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The PAINTER: GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Georgia O'Keeffe, as a person, was precocious, defiant, intelligent, unwavering and spirited. Throughout her education and early years as a painter, she produced an original abstractionist style that had preceded a group of New York painters of the male variety that has, to this day, remained wholly original, breathtakingly expansive and sexually charged in a way that empowers feminine energy and iconography. O'Keeffe rejected analysis of her works from start to finish, from her early years in New York, to her later years in The West, everyone seemed to get it wrong. So then, let us look again at the paintings and life of Ms. Georgia O'Keeffe and see if we can put this incredible body of work into a new and contemporary context with a fresh eye and revisionist look at this phenomenally bold American.
THE BUREAU ICON : GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Georgia O'Keeffe is born in Wisconsin in 1887 to Irish - Hungarian parents. By the time her years equal her fingers, she discovers art. Early study of watercolors leads to college, art school in Chicago and the Arts Student League in New York City. She recalled, later in life, "I only remember two things that I painted in those years - a large bunch of purple lilacs and some red and yellow corn." Subjects and colors she would return to throughout her life. By her twentieth year, she is awarded prizes and still seems to reject the praise, due mostly to the fact that her art education seems to reward technique over originality. Adding, in those later reflections, "… I never did like school." While in New York, she and a group of fellow students visit the progressive Art Gallery, 291, eight years later, her own drawings will land in the hands of 291's founder, Alfred Stieglitz, who will become one of her greatest friends, confidants and legally, her husband. In the interim, Georgia O'Keeffe quits painting for four years straight, then, at the University of Virginia and later while studying for a teachers credentials at Columbia College, she falls under the tutelage of Arthur Dow and is set free to pursue something new and wholly original. "I decided to start anew - to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true, my own thinking. This was one of the best times in my life. There was no one around to look at what I was doing - no one interested - no one to say anything about it one way or another. I was alone and singularly free, working into my own, unknown - no one to satisfy, but myself." This particular statement is extremely important to the core of her character, as it displays O'Keeffe's disdain for any particular reactions to the work, either casually, by fellow artists or formally, by the art critics. As a woman who was decades ahead of her contemporaries, in terms of abstraction in both form and color as well as feminine energy personified freely and independently in an iconic manner: O'Keeffe took a beating by the critics. Some of the blame often falls on Alfred Stieglitz and his in depth photographic series of Ms. O'Keeffe in all her natural beauty as a young woman. Unfortunately, the public discovered Georgia O'Keeffe as the muse of an older male rebel on the front lines of intellectual battles which included, photography as art, the importance of european abstraction and American art as a whole, before they had gotten to discover the original paintings and watercolors of O'Keeffe as Artist. The timing was off and Ms. O'Keeffe, although celebrated on a national level in art circles, was also widely dismissed through the lens of new psychological trends that included the great Freudian fraud which attempted to minimize the feminine energy that Georgia O'Keeffe's work so boldly personified. Once again, from the beginning of time and written history, the female is minimized by rhetoric & ideology through the powers that be, when all along, Georgia O'Keeffe is actually winning the game. From the modern perspective of 2015, it is time to liberate O'Keeffe's eroticism.
O'Keeffe's journey into public notoriety had all started through a mutual friend in 1916 when Stieglitz famously receives a series of charcoal drawings by a young Miss O'Keeffe and immediately is smitten by the originality, the boldness and no doubt by the fact that the drawings are created by an American who is both young and female. He has seen nothing like it before and in a letter that is formally typed and mailed to O'Keeffe, he expresses his admiration. "What am I to say ? It is impossible for me to put into words what I saw and felt in your drawings. As a matter of fact I would not make any attempt to do so. I might give you what I received from them if you and I were to meet and talk about life. Possibly then, through such a conversation I might make you feel what your drawings gave me. I do want to tell you that they gave me great joy… If at all possible, I would like to show them." O'Keeffe would later describe the 291 gallery, "The things you saw at Stieglitz's place sent you off into the world, just like his conversations did… It was a place that helped you find your own road: It was the only place."
