A Little Crumb - La Michetta

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The MICHETTA originated during the Austrian occupation of Milan, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire reigned in Lombardy, after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.  As is the case, the occupiers, in this instance the Austrians, brought with them new foods which the Milanese adapted, and then transformed to make their own. One of these delicacies was a bread with the evocative name of “Kaisersemmel”, or "Emperor’s sandwich”, which was a sandwich weighing 50 to 90 grams in what was a traditional rose form. To spite the occupying Emperor and his Habsburg troops who guarded the city, the Milanese renamed the bread with the diminutive of “micca", "mica", or “Michetta" which originally meant “crumb”.

But, the primary transformation that took place and made it what it is to this day,  had to do with the “architecture" of the bread. In the humid climate of Milan, the Kaisersemmel didn’t retain the freshness it had in the much drier climate of Vienna, where it would stay fresh and fragrant till evening. In Milan, the dough quickly absorbed the ever present humid air, making the bread stale and gummy very quickly. The intuition of the master bakers in Milan was to figure out a way to hollow out the bread, in effect emptying it, which immediately lightened it, and enabled it to maintain its crisp outer shell, ensuring a longer lasting and more fragrant and digestible bread.

My personal fascination with the Michetta has much more to do with nostalgia for my youth, and for a Milan that no longer exists for the most part. I don’t think you would be wrong if you said that the Michetta is the equivalent of a bagel for the native NY’er, in that it became essentially synonymous with the locale. In Milan, during the years I was growing up, most bakeries had few choices when it came to your everyday bread. So, the Michetta was paired with everything from Nutella (which was still relatively unknown outside of Italy), to your classic salami and Mortadella lunch time fare. These sandwiches became a scrumptious daily ritual in all school cafeterias and bars (bars in the Italian sense, that is to say, more like a café here).

In terms of shape, even though all Michette look slightly different, the general form is quite distinct and recognizable to anyone who grew up around them. They all have a distinguished oval octagonal form with a puck like growth coming out of the top, similar to the way the top of a bowl of stiffly beaten eggs look when you pull the egg beaters out of the bowl. And, as I mentioned above, the crust is very light and thin, and on the inside it is mostly hollow with pockets of moist, fragrant, and chewy wonderfulness. So, for the history, for the wistfulness for a youth gone, and most importantly, for the rush of feelings I get when I take that first bite, I love them and I decided to paint them.

 

RAW: Word and image / Opening RECEPTION NOV 20TH 7-10PM @ SPACE776

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RAW

OPENING RECEPTION
NOV 20TH 7-10PM

Space 776

229 CENTRAL AVENUE #1
BROOKLYN, NY 11221

NOV14 - DEC 7, 2015

 

 

RAW

Word and Image

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Paintings can be composed of boundless raw

materials, including food for thought, considerations of the flesh, and examination of

the physical locus of our being. Protein, carbohydrates, and encouragement are

what keep us going. Maps, phrases, and daily sustenance support and nourish our

daily existence.  A random bullet can stop us dead and end everything in a second.

Paintings by Kate Ryan study meat: slain, drawn, and quartered chickens, entrails

and parts. Paintings of daily bread by artist Riccardo Vecchio, Michetta, form a series

of quietly intriguing unique observations.  Word paintings by William Hempel,

including the Insults, painted with food-grade oils like poppy, linseed, and olive oil,

and the “Right Place at the Wrong Time,” series of paintings, made with a series of

physical constraints, remind us of the constant need for reassurance and

encouragement in our daily existence. Christopher Smith’s Underbody takes the

simple movement of paint and transforms it into a sensual meditation on perceived

reality. Piers Secunda collects bullet holes from actual sites of targeted violence, and

then molds them in paint, quietly asking big questions with small pieces of evidence

taken from random and pointless acts of aggression.

With perception, humor, and visual acuity, these artists convey a sense of daily

poetic transcendence over the quotidian lot of humanity.

