Untitled

Trisha Donnelly, Untitled

Rachmaninoff

The yelling in the studio was not at me. It was normal. And Caruso only sang to eat. But he sang and sang.
And that gave you the background to think. And listen. And to realize that a studio is a studio is a studio. I don’t even have a studio. Mine is in the library or as a passenger. But it’s the same feeling. The noise that work makes should not be bothered. But it can be if you want.
Thinking is working. And time makes time for both.
And no radio played. Sometimes the TV showed cycling (which seems so funny to watch). And sometimes visitors would stop by and talk briefly to Giovanni or Matteo or Silvana or Piero. Short sentences. Lots of nods and folded arms.  But for the most part, the sounds of someone slapping the air out of the clay and the wet wheel dripping out mud.
And I get to know the history, in rapid lessons. Filtered through Simona.  The plates on the walls. The compressed past of San Giorgio Ceramiche. The photo of Giovanni Poggi with Wifredo Lam is framed just like the picture of Poggi with the Pope just like the picture of Poggi with the cyclist.
All is even. And wonderful. And regular.  All at the same time.
In Albisola trompe l’oeil panels frame windows and doors. Leaning cherubs and elaborately marbled dormers. Tiziana told me that at a time when marble and stone could not be afforded artisans used trompe l’oeil to decorate the buildings. Referenced precision. 3 dimensions into 2.
This is it. The dumb answer to the dumb question. That work is in the observation. That the attempt is it. That time and perspective are the handlers of value.
But whatever.
Everyone already knows all this.
So I say to Poggi: “This thing will make the tiniest sound within Rachmaninoff.”
And he says (in Italian): “Seven bells for seven notes. Yes.”
And I nod.
And he nods.
And Alberto listens to Lou Reed’s Ecstasy in his car.
And Caruso is now in the freezer. With the other birds.
And when I get back home I send them some prunes from California.

Untitled, 2003

Small ceramic device to be fit inside of the body of the piano. To be used only with Rachmaninoff. When the darkest moments of the composition are reached, the bells will ring.
A high distance from the depht.

Trisha Donnelly

Untitled by Trisha Donnelly was made in Albisola in 2003 during the 2nd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art.