's 1954 film Senso, which was filmed in the house, in order to obtain details of its design. It reopened on 14 December 2003 with an inaugural concert of Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky. The first opera production was La traviata in November 2004."

When I returned to Venice in October 2012, there was no performance scheduled in La Fenice then, so I took solace in touring the theater - a self-guided tour, with no entry time and duration constraints.  For an extra fee, visitors were allowed to take photos and videos of the pale green and gold color schemed auditorium, breath-taking for its almost too ornate, extremely detailed yet subtle beauty.  Words fail me here so I'll let the image to speak instead:























Below are images from two smaller halls, ideal for intimate recitals; though smaller and less elaborate, they were no less beautiful.






Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- Famed Palaces and Houses (Ca') in Venice
- Il Ghetto di Venezia and Museo Ebraico (Jewish Museum) in Venice
- Bridges in Venice, Italy
- San Giorgio Maggiore, Il Redentore, Scuola e Chise Grande di San Rocco, Venezia
- Magical Piazza San Marco in Venice
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- Bus Ride From Graz, Austria to Venice, Italy
- Magnificent Churches in Vienna
- Christopher Wheeldon's Brilliant Cinderella at San Francisco Ballet
- Theater Experiences in Wien (Vienna)

Label: Italy, Austria and Italy Trip 2012

Congregation - My New Art Installation

Continue to work on my installation project, finally I completed the very first idea which started my desire to make installation projects.

This project is called congregation, which consists of a tree, or an upright branch, with origami chairs hanging from the twigs.  The various sized and patterned chairs, facing various directions, without the occupiers, represented a congregation without its heads or thoughts, and can be seen as empty, hilarious, sad, or melancholic, depending on the viewers mood, lighting, and even wind condition.  These variants justify installation other than painting, I think.

Animated gif:


Or watch it on video:



Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- A New Installation - Chairs Installation, November 2012
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- Paper Boat Installations
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Label: My Installation

 

2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012

2012 was a very difficult year for me, full of tragedy and sadness and my art make sometimes had to be pushed back and I was only manage to finish small canvasses - several larger, more ambitious one took much more patience and stamina than I was able to muster last year.

I made a series based on Greek tragedies, on the theme of Electra, Orestes, Paris, Helen and Oedipus. 

Another two noteworthy portraits I made last year both had religious touches - Heavenwards and Icon, made at the beginning and end of the tumultous year.

Below is a video presentation of the paintings I created in 2012:


Paintings included can be viewed on my Flickr portfolio:

Matthew Felix Sun's Paintings Completed in 2012 by Matthew Felix Sun photoset

>> Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XXVI: 2006-08 Recapitulations - Video Presentation of Paintings

<< Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XXIV: 2011 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2011

List of Video Presentation of My Artworks

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- New Presentations of My Yearly Artworks
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- "White Dress" Series Continues - A New Drawing and a New Painting

- Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?
- Before and After - A Painting Framed
- Baby's New Clothes

Chinese People's Olympics Apathy

Four years ago, when Beijing was hosting the Olympic Games, most Chinese people were extremely excited and proud of their coming of age party, a party so grand that no one would dare to challenge ever after.  That country poured grotesquely large amount of money into the Games and duly stunned the rest of the world for its brutal efficiency and the brutishly stunning spectacle of the Opening Ceremony.

Four years later, the 2012 Olympic Games is well underway in London, Great Britain, yet many Chinese people seem to have decidedly much less enthusiasm and even apathy towards the Olympics.

According to some Chinese language media, and through talking to my family in China, I recognized the striking change of attitudes.  One clear reason was the location and distance.  In 2008, China hosted the Olympics in Beijing for the first time; while now it is in the faraway London, where most Chinese have never seen and will never have the chance to visit.  However, people also have lost some interests in the gold medals which they used to counted ounce by ounce four years ago with the greed like an Harpagon, the titular character of The Miser (L'Avare) by Molière.

Four years ago, many of them firmly believed that the Olympics would be the panacea of all social woes, as promised by the government.  Yet, four years later, they discovered, that after a storm, cities were still flooded (see images below from Beijing in July 2012). Yet, despite the huge amount of money spent on infrastructures, the list of sorrow stories goes on: High speed trains still crash; food/milk/medicine are still poisonous; officials are still corrupt; people still have trouble in paying for education, medicine and even tomb plots. 



 
Beijing, July 2012

The demolitions and constructions were not limited to Beijing.  After the Olympic Games in Beijing, other big cities in China competed to put on their own shows - Shanghai had its World Expo; Guangzhou hosted the 2010 Asian Games; etc. My home city, Shenyang, is preparing for the most superfluous All China Games with much demolitions and constructions, despite the fact that the city refused to pay some employees and pensioners the nationally mandated salary increases for lacking funds.  One prime example was the demolition of a 9-year-old, state-of-art, one of the largest indoor stadiums in Asia, built in the "unsuitable location" in Shenyang:


Shenyang, June 12, 2012

Regular folks continue to suffer, contractors continue to make profit and the officials continue to enrich themselves with kickbacks in the process of such demolition and construction and in the name of people.

Internationally, China is as isolated as ever, with only friends in the league of Syria, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and perhaps Russia.  People outside China watched its phenomenal economic growth with awe and fear.  Envy played some role perhaps, but definitely a minor one.  It was Chinese government's refusal to comply by the international standards and decency keeps China outside the international community.  No window dressing Olympics could change that.

Chinese people had learned their lessons in a hard way.  At least, they have opened up their eyes.  They are saying loudly that the Opening Ceremony of 2008 in Beijing was a celebration of absolute control and absolute order, while in 2012 in London they saw a celebration of humanities.  No wonder, they are becoming more cynical and less enamored with the obvious glitter.