It seems hard to believe that it was 45 years ago that the legendary rock festival Woodstock was taking place. On this date back in 1969, Sly and the Family Stone played a late night set that was one of the standouts of Woodstock, destined to become stellar among a number of other legendary performances at the event.
Sly has become less visible in recent years and I am sure he is unknown to many in the younger generations but he and his band were huge in their time, bringing a high-powered multi-genre, multi-racial blend of funk, soul and rock music to a wider audience. I will go for a while without hearing a Sly song and when one comes on I wonder why I am not listening to this all of the time. It engages you with a message and some heavy rhythm. I can imagine some young kids stumbling across his music and feeling like they’ve discovered El Dorado. It just glows.
I thought it would be fitting to kickstart this Sunday with a little bit of that performance at Woodstock from Sly. The Youtube video below is the shorter version of I Want to Take You Higher and the link below it is the full version. Either way, a rocking start to a Sunday morning. Have a great day.
Had a really nice Gallery Talk yesterday at the West End Gallery. A wonderful crowd of folks turned out, a mix of many new faces and those who I have seen before. Made for a very comfortable setting and their warmth and interest made me feel at home.
Sort of the theme of the talk.
I had two different people, both from my hometown of Horseheads, remark afterward how proud they were that I was from and creating this work there. It caught me off guard. I had never looked at my work from that perspective, as being a source of civic pride. I had never seen it as being of one place but it is, being from where I live. My home. There’s a power in that phrase that can’t be underestimated.
Many, many thank you’s to everyone who took time from a summer day with perfect weather to spend an hour with me, especially to those who traveled distances to do so. I cannot fully express my gratitude for your warmth, your attention and your participation. And, as always, many thanks to Linda and Jesse Gardner at the gallery. Sticking to the theme, the West End is my home gallery and they have always made me feel at home there. Thanks so much for the opportunity you gave me nearly twenty years ago. My life is much changed as a result.
So, since I usually have some music on a Sunday morning, let’s stick with the theme of home. Here’s 25 Miles , performed by the late Edwin Starr, the Motown artist who is best known for his 1970 #1 hit, War . You know the song– War– good god y’all– what is it good for, absolutely nothing. 25 Miles was from a couple of years earlier, in 1968, and reached #6 on the pop charts. It’s an indicator of what was to come with War.
We got in last night just before 9 PM and I saw that the movie The Pink Panther had come on TCM at 8 PM. That meant that we were just in time for the song Meglio Stasera which appears in the film about an hour in. There are scenes from some movies that I always try to see even if I can’t watch the whole film, scenes that capture some deep emotion in the film or at least make me smile every time. This is one of those. Another is Dick Shawn as the hipster LSD in The Producers when he sings Love Power.
The funny thing about this scene is that it does nothing for the movies story line, doesn’t move the story ahead in any direction. It is simply a musical interlude meant to entertain. And it does that very well, at least for me.
Meglio Stasera, which translates as It Had Better Be Tonight, was written by Henry Mancini who wrote all of the music for the soundtrack including, of course, the hugely famous Pink Panther theme. The alluring Fran Jeffries performs the song in a European ski chalet setting with a cast of early 60’s euro-jet set types dancing along as the song progresses. I always watch for the end when she is joined by a lady in a golden boots, a shimmery jumpsuit and a stacked hairdo that makes her look like she could be David Bowie’s or at least Ziggy Stardust‘s mother.
Anyway, I thought this would be a good pick for some Sunday music. Hope you enjoy. Have a great Sunday!
Sunday morning and I think I’m much more decompressed than yesterday morning after the show. All back to normal, whatever that is. This show has made me think on a wide variety of subjects, about purpose and meaning beyond what I see in the work as well the potential for legacy in these paintings– would they endure into the future?
