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Datum objave:	08.08.2013
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The Grateful Runner: 5 tips to stay healthy, and positive

http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/health-and-fitness/fitness/20130806-the-grateful-runner-5-tips-to-stay-healthy-and-positive.ece

The HOT list: 18 things that have FD Luxe’s editors palpitating and perplexed http://fdluxe.dallasnews.com/

The Venice Biennale: Dallas art VIPs on the inside

http://fdluxe.dallasnews.com/2013/07/the-venice-biennale-dallas-art-vips-on-the-inside.html/

The Venice Art Biennale, now through Nov. 24, could best be described as the Olympics of the art world. The international contemporary art exhibition is one of the oldest — it was founded in 1895, a full 75 years before Art Basel — and arguably the most prestigious. This year’s juggernaut showcase features 88 countries, including 10 newcomers such as Kosovo and the Holy See, which is the Vatican’s fancy name for itself. Surely Venice, the sinking city, levels a little more with the sea with the swell of artists, curators, collectors, gallerists and aficionados who pile onto the island to run the gamut of pavilions and parties. Dallas movers and shakers are no strangers at this marathon. A Venice-bound, art-collecting couple from California, connecting in Rome, responded this way at the mention of Big D: “Dallas! Isn’t that where the Rachofskys are? I wonder if we’ll see them at the Pinault dinner tonight?” (Pinault, as in François Pinault, the French luxury-brand businessman billionaire, contemporary-art collector and husband to Salma Hayek. Capera Ryan, the Dallas-based senior vice president and managing director for the southwest region of Christie’s auction house, later confirms with a grin, “Pinault is the most coveted invitation in town.” (Perhaps the smile was because she went.) Parties overflowing with prosecco on preview nights usually begin and end at the Art Deco Bauer Hotel. The Bahamas took over the opulent space to celebrate its first year to exhibit at the Biennale. As the crowd retreated to the downstairs club, a pretty young thing declared, “Board now! Let’s go to Australia.” Off they sped in a water taxi to Palazzo Zeno, where the Aussie pavilion party was still going. The Danes feted their Jesper Just video installation with a performance by Peaches on the Lido, and the Americans turned the Rialto Fish Market into a neon-lit, canalside dance club where artist Cindy Sherman — as herself — grooved to DJ Afrika Bambaataa. Enough about the parties, though. What about the art? Once the VIPs swill that last drop of prosecco and jet off to Switzerland for the final destination of art season — having already been to New York, London and Hong Kong’s newborn baby Basel — those who aren’t insiders finally get to join the fun and check out what everyone was toasting. Capera Ryan and Jeffrey Grove, senior curator of contemporary art for the Dallas Museum of Art, have been around the Biennale block a few times: five and seven, respectively. Between parties, dinners, bellinis and, of course, exhibitions, they shared pointers on what to see and how to make the most of a jaunt through what Grove calls a sort of “global museum.” With a roster of nations that reads like an Epcot map, spread across the main sites of the Giardini, a par with 30 pavilions, and the Arsenale, a complex of former shipyards, plus another 47 ancillary events throughout the city, you may be tempted to rush from exhibition to exhibition to see as much as possible. Ryan and Grove both say don’t. Capera Ryan, photo by Jake Cigainero The auction-house director: Capera Ryan Senior vice president, managing director, southwest region, Christie’s Outside Palazzo Grassi, where Rudolf Stingel’s printed, oriental-pattern carpets cover a collective 80,000 square feet of floor and wall to create a vertigo-inducing maze, Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani hops into a water taxi. Not long after, a cheerful Capera Ryan trots around the corner in a summery Pucci dress, a bright pop of sunshine against the gray Venetian sky. Walking through the exhibit, one of the docents conspicuously eyes Ryan’s combo of purple toenail polish with fluorescent-orange strappy wedges — then gives her an approving compliment. Ask Ryan about Carl Jung. “I’m totally taken by the fact that the Red Book is at the Biennale, after being locked up in a bank for 30 years where nobody could see it,” she says. That would be the founder of analytical psychology’s personal journal of illustrations and calligraphic text that he began, after a falling out with fellow psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The esoteric tome of Jung’s visions and dreams greets visitors at the