"Ann Temkin says we're the hot ticket in town," he said, referring to the Museum of Modern Art curator, who once worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"There is a real feeling of celebration in response to the Nauman installations - beautiful, important work, thrilling to see and hear," Temkin said.
The group - which included Jeannette and Joe Neubauer, Lyn and George Ross, Constance and Sankey Williams, Ira Brind and Francine Tabas, and Robbi and Bruce Toll - settled in for a four-course dinner that started off with Adriatic scallops injected with their own coral (foam on top), sevruga caviar, and shards of crunchy violet nougat.
The museum's cheerleaders, several of whom also came to Venice in 1988 when the Art Museum curated the U.S. Pavilion with a greatly admired Jasper Johns show, spent time visiting museums and churches, shopping in the designer boutiques around St. Mark's Square, and "eating, eating, eating," in the words of more than one museum staffer.
The keys to Venice have been provided by Art Museum curator Carlos Basualdo. He teaches at one of the universities in Venice, and, after an initial suggestion from his colleague Michael Taylor, pursued the idea of spreading the Nauman show beyond the traditional venues at the Giardini and Arsenale into the two university campuses.
The contact is not insubstantial. With a combined student and professor count of 30,000, the two schools account for half the population of Venice's Centro storico - historic area.
Basualdo got a long embrace from Nauman Friday night when the two stood to accept applause at the dinner in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista honoring the artist and lenders to the show.
Nauman gave a short acceptance speech that successfully deflected attention. Looking over at Chiara Barbieri, the project manager for the Guggenheim Collection, who has been liaison for the U.S. Pavilion, he said:
"You showed me where the best pistachio gelato in town is. Thank you."
Read Inquirer culture writer Peter Dobrin's blog, "ArtsWatch," at www.philly.com
/philly/blogs/artswatch/
INSIDE
With sites and sounds, the exhibition does Bruce Nauman justice. A&E.
Contact culture writer Peter Dobrin
at pdobrin@phillynews.com or 215-854-5611. Read his blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch/
