OC Art Blog

Finishing Schools "54"script, Lido, Venice Italy June 2011

As the train from Venice pulled into the station I was surprisingly proud to be at home in Florence.  After three days in rainy Venice the arid Florentine air smelled sweet.  I was supposed to meet up with OC’s Finishing School on their last day of filming the much anticipated movie “54″ at the Venice Biennale.  One of the most prestigious and longest running art gatherings of its kind.  It was established in 1895 and as I am told by the locals, it was erected as a marketing ploy to draw in large numbers of tourists and along with them their money.  Venice also puts on the Venice Film Festival and the Architectural Biennale in even years (Art Biennale falls every two years on the odd year). Between the three events, and demonstrated by their success and longevity, I imagine Venice is pretty well funded by now, not to mention the millions of tourists it draws each year to the mysterious paradise.

Venice under the rain

Unfortunately the weather did not cut me a break, shooting was rescheduled and we switched to plan B. I caught up with the rowdy crew just in time for an afternoon beer near Piazza San Marco to discuss the past week’s events.  The group’s fearless leader Ed Giardina greeted me at the vaporetto stop and off we went.  As we settled into damp seats near the grand canal, looking both exhausted and exhilarated, he recounted the adventures of filming a parody of the biennale during the opening days and all that it entails.  While documenting the group met with collectors, artists, dealers and museum personnel all jockeying to promote their wares in the biggest not-for-sale event of the art world.   Finishing School was up to the task, having prepared costumes, packed loads of equipment, had more than a qualified film crew and supporters, and even a loose script (that I am told acted as a rudder for their voyage) to aid them in their task.

Filming of film 54 in Venice, June 2011

As Giardina spoke I was reminded of a discussion I had recently in Florence with ex-pat artist/professor Andrew Smaldone.  Now living in Florence, teaching art, and trying to find his own feet in the art world as a working artist.  He was comparing the Venice Biennale to one of the quintessential art fairs, Art Basel in Switzerland much to my surprise.  He viewed the event as just another fair, focused on commodifying one of man’s dearest and most nurturing gifts, that of fine art.  As it turns out, while filming “54″ Finishing School addresses this very idea head on.  All I could think about was if any of them had ever actually been to an international art fair.  In the past few years I have been to many, in and out of the US.  It’s like Macy’s the day after Christmas.  There is a mad rush for every little shred of material and the buying frenzy can be intoxicating.  One is liable to wake up the next day with a $350,000 hangover that oddly resembles a blow-up pool toy.  So if the Venice Biennale is all about sales, then it must be happening right under the surface. . . because the art scene’s big hitters are cleverly disguised here as art aficionados.  No checkbooks or secret handshakes were spotted.

still shot from making of 54, Finishing School, Venice, Italy June 2011

The movie itself is about an artist from a third world country that is plucked from obscurity, only to find himself at the center of the art market, being chosen to participate in a biennale.  His life is transformed, forcing new evaluations of art appropriation, production, and market as player in these untested waters. The yet to be finished interactive film seeks to critique biennials and investigate the implications of their role in the art machine of the 21st century.  By using real life experiences, beginning with their participation with this year’s largely criticized California Biennial presented by the Orange County Museum of Art, the artist collective unfolds the structure of such an exhibition from the provincial through to the international, and I might add accredited, arena.  At dinner references to Fellini’s infamous film “8 1/2″, in addition to design, religion, art history, science fiction, and even alchemy were unpacked as course after course of Venetian dishes rolled by.  In it’s essence, this ongoing experiment utilizes all the tools of the contemporary art language to turn the spotlight on itself.  The camera’s are rolling, are you ready to be apart of this new dialogue?  Right now the team is hard at work in the editing studio and I might add – is looking for a final venue to showcase this interactive and thought provoking film.  I for one can’t wait to see it.  Coming to a gallery near you.

Check back to the OC Art Blog for updates on Finishing School’s movie “54.”

Stats:

Finishing School

Orange County, California

www.finishing-school.net

Members:

Project Website:

www.54thefilm.com

Press Release:

http://www.finishing-school.net/images/54-venice-press-release.pdf

OC Contributing Writer Joanna Grasso reporting from Italy.