Arte Padova Backstage

Last week my dad and I were in Padova, where we had been given a stand to create an exhibition of his photography, along with a healthy dose of publicity given to what the MaisonSabbatini has to offer.

It was an incredible place. When we first walked in, the evening before the vernissage the two giant buildings were filled with endless corridors of pearl white…. WALLS. Every stand had requested personalized design – some had a standard four wall enclosure with one opening, others (most) got creative, choosing to have open corners, angled walls, or like us, a path to walk through.

It took us 6 exhilerating hours to unpack the frames and hang the art the next day. Fortunately, Carlo Fabbri, our incredible framer (who designed and built over 40 frames in less than two weeks to help us do this show) drove up with us to help us unload and set up the stand! All around us, galleriests, artists, workers, working with the diligence of creative ants to cover the pearl white with their own way of communicating with the world. We hadn’t planned how to fit everything we had brought into our stand – so we fluctuated from moments of “WE’LL NEVER FIT IT ALL!” to moments of “OH MY GOD. WE DIDN’T BRING ENOUGH!”. In the end, it all fit so well that it looked like the most thought out booth arrangement in the entire building! (n. This is purely my opinion. But, trust me.)

That same evening we opened the stand and our hearts at the vernissage. Hundreds of people were immediately attracted to the only stand blasting the likes of Dimmu Borgir and DJ Shadow (we showed four of our videos, including STREAKS and The.Light.Body.Paint on a plasma TV, in constant loop, as part of our exhibit!! NO ONE ELSE HAD MUSIC, and you could hear ours everywhere!)

The rest of the week continued at the same pace, with us in the stand from 9:30am until 8:00pm, with people showing up already wearing our bracelet, who had been tipped off to come see us by others who had left astonished at what they never would have expected to see at Arte Padova 2009. My dad and I enthusiastically explained the tecniques behind his work, showed the videos to audiences of up to 30 people at a time, talked about the various services the MaisonSabbatini offers… basically showed everyone first hand that our passion for what we do seeps from our pores.

…and just as they do when they enter the studio in Milan – so many people felt … understood … joined us on the ever growing TIDAL WAVE that is the MaisonSabbatini.

On the second to last day, SO MANY of our friends came to show their support… it felt so nice to see all of their familiar faces after hundreds of new ones. THANK YOU, again.

We documented every inch and every second of the experience, which means soon I’ll spend interminable hours in front of the computer preparing a video for all of you to see. AND I CAN’T WAIT!

IN THE MEANWHILE! Below you can see some backstage photographs I took with my iPhone! There’s even a photograph of STING, who came by our stand!!