Reflections: Brian Strigel – Summer 2015

The only place outside America I’ve been before this trip was Montreal.  I threw myself out into a city in which I had no experience with the knowledge I gathered from school. I hadn’t heard of the romance of the city, nor did I really care. I nearly missed the opportunity to apply. However, now that I had been to the city, experiencing it first hand I fell in love with the place.

Roma is certainly an interesting place. Nowhere else, not Paris, London, or even New York City can live up to its historical, artistic, and cultural legacy.  Everywhere I went, every street corner had over two thousand years of stacked history, buildings built over ancient ruins, roads running straight under aqueducts; I’ve never seen such interesting juxtaposition of history and modern life before. The warm Mediterranean sun, the colorful buildings, the deep greens of the cypresses and umbrella pines (which looked surreal the first time I seen them), the confusing web of roads and busses, the heat, all made it feel like I was in a lively cacophony that can only exist in a Rauschenberg painting.

Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly visited Rome together in 1952.

Every subway ride had cowering nuns, sweating tourists, annoyed locals who speak hardly any English all crunched together made me think about how interesting this place is.

While I have been making art (or at least since I was old enough to use a brush) my entire life I haven’t worked all day every day painting and drawing. In it there was a serious development of both my technique and of my work habit. Now that I have had this experience, my output back in school has seen a rise in both in depth and quality but I have had the time to develop a strong work ethic. Rome was overwhelming at first, but I grew used to it and grew to love it. Rome will never leave me; the 8 weeks I stayed were not long enough.

Brian Strigel, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Summer 2015 Student