Art show a feast for eyes, ears and stomachs

By: Y. Murad Erzinclioglu

 

 

“While I was standing there taking a picture of the Coliseum I thought, ‘Three billion people have taken a picture of the damn thing, I’m not going to say anything new about it,’”
-Kevin Buckridan

 

 

 

A new art show opening downtown Windsor offers the sights, sounds and tastes of the Italian countryside.

Le foto d’italia at Rino’s Kitchen & Ale House is the first photography exhibition from Kevin Buckridan in almost 10 years. For the past decade Buckridan has been better known for his work with the indie rock outfit Two For The Cascade. For seven years prior he hosted annual events featuring his portraiture work, a style that is virtually non-existent in the current show.

The exhibition features a variety of landscape and abstract pieces. Buckridan said after some life changes, he’s come back to his craft with a new vision.

“My subject matter has shifted greatly. I used to shoot people all the time, and nothing but people, now I don’t shoot people at all,” said Buckridan. “I didn’t do it on purpose, it wasn’t something I thought about. Many, many things changed in my life and that was just one of them. I stopped dancing too.”

All the photos in the show are from a three-week family trip to Barisciano in the Italian countryside. Buckridan had his camera at his side for the trip’s entirety but quickly decided to take a different approach to images he would capture. The area, which experienced an earthquake in 2009, contains a number of buildings in various states of disrepair, something Buckridan has built into the context of the exhibition.

“While I was standing there taking a picture of the Coliseum I thought, ‘Three billion people have taken a picture of the damn thing, I’m not going to say anything new about it,’” Buckridan said. “So I kind of stopped taking pictures of these big landmarks and started recognizing all the other little things that may be forgotten in these little areas.”

The opening reception will not only feature photography, but Italian music and food. Buckridan and his wife, Stefanie, will perform a number of traditional songs from Italy as well as songs from Two For The Cascade in a broken down acoustic format.

Rino Bortolin, owner and chef at Rino’s Kitchen has also made special preparations for the reception. The restaurant is a highly localized space, hosting area artists and musicians and strictly buying product from local farms and butchers.

Bortolin also sees his restaurant as a creative space for an array of artists in the community and he’s joined in by developing a one-night-only Italian menu for the exhibition.

“It’s a joint inspiration by putting effort into using what’s going on in the front, whether it be music or art as inspiration to translate into some creative ideas for the dishes,” Bortolin says. “We’re complimenting (the exhibition) with classic Italian specials that night, it sort of plays on the theme of what’s on the walls.”

Le foto d’italia runs through to the end of March. Rino’s Kitchen & Ale House is located at 131 Elliot Street and hours of operation can be found at www.rinoskitchen.com