"The things you saw at Stieglitz's place sent you off into the world…"
Alfred Stieglitz and his artistic efforts had been on the verge of the vanguard since the early 1890s. In the beginning, through his own photography in New York City and later in Austria, Italy and Germany. His trips to Paris and his friendship with Edward Steichen had exposed him to the works of Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and Rodin, all of whom would later be exhibited at 291 Gallery. Culturally speaking, there was a fight for the new and Stieglitz had taken the side of The Moderns, "The search for the truth is my obsession." he describes, "The camera fascinated me and photography became my life." While many people enjoyed the new found art of the photograph, there were purists, such as Baudelaire, who hated photography. Although, at the same time, a new group of painters, also in search of truth on American soil, began to create a new type of painting, which became known as the Ashcan School, painters such as Bellows, Shin, Luks and Sloan, who did not shy away from everyday people, subjects and locations of the populist working class lifestyle.
Alfred Stieglitz walked the streets of New York from 1893 to 1895 capturing photographic images of everyday life. He came from a wealthy family, married into another wealthy family & soon found incompatibility, he took refuge into photography. In 1902 Stieglitz started a magazine, opened a gallery and founded a new group of photographers with Edward Steichen called The Photo Secessionists, by it's very name and definition, it was a rebel act of separation from the norm and it began a steep and unsteady incline towards a peak of cultural defiance that would slowly lead upward to the very top. At the start, Alfred Stieglitz's fight was for photography as art and he indeed found supporters and subscribers. Eventually, he began to fight for modernism at all levels, which included much of the art from the newest and most outrageous European painters. In 1907, while on a ship headed for Europe, Stieglitz has an epiphany through a photographic image that, as he describes was, "A Step in my own Evolution."
Georgia O'Keeffe Pedernal with Red Hills 1936 oil on linen, 19 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches. Collection of the New Mexico M.O.A Bequest of Helen Miller Jones
While in Paris, Alfred Stieglitz photographs Rodin, he views Cezanne's new cubist watercolors and Picasso's paintings, including, "Madame's De Avegnons." A year later, in 1908, his exhibition of the sculptor Rodin's drawings causes a stir by their very nature and erotic simplicity, again, he is ahead of the pack and slowly loses the photographic subscribers who originally supported 291 Gallery and the magazine. In 1911, Stieglitz's Gallery is the first American gallery to exhibit the drawings of Pablo Picasso.
"Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Gallery is the first American gallery to exhibit the drawings of Pablo Picasso"
The public reaction to Picasso's new modernist and primitive approach is abhorrent and with only a single sale, Stieglitz felt obliged to purchase a work himself. His magazine, "Camera Work," was the very first to publish the writings of Gertrude Stein, who would go onto become a modernist wonder of literature and a champion of Picasso's work around the world. Then in 1913, The New York City Armory Show pierces the veil of modernism and justifies many of Alfred Stieglitz's prior decisions. Soon he realizes that the struggle for American Art is lagging behind the europeans and his next cultural battle is for the validity of an American modernist art form by American artists.
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Why all this history, you wonder ? I thought this was an article about Georgia O'Keeffe, you ask ? Yes, dear reader, it is, but to comprehend the importance of the beauty, the freedom and the defiant nature of Ms. O'Keeffe's work, you must first understand the fight that preceded her grand entry and the very importance of the simple fact that Georgia O'Keeffe was a very solid American woman with ideas and images stirring inside her imagination that would come into existence and be related directly with a man that had been searching for just such an ideal for over a decade.
"Everyone began talking about the search for… The Next Great American Thing."
