Today I had the fortune of photographing (and helping color in) the second sidewalk chalk venture by Roman graphic designer Tommaso Guerra.  We set up camp in Piazza Vittorio with other friends and he set to work in writing out a phrase in beautifully selected fonts all in white chalk.  Think of it as the typographers answer to the classic madonnaro.  His last outing on the via del Corso was an original phrase “Love is among cyclists, hate is among drivers.”  This time he tackled the well known saying “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.”  The fonts selected try to give form and movement to the words, which I think is quite successful.  Check back to his site shortly for the aerial photos of the full piece and meanwhile, enjoy the slideshow.

Ok, so laundry hanging out of the window is a little cliche, however I like the tighty whitey underwear and so couldn’t resist.  Plus the reflection in the window gave a nice warmth that I liked.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.  We’ve been fortunate enough to have amazing weather in Rome and I’ve been enjoying some time with my family.  I hope 2012 brings great things to everyone!

As my last shot of the year I have the Hotel Bernini Bristol, which is perched to one side of Piazza Barberini.  I have no idea what it’s like inside, but it’s always reminded me of the grand hotels from the 1950s or 1960s when service was a whole other thing.

To me this door in Pigneto is almost a collage of the cultures that live here.

I don’t know whether it was the break in the weather or inspiration from attending a launch party for Lomo’s new movie camera (which I hope to try out after the holidays), but I finally took one of those long walks through the city like I used to all the time.  It’s something I’ve always loved about doing this blog, going around and looking at new neighborhoods, discovering their nuances.  This particular walk took me from Pigneto through Villa Certosa, down to Quadraro and back up through Torpignattara.  Most of what I shot were details of rusted metalwork, old signs that look like they are from the 70s, and details of building architecture.  I love these areas because sections of them make me feel like I’ve stepped back in time to 1930s Rome.  With my headphones on and my camera out, I lose myself in the streets, blocking out the city noise and focusing on the details.  I’ll have a bunch of stuff to share, but my first image is from right in Pigneto.  The area is full of old falling down houses in need of repair and this particular wooden, boarded up building had a rusting bike in front of it that caught my eye for the warm brown colors that it evoked.

As an addendum, I did a little experiment in fashion photography last weekend with Jessica Harris over at Leopardess, check out my favorite image over on the Leopardessa tumblr (several others are on the Facebook page).  Would love to hear what you think!

A rare chance to get the front of a building without cars parked in front in Pigneto.

Taken tonight on the beautiful 19 tram during a trip across the city.

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be able to attend the preview party at MACRO for Enel Contemporanea 2011.  For the past five years Enel, Italy’s largest power provider, has sponsored a competition for artists to submit art projects based on the theme of energy.  This year the winner was Belgian artist Carsten Höller, who made me go back to memories of local carnivals with his huge installation entitled “Double Carousel with Zöllner Stripes.”  The enormous structures slowly moved with their swings going in opposite directions and I must admit it was quite amusing seeing the elite of Rome’s art scene taking turns in the chairs while attempting to look elegant.

The entire night was carnival themed and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face between watching the ride and getting to eat cotton candy for the first time since I was a kid.  The exhibit runs through February 26 and if you haven’t gotten the chance to visit MACRO yet, Höller’s work is a good excuse to make a visit.

Lucamaleonte is someone that anyone following street art in Rome knows.  He belongs to the first generation of artists, starting out joining TTS with Diamond and JB Rock a few years into their journey and sharing a studio space with Sten + Lex up until earlier this year.  However, since I began photographing street art almost three years ago, his work on the street has been sparse.  He’d turned the corner and decided to focus on gallery work and commissions – understandable given the incricate nature of his hyperrealistic stencils.  As a photographer and art lover, however, I must admit that I was annoyed.  Had I missed the chance to photograph Lucamaleonte’s work on the street?  In fact, the images I do have to this point are few and all commissioned, legal walls.  What’s the point of all this buildup?  Well it’s just to explain my excitement when the people at Laszlo Biro mentioned the other night that he’d pasted some new work in Pigneto and was itching to start putting stuff out on the street again.  This new work (see the other piece here) is no rehash of what he’d done previously, but shows the maturity and evolution of Lucamaleonte and is very much in line with the art I’ve noticed him producing over the past few years.  Less concerned with endless layer stencils and getting back to the basics of nature and drawing.  This is something I noticed in 2010 when I asked Luca to participate in my exhibition “Street Walls Experience” and prepare a new piece to pair with a photograph I had taken of a collaborative poster by him, Sten, and Lex.  The resulting work, a small paper with incisions depicting insects and butterflies foretold a change in his work, pulling him away from classical sculpture and architecture and looking toward nature, using old techniques and drawing skills that were readily apparent to anyone who knew him but perhaps less so to those who know him for his impressive stencils.

The nice thing about following the progression of artists over a long period is the opportunity to see how they develop and grow, how their inspirations change and they push themselves into new arenas.  Lucamaleonte’s new posters, both photographed in Pigneto, show just that.  They are no less impressive than his classic stencils, but show a softer side while still highlighting the attention to detail that make his stencils so memorable.  The strategic use of gold and geometric elements lends an interesting modern twist on what could easily remind one of a folio from an old nature book.  Can you tell I’m enthusiastic?  In any case, welcome back to the streets of Rome Lucamaleonte, they missed you and my camera is ready.