On Never Looking Up

There's a new tumblr blog called "We Never Look Up" - which pretty well depicts the experience of those of us without smartphones (by choice in my case) in any public space. In my opinion the loss of actual human connection is huge. I've been slowly making my way through Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman - a book written about the cultural effects of TV and (as the title implies) perpetual amusement. The book better applies to the internet and smartphones now. He writes,

"Americans no longer talk to each other, the entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas; the exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities, and commercials. For the message of television [and the internet perhaps]  as metaphor is not only that all the world is a stage but that the stage is located in Las Vegas, Nevada."

Yesterday my middle school students told me that because I have an outdated phone, no cable tv, and listen to "weird music" I must be... an alien. Ha Ha. Hilarious - but also an obvious indication that I'm swimming against the tide with my frustration with the overuse and constant amusement people insist on with their smartphones.

It isn't this way everywhere - in fact, in Italy - people look up. It was instantly clear to us that we had arrived back in the United States last Monday when we looked around the room and saw "phone drones" everywhere. In a interesting study written up in Business Insider, "There is also the Italian attitude towards the utility, or should that be futility, of the world wide web...over a quarter (26.7%) of Italians think the internet is useless and uninteresting." I found Italians talking to each other, talking to strangers, enjoying the beauty of their city, and all the while - not looking down at their phones.

I know the chances of this trend reversing are minimal but maybe once in a while- take a walk around your neighborhood without your phone. Do you really need to know what everyone else is eating right now or what their baby looks like today?

Constanza

When we visited Florence a couple weeks ago we made a special point to visit the Bargello Museum to see Bernini's bust of Costanza. For that matter, we made a special point to visit as many Bernini sculptures as we could in our time there. The history of this piece is quite dramatic. Quoting Ingrid Rowland:

Bernini was not a nice man; he paid a thug to slash the face of his mistress Costanza after catching her in bed with his brother Luigi. [He also broke two of Luigi’s ribs with an iron rod] Before that incident, however, he had carved a portrait of Costanza, plump and tousled, looking as if she has just risen from bed; it is perfectly clear what both Bernini boys saw in her.

Our own desire to see Costanza was also thwarted - as the gallery she stood in was being restored. On our quest to see as many Bernini's as we could in Rome, this wasn't the only time we had a door shut. One morning after walking a long way across Rome to see a Bernini sculpture in a small church, the gate shut right in front of us for the afternoon hours. Another time (the Ufizzi) -the Bernini was in a room reserved only for special tours. For more information on Costanza and Bernini, you may refer to this new book:

 

Bernini's Beloved, by Sarah McPhee

Roman Holiday

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

I'll post more about individual photos soon, but until then you can view the collection from our trip to Rome above.

"Portrait of Maria de’ Medici as a young Girl"

Santi di Tito (1536–1603) "Portrait of Maria de’ Medici as a young Girl" source.

Fatal Confinement

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Man, 1535

From the text in my Guide to the Borghese Gallery, "The melancholy Portrait of a Man by Lorenzo Lotto is probably the portrait of the widower, Mercurio Bua, because of the small skull surrounded by rose petals, reminiscent of a fatal confinement."

Watercolors from Vacations

Nathan Abels, "Bay of Sorento at Night", (study), watercolor on paper, 2002
Nathan Abels, "Italian Landscape", (study), watercolor on paper, 2002
Nathan Abels, "Italian Landscape" (study), watercolor on paper, 2002

I try to bring a small watercolor set with me when I go on vacations. I did these while on a trip to Italy in 2002.