A good friend stopped in the studio yesterday and we talked for a moment about the subject of legacy. I pointed out that legacy is a big if for any artist and that I can only do what I do — where it ends up in the future is something that is far beyond my own control. It could be in enduring collections or it could be in garage sales and dumpsters– you never know what the vagaries and tastes of the future hold. I witness this all of the time when I go through the records from the auction houses and see painters who were celebrated in their time who are now basically unknown. Their work sells for a pittance, far below what one might expect from reading about their fame when alive.
As an artist, you can only hope that your work has a transcendent quality that allows it to live out of the time of its creator and be of the time in which it is viewed. I don’t know how you do that outside of maintaining consistency in your own vision and hoping that it is one that somehow speaks to those in the future. But there is always the question that if your work does move ahead, does maintain life and attracts future collectors, what would your legacy work be?
I know that this a fool’s game– no one has the ability to predict that future for their own work. You can’t be objective when you are so close to it, can’t discern your own personal feelings for it from how it reads to the outer world. But there are pieces that I see that nag at me, that have a weight that tells me that they may be vital pieces in a potential legacy. Pieces that I could see easily living in the future. There are a number in the current show, including the piece above, Observers.
These pieces have an intangible quality that I wish I could more fully understand so that I could better describe it. Or capture in a way so that it would be in all of my work. There is just something that seems beyond me, something that is beyond this time.
Could I be wrong? Of course. I have been wrong many times in the past and will no doubt be wrong in the future. But for my work I can hope that in this instance I am correct and that they hold on.
Actually, this was all just an elaborate lead in for a little Sunday morning music , some soul stirring from the Alabama Shakes and lead singer Brittany Howard. It is a song titled, of course, Hold On.
Yet another Sunday morning finds me in the studio working. My show, Traveler, at the Principle Gallery ends this week and my next show, Layers at the West End Gallery, opens in a few weeks on July 25th so there hasn’t been much of a break. But that’s okay, I like the busyness and purposefulness of it. It forces me to keep my head down and concentrate. To forge ahead instead of being distracted by shiny things, something to which I , like many others, am prone.
Not that distraction is a bad thing. You find interesting things when you allow your eyes and mind to wander and that, too, eventually finds its way into your work. But that is for another time when there is a deadline involved.
So, its back to work.
But it is Sunday and I have made a habit of having some music on this day’s posts. This week I am featuring one of my favorites, Neko Case, who I have featured many times over the years. This is Night Still Comes from her most recent CD, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You–which is quite a mouthful. I chose the painting above to go along with it. Its title is Confessor Blue and its one of the remaining paintings at the Principle Gallery show.
For the mystic what is how. For the craftsman how is what. For the artist what and how are one.
–William McElcheran, Canadian Sculptor 1927-1999
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I came across this quote this morning from the Canadian sculptor William McElcheran and lost myself in the circle logic of its semantics. It made immediate sense yet somehow did not. It was like a mist that I could see and feel but still couldn’t quite get in my grasp. And maybe that is the very point of the quote, that art has both a tangible and intangible element. It seems clear and within reach but there is mist-like quality that one can’t quite put their finger on. And perhaps that is the very definition of art– to try to put that misty mystical element within reach, to try to capture what is not quite visible.
Emotion.
Spirit.
I don’t know, maybe its too early on a Sunday morning to be pondering what is how and how is what.
However, it does provide a somewhat proper intro to some Sunday music. Using the mystical theme, I thought some classic Van Morrison might be in order. Here’s Into the Mystic from all the way back in 1970. It stills feel fresh and in the moment. And that, too, defines art.
The painting at the top is Led Home is a 10″ by 30″ canvas and is at the Principle Gallery for the Travelerexhibit.
I’ve been getting a small group of work ready for a show that opens next week in Penn Yan, NY, which sits at the northern end of beautiful Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes. The Arts Center of Yates County holds several shows a year in their Flick Gallery, which is a beautiful space .on the city’s Main Street. I have been invited to be a featured artist in their upcoming show, Earthworks, which runs from May 9 to June 16. Normally, I would not try to fit in a small show only a month before a major exhibit such as next month’s show at the Principle Gallery but after seeing the gallery and speaking with their director, Kris Pearson, I was impressed and decided to try to squeeze it in a crowded schedule. I also thought it might serve as nice introduction to people of the region who might not be familiar with my work or with the West End Gallery in Corning, hoping they might travel down for my show there in July.
