day 1- pix

clockwise from upper left- dinner at il san lorenzo- 1-this strips of squid with artichokes mint & lemon/olive oil 2- primi- home made pasta with sea urchin 3- appetizers.....it was all awesome!

Italy - day 1 - ROME

i what a day! starts off with the fast security check at newark int'l airport i've ever seen. i guess the backlog from the volcano inspired them to move things along. i didn't complain! flight took off 6pm....u know what that means! ? no sleep. 8 hr flight, so i made the effort anyway...shut my eyes for a good 3 hrs at least. arrived in Rome got my packs, and breeeeeeeeezed thru customs. this is a big deal for me for many reasons. 1- i'm carry art! 2- $1000's and $1000's and $1000 of dollars worth of art!!! i'm always a bit on edge worrying whether some customs police guy is having a bad day and decides the bone up his ass oughta be up mine. 3- i was acting as mule this time! bringing in for a friend 3 very VERY VERY valuable pieces! luckily my good buddy in Naples helped me created a good customs form stating all the art was on loan to a museum (a real musuem...which i actually lent art to! so it's only a half lie...just not any of the art i brought on the flight ;-). oh yeah, back to breezing thru customs and there's my good buddy Massimo waiting with his friend (whom i brought the art for...for rewards we shall keep private for the moment). so, an uneventful customs crossing is a good crossing! i brought my friends Massimo & Marina (whom i'm staying with) bagel's from Murray's. they had that for breakfast and i had some pastry (yummy) and cafe with steamed milk. next massimo & massimo (yep his friend's name too) left for work, i hung out with Marina a bit and got directions on how to get home via metro & bus. and i found out that there was a Caravaggio show in town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so there was the plan for the day.

i took the Metro to the Coloseum stop, strolled by (not in) the Roman Forum, went up to the Capitoline Hill, and went in one of the my favorite churches up top there. then strolled down the steep steps and headed to the ghetto (the jewish quarter) scoped out a few old haunts to eat but decided to keep on going and head to the Campo Dei Fiori where i would hit up my fave bakery! bought some nice warm Foccacia (im too tired to check sp?) and some pizza con Fiori di Zucca (zuchini flowers! & cheese).
i sat and ate it up on the central statue, when it started to drizzle i popped my umbrella and was happy as all get out.

then i proceeded on to the Caravaggio show. the line was long. but what the heck...i got on. and there i stood for the next 2.5 HOURS...i couldnt fuckin believe it!!! once i was on a half hour i couldn't quit...but it just kept movin along at a snails pace...just when i was about to give up i met an american student on line and that helped the time fly. well, not really fly, the student had a limit time wise and was forced to get off the line after waiting for 2 hrs!!!!! horrible. but the show was MIND BOGGLING. a dream, and even tho i was delirious with fatigue, it was a great dream. a shot of espresso helped a lot!!! i had seen many of these pieces before (vatican, and other roman museums, napoli, the met, etc...) but the ones i had seen before and finding out where they were on loan from (fort worth texas??? !!!! ....sheeeeeiiiiit they're cara is better than the mets'!!! it was a stunning st john the baptist. and then there was another stunner from a museum in dublin! awesome...but the kicker (not the best piece in the show....but close) was from a private collection!!! PRIVATE???? i mean who the hell has a caravaggio in their collection. it was a big masterpiece...i could see it selling for $250mil minium!!! unbelievable!!!!!

ok, then it was back to the jewish quarter for dinner. i stopped in a sweet lil wine bar, had a glass of Prosecco (almost passed out 2-3 times...that jet lag was bangin round 6pm...hadnt had a chance for nap!) and had the common sense to ask the friendly bar tender for dinner recommendations and he provided me with 2 i hadn't heard of. BOTH were totally booked! the second one, i asked if they could help me out and they sent me off to a very elegant seafood place!
name of Il San Lorenzo
...first of all i got there right when it opened at 7:30pm, and i knew i was in for a good meal as i watched some locals eating fresh shucked oysters and raw sea urchin at the bar. i was eyeing them with extreme envy. everything is home made in this restaurant including the bread sticks!!! and here's what i had: they started me off with some free apps of lightly fried sardines (not the fishy yucky kind we get in a can here) with some bocancini (fried rice balls). I had a nice glass of dry white wine and bottle of Aqua con Gas (mineral water with bubbles!).

i looked over the menu and was THRILLED to see that they were serving a pasta con ricci (sea urchin), and i knew i was going to order it! i haven't had this for a few years, since i had it last in Naples. first my appetizer was thin strips of delicate squid over steamed artichokes with mint, olive oil and touch of lemon.

stuffed, i head off for a much need walk to the train. it was pouring...but the walk was fun. and then the metro to the bus, and all is cozy now.
gonna crash.

new ashley wood robot model...special name

the brandnew ASHLEY WOOD ROBOT

lots of news...good and sad

the news i just got inspired me to voice my thoughts. first on the sad news: today i heard about the passing of a rap music legend. MC GURU of the group Gang Starr. someone i grew up listening to and have long had the deepest respect for the intelligence and power of his lyrics. his style was very unique, a smooth monotone voice with very witty and clever rhyming. Combined with the jazzy samples of DJ Premier they were easily one of my favorite rap bands of all time. and he will be missed as an artist. if there's an afterlife i know he's tearin shit up there!
i'm listening to Step in the Arena...

on to brighter news, my fears about missing my trip to italy are passing! seems the volcano with the ridiculously confusing spelling (to someone not from iceland) is chillin now! All the wonderful art is sorted and packed, and i'm VERY excited about this trip. i'm staying with my good friends Massimo & Marina in Roma, wonderful people, excellent hosts...i'm stoked! and then on to Napoli Comicon! you'll hear all about it.

ta

San Francisco, Wondercon redux, and L.A.