Giardini’s central-pavilion entrance. The Biennale’s main exhibition, titled “The Encyclopedic Palace” after Marino Auriti’s 1955 concept for a structure to house the world’s knowledge in Washington, D.C., hits heavily on meditative focus and transformation through the journey inward. Biennale curator Massimiliano Gioni selected more than 150 artists from 37 countries to install works in the neverending Arsenale. Works range from Pawel Althamer’s 90 gray, melting plastic figures with faces cast from actual Venetians to a bizarre but mesmerizing multiscreen video installation depicting post-apocalypse reality television, by artist Ryan Trecartin, a native Texan. “They’re all coming from these different, interesting mediums,” Ryan says, “yet they’re all talking about the same thing. The more you look at it, the more you start to see these universal themes, internationally.” Ryan studied art history at Vanderbilt and lives and breathes contemporary art. She floats in and out of pavilions and palazzos, handing out knowledgeable, insightful commentary on artists and exhibits like it was free candy. She is a vocal enthusiast for the U.S. Pavilion’s installation by Sarah Sze, a personal friend. “Knowing Sarah,” she said, “has made this year particularly special. To hear her story about the process, then to now see it, brings an intimacy to the whole experience. When you first look at it, you just think random chaos. When you really give it a second look, every piece is so thought out.” When a colleague asks Ryan about the one thing not to miss, she suggests without hesitation the Palazzo Fortuny, where, in the expansive gothic palace, the great Belgian decorator and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt has assembled a collection of work by Spanish artist Antoni Tàpies. Says Ryan: “Axel’s lighting and minimalism, placement of objects and attention to detail are very meditative, which fits into this whole Jungian theme of going inside.” If you are Biennale-bound, Ryan says it is important to get lost and find what inspires you. “It’s about experiencing, learning and feeding your own soul. I was myself an artist, and this makes me want to pick up my paintbrush again.” Ryan’s shortlist: The Belgium, Denmark, Russia and U.S. pavilions; the Palazzo Fortuny Jeffrey Grove, photo by Jake Cigainero The art-museum curator: Jeffrey Grove Senior curator of contemporary art, Dallas Museum of Art After a day of perusing installations and meeting with collaborators about upcoming projects, Jeffrey Grove sits down outside the Giardini for a refresher of an Aperol spritz and the view of Venice’s lively bay. “It’s been 10 years since I’ve been to Venice for the opening of the Biennale,” Grove says, “and I might wait another 10!” He’s going to let you in on a little secret. One of Venice’s best exhibitions isn’t in the Giardini or the Arsenale. It’s not contemporary, and it isn’t even part of the Biennale. Grove names Manet. Return to Venice, currently at the Palazzo Ducale, his favorite. “It’s absolutely extraordinary,” he says. “It is a nice tonic after marching through all of these pavilions.” Grove spots someone and excuses himself to say hello. He returns. “That’s one of the pleasures of coming to the Biennale — seeing friends.” His thoughts about this and other Biennales? “Certain pavilions, for whatever reasons, will engage me — like Australia. Simryn Gill. She’s an artist I first started tracking in 1997. It seemed like she had receded. Now she’s getting a lot of attention again. The pavilion is actually very quiet and poetic.” Like Ryan, some of Grove’s personal connections make his top picks stand out. “I’m a little biased because I did an exhibition with Mark Manders. The Dutch pavilion was really great. I always appreciate when someone actually uses the space and doesn’t just install their work.” Of course, Grove says that to be a good American, you cannot miss the U.S. Pavilion. “It’s a great installation. I don’t always think that. I was a proud, card-carrying American when I went through. There have been times before I’ve wanted to run and say, ‘Now I’m not!’” Grove paints the whole Art Biennale scenario as “fairly democratic, if you’re not worried about going to all the best parties.” (He’s not, by the way.) He says don’t be afraid to state your opinion. “This is the thing that makes me crazy about contemporary art. There is a lot of fatuous paying homage to things because people think that’s what they should do. They’re just perpetuating something that isn’t based on a personal experience,” he says. “When you think you’re not supposed to have that conversation, I say have it. If you don’t like it, say you don’t like it.” Even if the artist is standing there? “Noooo. There’s no need to be rude, which a Texan would never do.”