Intro to I Capricci Veneziani


These eighteen giclee prints were inspired by visits in 2004 to rooms XXII and XXIII of the Academia Galleries where Lindell Lee McElfresh first encountered the painting of Venetian master Vittore Carpaccio and envisioned a series of capricci in which a Renaissance cast of characters would appear against a new backdrop of contemporary Venetian scenes. McElfresh set about photographing Venice as a myriad of "elements," including architecture and sculpture, land and lagunascapes, skies and canals, animals, birds, and boats. He then dissected, reassembled, and ultimately transformed these elements into a new, yet painterly environment in which Carpaccio's sumptuously costumed, elegant, often ceremonious Venetians could enact new roles. This fanciful combination - or capriccio - is a kind of art historical continuum through which McElfresh has created his own personal view of Venice. It is a place where the past and present, the real and fantastic are always intertwined.


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