Featuring paintings and video by William Hempel, Kate Ryan, Piers Secunda,

Christopher Smith, Riccardo Vecchio

Curated by Lisa A. Banner

SPACE776

229 Central Avenue, Brooklyn 11221

Der NSU-Prozess - Das Protokoll des ersten Jahres

Der NSU-Prozess - Das Protokoll des ersten Jahres

Several paintings and b&w drawings for the the current issue of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin in Germany: "The NSU trial - The protocol of the first year".

In Munich, on May 6th 2013 began the largest criminal trial in Germany since reunification. A woman and four men are accused of founding and supporting the terrorist group NSU. The first 71 days of the NSU trial.

Written by Annette Ramelsberger, Tanjev Schultz and Rainer Stadler

tatort

Where (we) Live

I will be joining the ensemble "So Percussion" on stage at BAM, December 21st

ttp://www.bam.org/music/2012/where-we-live

 
Part of 30th Next Wave Festival
Sō Percussion with Grey Mcmurray
Directed by Ain Gordon

“The range of colors and voices that Sō Percussion coaxes from its menagerie is astonishing and entrancing.”
—Billboard
Masters at crafting alluring sonic landscapes from the most unlikely found objects, Brooklyn-based quartet Sō Percussion explores the idea of home with a bold experiment in collaborative art-making. Directed by three-time Obie Award winner Ain Gordon (Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell), Where (we) Live invites artistic colleagues working in different mediums to participate as both co-collaborator and muse in Sō's creative process and performance: Grey Mcmurray (itsnotyouitsme, Knights on Earth) writes poignant, personal songs; Martin Schmidt's videos show the quirky and unnoticed beauty in our homes; and Emily Johnson delivers secret instructions to the performers onstage. Each evening will also feature additional special guests to be announced closer to the performance dates. To these and other contributions, Sō adds an astounding range of composed and improvised sounds, inspired by the physical and symbolic places we live.


PREVIEW INTERVIEW WITH RICCARDO VECCHIO By Nell Whittaker

PREVIEW INTERVIEW WITH RICCARDO VECCHIO

By Nell Whittaker

The 22: Portrait painting is often thought of as a sort of intimacy between the artist and his subject. How did you initially respond to the idea of opening that up to an audience?

RV: I was terrified. At the same time, because it will be a new experience for me, I am curious to see how it will influence my process. I am sure the company of the musicians will make me feel at ease.

22: What similarities would you draw between your creative process and music? What do you think links visual artwork (in particular, your artwork) to music?

RV: Perhaps because I am also a drummer, and because I frequently paint while listening to music, I find the process very similar. Especially with percussion instruments, I find the ebb and flow of the rhythm analogous to the way I paint. The accumulation of details and contrasting empty spaces in painted surface mimic the acceleration and deceleration of a beat.

22: Do you think the audience or the atmosphere will affect what you are creating on the night itself? Or do you have a clear idea of what it is you will make?

RV: While a part of the painting will be planned out ahead of time, some parts will be blank and left to be finished during the performance. The final result will certainly be affected by the evening’s performance. It will be interesting to deal with the unpredictability of a fairly short performance. It will be crucial to quickly recognize and save “happy painting accidents,” and quickly paint over a mistake which could potentially lessen the final effect.

22: What is it that you think makes your artwork work alongside music?

RV: I think all artwork can work alongside music. If we are talking about my work in particular, I feel there is almost a structural similarity to my paintings and to the way music looks in written form. The disassembled architectural structures I often use in my work remind me of the dance of notes, keys, time signatures, ornaments and clefs on the staff lines.

22: Do you listen to music as you paint? If so, what music helps to put you in the “right” frame of mind for painting?

RV: I frequently listen to music while I work. But depending on the stage of completion of the piece I might vary the music. For example, in the beginning of a piece I might listen to more orchestral music, while at the end stages I’m more likely to gravitate to music with single instruments and no vocals at all. Almost an anachronistic dynamic. The emptier the canvas the louder and richer the music, the richer fuller the canvas the quieter and minimal the music.