Bogliasco Diary 10.23.09

October 23, 2009  | Karen  | 2 Comments  | From the NDA Blog

Hello from Bogliasco,
I have come to the end of week two. The days seem to slip through my fingers.

It has been a wonderful week working in my studio. I continue to edit my video, which creates ambiance and places where the live performance of moving tableaus live. I have incorporated images and sound tracks from the movie “Where Danger Lives” starring Robert Mitchum, as well as, re-editing an episode of exposing flesh via the repetitive action of taking off a shirt. A close-up of skin heightened by a detailed effect is far from the airbrushed skin of a young model. Out of context the last image could be an abstract painting. I am now working on matching the timing of the movement to the video. Now that the video component of “Ouette” has grown from 20 to 30 minutes, I will push myself to dig deeper into the physicality.

The highlight of the week was traveling to the old section of Genoa, which is a 30 minutes bus ride from Bogliasco. The Liguria Study Center arranged a guide to take us to unusual places including a 6th century crypt, believed to be the oldest structure in Genoa; the carruggie, narrow alleys that would lead to medieval mansions and palaces covered in frescoes; and gastronomic shops. We stopped at a café where I had hot chocolate with whip cream, which tasted like liquid homemade chocolate pudding. Our guide surprised us at the end of our tour with a visit to an art deco barber shop.

Meet Bogliasco Fellow, Edmund White, photographer Frank Mullaney.

Edmund White, writer and professor of Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University lives in New York City. He has been touted as “one of the few literary giants of the gay world.” It is fascinating to listen to his stories about his time living in France, his lovers, as well as the writers, movie stars and riche that he has rubbed elbows with. Stacey D’erasmo, of The New York Times, said of his recent memoir, “City Boy” — “The New York that he left in 1982 was about to become a graveyard. “City Boy,” plain-spoken and knowing, is a survivor’s tale, a missive from one of those antlered boys of that era to the others who are gone: this is who we were, this is how it was, this was our city. Some stories don’t need to be embellished to glow.”

And so following a week of linguine with lobster sauce, risotto with lingostino, pheasant, veal chops, spinach with Liguria olive oil, persimmons, grapes that taste like flowers, a layer cake filled with chocolate mousse along side crème anglaise, a pot of white mousse with a top layer of chocolate, I roll into bed and say…

Ciao till next Friday