Tuesday, May 8, 2012

sunken church: ART

You may have noticed the new graphic at the top. A little background... Along the way in Italy, I had the privilege of meeting lots of people and hearing literally hundreds of stories. One of the people that most challenged my outlook on life was a guy by the name of Francesco. Journalist. Writer. Musician. Student. World Traveler. Politician. Entrepeneur. Photographer. In a word: artist.

He is a people magnet. People from all kinds of nationalities and backgrounds seemed to find him and he genuinely seemed fascinated with all of them. We definitely don't see eye to eye on everything. In fact, one of my most vivid memories with him was the time he brought an outspoken activist with him to our weekly dinner where I was interrogated on my view on creation. We had a group of US students participate in an 'art march' with some of his fellow artists, strategically placing pieces of art in various public places. One of my favorite times was simply sitting under the stars on an unknown and seemingly invisible set of stairs one night, sipping good, local wine and talking about the ideal American town of Springfield. Through it all, Francesco, probably without meaning to, stretched my definition of what art is and how it is tied in to who we are.

Shortly before we left Italy we had the great privilege of meeting Francesco's wife, Kat, also an artist and a beautiful person. As I've sat on this idea of the sunken church, this image was forming in my mind and I became obsessed with finding something to represent it. I searched and searched online. I took pictures of churches. I made a video on the pier in Ancona. I finally contacted Kat and asked if she would be willing and able to help me. And boy, did she.

I simply laid out the story for her and a simple description of what I had in mind. The image above is the result. Those of you who know Ancona might recognize the image's inspiration. I encourage you to visit her site at: www.katerinabonvora.com. She's got a great eye and is multi-talented. Thanks Francesco for stretching my boundaries and thanks Kat for helping bring my vision to life...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where are the lions?

Unknown said...

What a story! I never heard this much, it makes me laugh to think Fra actually brought (hmm.. was it Nilo?) an anarchist to one of your dinners. tsk tsk, so atopic isn't it? haha. ahh but you are so chill, anything extreme just kinda mellows down around you - and thats a great asset. lion tamer! where are the lions? well its those little dark things under the front columns (to answer "anonymous"'s question). thank you for letting me work on this. it was super fun. :)

Francesco Conte said...

Ahah Jason.. thank you for being so open minded and tolerant! I was sure you'd still remember that day when I brought Milzi (the activist journalist) and he questioned you about creationism.. i found it very silly of him, but he's really like this, he cant help it (which is also why many people feel annoyed with him by the way). In any case, it was an honor for me to know you and it makes me sad to think that you and your family are not in Ancona anymore.. you are special people, and left a great memory of you! Hope to see you again soon =) all the best!