Well that was some kinda cool trip! first stop San Francisco for the Wondercon. last year it was possibly the shittiest big show (sales wise) i've EVER done. but hey, it's San Fran and they have some great food there, several awesome museums and my good buddy art legend SPAIN RODRIGUEZ...whom i spent good time with. after the show i did some good trading and buying so i was hopeful about a return trip. and i visited my brother in L.A. so i had more excuses to come back to wondercon. aiiiiiiiight, fast forward to this year!-:

Packed a crazy cool selection of art and with a few last minute adjustments at the check in counter i was able to skirt the xtra fees regarding overweight baggage. yeah, i zig and zag when i have to. Got to San Fran with a day to spare and spent a great chunk of it with a walk to the Embarcadero, where i had lunch at the Ferry Building's Farmers market. OMG this place rocks...think the chelsea market and then magnify 2-3x. after i had a nice mexican lunch (tortilla soup, 2 fish tacos) i headed over to san fran MOMA. i must say this might have been the single most perfect museum visit i've ever had! how? i know, i mean think about it: i'm a museum HOUND!!! i love museums and i've been to many of the best in the world (Prado, Moma NYC, Louvre, Vatican, Alte pinacotec munich, Rijks Museum, etc... BUT, what makes this museum is it's size (small-mid) which enables you to see everything without completely blowing your senses and wearing yourself out, and of course the incredible quality to the collection and shows of this particular day i went. there were 2 great shows going on.

-first was the Belgian painter LUC TUYMANS. i wasn't very familiar with him prior to this show. i knew a little about him, but after this show i was blown away and regard him as a giant in the world of figurative painting. there are often motivations and explanations behind good works of art (and bad), but i found what was going on behind the paintings really poignant and significant, adding tremendous weight to works of art that stood by themselves without explanation.

-2nd was the great 75 years of loooking forward show. celebrating the 75th anniversary. Entirely from their collection. As you'd expect there were phenomenal pieces of art, but one of the most interesting and charming parts of the show revolved around the first Jackson Pollack painting they purchased. This was early in Jackson's career and way before the drip art success. he was largely unknown outside the New York area, and completely unknown in California. The fledgling museum had to scrape together the money and ask J's dealer Peggy Guggenheim for a discount!!! and then they still needed the purchase to be approved. i know this because the documents and letters were there and i really got a kick out of it. the asking price of this Pollack masterpiece was $750!!!! and they haggled it down to $500. wow. u gotta love it.

-3rd was the great photography show The View From Here with work from the 1840's and on.

a perfect museum day.

Now on the Wondercon. first 2 days totally uneventful. crapola sales...but that wasn't unexpected, however saturday nite i went out with Mark Bode and his wife Molly. had a great Mexican dinner and then over to their house to hang and do some art deals. Mark is the Son of art legend VAUGHN BODE
and visiting his home enshrined with great art by Mark and his Dad was truely a great experience! and we did some great deals...picked up awesome art by Cobalt 60 (by mark) and a few nice pieces by his dad!
Sunday, the show started off well with a coupla good sales (totaling more than fri/sat combined), and then it just got better and better with some significant trading, more sales, and a coupla great purchases (wally wood art!@!!!!! from early Mad Magazine). AWESOME!!!!

so all in all it was a great show.

flew down to L.A. and spent some super quality time with my brother EVAN (a musician and sound guru). well, we ate like nobody's biz, cuz he lives one block away from Sawtelle the home to a gazillion cool Asian eateries. and we did 3 big hikes in Malibu Canyon, so i just had a great time every minute.

also paid a visit to a well known collector and made a nice purchase, and had a great time hangin out.

art openings, and more!

i've been crazy busy this past week. i'm lending art to all kinds of museums and art shows at comic festivals: and so workin overtime trying to get the art out before i leave for the San Franciscoon March 31 to attend Wondercon (april 2-4)

-Kirby art for Luzern Switzerland (Fumetto 2010).
-A whole mess o stuff (Caniff, Gould, McCay, Ash Wood, Dan Clowes, Dave Cooper, and more) for my good buddy Claudio who runs the Napoli, Italia Comicon.
-Jim Woodring, and Peter Kuper for "The Collection" at Lincolnshire, England

and tonite i attended the art openings for Blab! A Retrospective at The Society Of Illustrators . We lent art by Tim Biskup, Ryan Heshka, Jonathan Rosen, John Pound, and Mark Todd.

and later we went over to MOCCA for the Neointegrity: Comics Edition where i lent an incredible amount of art: Moebius, H Pratt, Tony Millionaire, Dan Clowes, J Doucet, Jim Woodring, Winsor McCay, Gluyas Williams, Gary Panter, R Crumb, Trina Robbins, Gilbert Shelton, Chris Ware, Dave Cooper, James Sturm, Mark Beyer, Vaughn Bode, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Al Columbia, Seth, Rick Griffin, Rory Hayes, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Spain Rodriguez, Jay Lynch, Joe Matt, Brendan McCarthy, Ted McKeever, Victor Moscoso, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Skip Williamson, S. Clay Wilson.
and,,,,,if you can believe this, it's only a fraction of the show. it's madness inspiring, eye popping list of artists hung "Salon" style floor to ceiling with every inch covered with art.

Both shows are fabulous and i highly recommend you go out and see it!!!

Sunday in NYC 3/14/10

saw a great art show at MOMA today. william kentridge - from south africa - the guy does very expressive animation, but it was a thrill to see his paintings. read a cool article about him.
and check out a cool video

saw a bad art show at MOMA today. Marina abramovic - performance art. naked people standing around...lotta arty contemp crap. i know i know, she's a legend in the contemp art world and world famous performance artist. still, i found it boring.

saw a great b movie - The Brain From Planet Arous