hidden treasures

I enjoy looking for graffiti sometimes, it becomes like a treasure hunt. I've always liked things like that, like the hidden pictures in Highlights magazine and so on. Even proofreading at work can be seen as a treasure hunt, every time you find an error you can see it as a little prize! After a while, this makes us proofreaders go a little psychotic.

When I was in Venice, I went to one of the Biennale shows by accident. I had wanted to visit the Palazzo Querini Stampalia to see an 18th-century palace. They also happen to have a bunch of good art. But when I got there I found all these young Biennial-goers all over the place, all excited to see Kiki Smith. A young lady came up to me in the galleries and desperately pleaded, "Kiki Smith??!" And I directed her the wrong way, I had no idea where it was. Moments later I realized that in addition to the top floor gallery installation, there were sculptures insinuated into the decorative arts exhibit, like inside a cabinet, on end tables, in the cubby of a desk. Having seen her sphynxes a few years ago in Central Park, I recognized her stuff immediately. The museum guards were looking at one of them but had passed by one hidden in the previous room, so I tugged at them excitedly going, "Kiki Smith, Kiki Smith!" like I was Lassie or something. I wanted to tell all the young people cluelessly wandering around not noticing them. And also not noticing the amazing art that's over 50 years old that kids today seem to have no patience for. To me it was sort of gross to be in this city with so much great art but all the international art scene people not going near it, just following around the hip and famous art scene artists. I guess I was sort of like that in my early 20's too, I didn't like anything old. But going to Italy has definitely cured me of that.