In Tor Tre Teste.  The black and yellow combo won me over.

Today I took a trip way down on the Prenestina (to #913 to be exact) to visit the ex-Fiorucci factory, occupied for the past few years and now dubbed Metropolitz.  It’s now occupied by hundreds of low income families ranging from Rom to African to Peruvian to Italian and is undergoing a sort of artistic revolution with the help of some initiatives that I’ll get into more in the next few days when I post some street art photos that I took.  For today I couldn’t help but post that I have dubbed “Still Life with Tags.”  The inner core of the factory was an incredible space and I could have spent hours there.  Unfortunately today I only had about 15 minutes, but was able to capture this lonely and sad looking chair, full of tags, sitting in a solitary space.  I can’t wait to go back with more time and capture more of the interior.

Sometimes photos literally pull up on front of your face and all you have to do is be conscious of it and capture the moment.

Forget the new, chic bars that dot the city of Rome – I’ll take an old school, run down, vintage bar any day of the week.  There’s something comforting about it, maybe it’s the way that you know the owners have been at it forever or that the place probably hasn’t changed in 50 years.  I went out yesterday in search of some interesting storefronts, inspired by the book Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by James and Karla Murray.  Reality is that Rome is changing as well.  At some point, this place will get passed over either to the children of the owners or, if they don’t want to continue, will be sold and renovated into something sleek and new.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, life does march on, but these little holes in the walls are what help build the community in each little quarter of the city.

Friday to Sunday were spent parked in front of Circolo degli Artisti, where they had commissioned Alice to paint some new murals to cover old ones that were corroding away.  It’s an amazing experience to see the work from start to finish and always a pleasure when you are able to help document the work of a friend.  The use of cans, brushes, and pens is interesting and I think plays into her different backgrounds of illustration, street art, and classical art training. The wall looks even cooler at night owing to the almost fluorescent color scheme, so be sure to check it out in both types of light. The more and more she’s working on larger wall, the better the compositions get and the wall isn’t finished just yet.  So many amazing images were captured it’s actually kind of hard just to pick a few!Tune back on April 29, as she’ll be adding finishing touches. Here are some of my favorites and you can see more over on my Flickr as well as Alice’s.

For anyone interested in getting a piece of Alice’s art to call their own, 999 Gallery opens her solo show this Saturday, April 28.  There’s even a catalog that you can purchase online with some of my images over the years and a modest little contribution to the text.

CINDERELLA pissed me off 


Alice Pasquini Solo Show

April 28 to May 19 


From Monday to Saturday from 15.30 to 20

Opening Saturday, April 28 from 18:30

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999Contemporary

Via Alessandro Volta, 48

00153 Testaccio, Rome

www.999gallery.com

ESC recently reinaugurated its space after some renovations and got some fresh paint by a bunch of street artists, both inside and out.  Borondo tackled one of the outer walls with this beautiful use of perspective and space.

On a side note, I apologize if anyone coming to the blog over the past few weeks has had trouble or slow loading speed.  I was having problems with my server but have switched to a new provider, so things should be better than ever!

Almost seven years in Rome and even with its frustrations and annoyances, somehow walking through the city never fails to bring me some peace.  It might seem impossible with the chaos of the cars and scooters, plus the hoards of tourists here and there, yet it’s true.  When I put on my headphones and let the music fill my mind, all those other things go away and it’s like looking at the city through different eyes.  Today I took a route home I’ve taken a million times, but as the songs played in my head, I was inspired over and over again to photograph ordinary things that I see all the time.  Except, things are never really ordinary.  They are only ordinary when you make them that way.  Twisting and distorting this place ever so slightly, there is a magical beauty – quiet, elegant, and timeless – that always remains below the surface.  It’s a comfort, one that you can turn to when needed. This is Rome.

A few weeks ago I stopped by the Quadraro neighborhood to photograph Alice Pasquini while she was painting a wall for the M.U.Ro project.  Aside from the old man who stopped by to yell at her for not painting enough “Italians” on the wall, to which I asked myself “Why can’t these faces she painted be Italian?” the day was a pleasant one.  As often happens, friends swing by, beers are drunk, and you chat and photograph while watching the work take place.  The wall is located on a tiny street that cars were arriving at around a curve at breakneck speed.  Every once in awhile people would honk and shout their appreciation of the work.

Alice Quadraro from street cluster on Vimeo.

Images from the opening of Mark Jenkins’ “Living Layers” show last week at Wunderkammern give you an idea about how he’s interpreting his street work in a gallery setting.  Just outside the gallery he turned a trash receptacle into an ice cream sundae, complete with cherry on top!  The show runs through April 26 with the gallery open Wednesday to Saturday from 5 pm to 8 pm.