The show consists of a mix of new and recent pieces that I feel are representative of my body of work. There are a couple of Archaeology paintings, a few Red Roofs and my signature Red Tree, of course. The piece shown here on the left is a small new painting, 2″ by 8″ on paper, that I call Apolitical Blues,after the old Little Feat song of the same name. It’s a simple blues with very simple lyrics–Well my telephone was ringing /And they told me it was Chairman Mao /I don’t care who it is /I just don’t wanna talk to him now — but with the state of current politics, the idea of being turned off and tuned out to the noise of it all seemed to fit with the solitary figure in this piece, away from the chaos and constant talk of the world.
Being Sunday morning, it seems appropriate that I share Little Feat‘s song with you. This is a live version that was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London in 1977 for their live album Waiting for Columbus, which is considered by critics as one of the greatest live albums in rock history. I know that it has been one of my favorites since it came out in 1978, a year before lead singer Lowell George died. This version also features famed British guitarist Mick Taylor who had formerly played on some of the Rolling Stones iconic albums of the early 70’s. It’s a great way to open your eyes on a Sunday morning in May.
I don’t know if this painting is exactly right for the title of this post or this song. But in the early morning light it has a moonish glow in its center, the gray of the shadows muting the brightness of the color at its edges. For a moment, it looks like it could be a harvest moon. At least, what I think of as a harvest moon.
The actual title of this 18″ by 48″ painting is Traveler, which is also the title of my June show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria. It has been above my fireplace in the studio for a couple of months now and is wearing well with me. I find myself often looking up at it, letting myself be pulled along that winding path toward that beckoning sun. Or moon, depending on how I see it at any given moment, such as this morning.
I will write more about this painting and the June show at a later date. For now, its a dreary, snowy Sunday morning here and I need some music that will change my mood a bit. Here’s Neil Young with a version of his always lovely Harvest Moon.
Sunday morning. Time for some music to fit the mood of the early day. It feels kind of bluesy today but in a quiet way, typical for many Sunday mornings. I immediately go to my default guy, John Lee Hooker and his 1991 collaboration, from his album Mr. Lucky, with another favorite, Van Morrison. The song is titled I Cover the Waterfront. While it shares a title, this song is not to be confused with the more well known song from the 30’s, most famously covered by the great Billie Holiday with a version that is also a fave of mine. I’m sure Holiday’s version influenced Hooker’s song if only in setting the emotional tone and pace.
Both are beautiful in their own ways. What the hell, I’ll put up both versions. Hope one of these sets the tone for a cool and easy Sunday for you.
I was looking for a diversion from the cold and snowy weather that refuses to release its grip on us when I came across this short video that gives a brief (it’s only three minutes!) history of art. It’s obviously not comprehensive and done with tongue firmly in cheek so don’t be too critical if they miss an -ism or two along the way. All I know is that I would much rather be watching this than going out to plow, which is next on the agenda. So I am going to watch it again and put off putting on my boots for a bit.
The image I chose for this post is a commuter’s view of 5 Pointz in Long Island City, NY. It was an old factory complex that became a haven and showcase for graffiti artists until recently when developers took over and began transforming the space as the area undergoes gentrification. That is the short version of what has become the 5 Pointz controversy as graffiti artists and aficionados try to preserve this space and the art therein. I just thought the image was striking in the way the imagery changed and enlivened the whole feel of what was a dilapidated space. Such is the power of art.
Have a great day and enjoy a short journey through the history of art.
It seems hard to believe that it was 45 years ago that the legendary rock festival Woodstock was taking place. On this date back in 1969, Sly and the Family Stone played a late night set that was one of the standouts of Woodstock, destined to become stellar among a number of other legendary performances at the event.
Redtree Times 