When Stieglitze found Georgia O'Keeffe, he had found: "The Great American Thing." As Georgia O'Keeffe herself had described time and time again, looking back at those heady times, "Everyone began talking about the search for the next Great American Novel, the next Great American Poem, the next Great American Painting, The next Great American Thing." Well, my dear readers, I am very happy to inform you that Georgia O'Keeffe not only filled that void, she had been working on the equation, without actually defining it as such, from the time she was ten years old. Now she was twenty-nine years old, had been discovered by Stieglitz and was about to take center stage.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) Yellow Cactus, 1929 Oil on canvas, 30x42 in. Dallas Museum of Art Texas. Courtesy Colorado Springs FAC
The world of the 1920s and it could be argued, that the world of today, is a male dominated world, where woman are subjugated to second class citizenship. Georgia O'Keeffe along Steiglitz's other contemporary painters including John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Arthur Dove helped to define a new and original abstract form in painting that had never, ever, been expressed before. Ms. O'Keeffe did not copy, she did not follow, she did not supplicate, she Invented a whole new 'Thing' and it had all been based on her inner life, her female power, her very sexual and erotic nature.
"The Interesting thing about O'Keeffe is her ability to learn from the Steiglitz gang and the opposing faction of artists commonly called the precisionists ..."
It was new, it was beautiful, it was bold, it was sensual, it was exciting, it was tempestuous, it was authentic, it was avant-garde, it was unblemished, it was purely Georgia O'Keeffe and above all: It was a New American Art Form. The Interesting thing about O'Keeffe is her ability to learn from the Stieglitz gang and the opposing faction of artists commonly called the precisionists group, which culled inspiration from factories, architecture & machinery, leading the way into modern pop such as Andy Warhol's work. O'Keeffe's work includes both a very personal inner emotional and naturally inspired oeuvre and a very precise and overall interest in architecture & modernism. She won by simply using techniques, ideas and methods that did not devote themselves to any school or group.
Pelvis IV, 1944 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on Masonite 36 x 40 (91.4 x 101.6) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
But not so fast, there is still so much to say, so much more to explain, this is really just the beginning and yet, due to O'Keeffe's consistency, in both style and technique, the works she will produce, from 1918, when she moves to New York, up to her big abstract art exhibition in 1923, compare, very much in power, in expression and in composition with the works she will produce for the rest of her life: Amazingly so. Georgia O'Keeffe the artist, was seldom in search of a style, if anything she had abandoned her own original approach briefly, only to return to it and then held steadfast to what has now become the O'Keeffe method, with a clearly recognizable iconic brand in todays contemporary world of art. Her move from teaching in Texas to living with Stieglitz in New York happened relatively easily and her adjustment to the big city, where she had briefly studied was seamless. Having been promised by Alfred Stieglitz that she could work for a year straight, without interruption, the original vow had turned into the pledge of an entire lifetime. Though, there were times when his photographic objectification not only was a hinderance to her personal space, it did ultimately damage her perception in the public's eye and personally, she was hurt by the mainstream reaction, especially by the critics. Two years prior to her one person abstract exhibit, Stieglitz displayed 145 new photo works, many of them were of his new muse and lover, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1945 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 36 1/8 x 48 1/8 (91.8 x 122.2) ) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
The images of O'Keeffe are comparable, in modern times, to that of, say, a celebrity power couple such as Jay-Z and Beyonce'. The sexualization of Georgia O'Keeffe had begun. Lets remember, this is by no means the 1930s with Clara Bow or the 1940s with Greta Garbo or the 1950s with Marilyn Monroe or the 1960s with Bridgette Bardot or the 1970s with Raquel Welch or the 1980s with Madonna or the 1990s with Sharon Stone or the 2000s with What's - her - name: This is 1921. On top of that, we are talking about a very serious artist, not a broadway showgirl, not a singer, not an actress, an intellectual visual artist who, in the words of Arthur Dove, one of the male painters in the Stieglitz art gallery stable, "…Is Actually Doing What All The Guys are Trying to Do." O'Keeffe's Abstract Art show is more than impressive, but due to the harsh criticisms, she gives up abstraction for the next few years and switches to representational objects. Though, her choice of subjects such as fruit and flowers is a rather subtle change. If we look closely at the psychology behind this maneuver, we can see that it was entirely calculated and was actually a bold move toward flipping the script on the subjective mind-scape that had pervaded the times via Freudian theories that were trendily in vogue. By creating representational works that still contained a fierce and even blatantly sexually charged nature, Georgia O'Keeffe was tempting critics to fall on their own swords. The critics had originally tried to intimate that she was a sensual animal, expressing her hidden desires through her paintings. Two years later, when O'Keeffe showed up with pears, apples, flowers and the like, all incredibly and beautifully rendered, with the definite possibility of being interpreted as orifice - like shapes and feminine curves that one might taste or touch, she had set a trap for the critics and still marched on into the next sixty years doing exactly as she had from the very start.
Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur, 1930 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 30 1/8 x 40 (76.5 x 101.6) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
On the one hand, O'Keeffe had won the battle, on the other hand, we still must wonder what might have been, had the critics not been so foul. It seems that in Georgia O'Keeffe's very nature, there was a sly, humorous, independent human being with a philosophical bent that took each challenge, like a boxer might take a rap on the chin, she simply shook her head and got right back in the ring. A year later, Stieglitz handed her a different type of ring and the two began a journey that would last up until his death in 1949, he was twenty-three years her senior. Many years after his death, O'Keefe described their relationship in the simplest of terms, "I was interested in what he did and he was interested in what I did: Very Interested." Decades later, Georgia O'Keeffe had also taken a much younger lover and partner, shocking those around her and creating the same type of stir that had originally started her career in the first place. Her life had come full circle. Georgia O'Keeffe's first visit to New Mexico in 1929, five years after their marriage, started a new love affair with the landscape, which included annual summer stays and eventually a permanent home that would provide an entirely new style, technique and viewpoint which harkened back to her earliest works, before the critics had tried to sexualize, demonize and project a nasty glaze over her very robust, sensually charged paintings that, to this day, will get just about anyone thinking about the beauty of love. If I find myself looking at an O'Keeffe for very long, well, there is no other way to put it, I get turned on. Anyone who says different is either sexless, afraid or most likely, simply too young or a virgin. O'Keeffe's images simply approve of passion, desire and the art of lovemaking. It is also safe to say that, were she alive today, O'Keeffe would most likely dismiss this entire analysis. The fact of the matter is, for a painter so, 'In Love with Color,' language, words and any verbal communication seemed almost rudimentary compared to the purity of visual expressions by a genius.
The BUREAU ICON : Georgia O'Keefe / Summer 2015 / Written By Joshua A. Triliegi
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GEORGIA O'KEEFE EXHIBITIONS AND RELATED LINKS
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM: Georgia O’Keeffe: Line, Color, Composition
May 8 – September 13, 2015 TAP THE LINK: www.okeeffemuseum.org
PHOENIX ART MUSEUM: From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism June 7—September 7, 2015 TAP THE LINK : phxart.org
FINE ARTS CENTER COLORADO SPRINGS: Eloquent Objects: Georgia O’Keeffe and
Still Life Art in New Mexico June 27 – Sept 13 2015 TAP THE LINK: csfineartscenter.org
SCHEINBAUM & RUSSEK LTD: Representing Photographs by Todd Webb & Myron Wood
TAP THE LINK : www.photographydealers.com
TACOMA ART MUSEUM: TAP THE LINK : www.TacomaArtMuseum.org
DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART : Georgia O'Keeffe in The Permanent Collection
TAP THE LINK : www.DMA.org
ROBERT SHETTERLY: PAINTER
by Joshua A. TRILIEGI
for BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE LITERARY EDITION SPRING 2015
At first glance, one notices the vibrant colors, the bold backgrounds and the striking faces staring directly at the viewer. Closer inspection reveals inscriptions and quotes scratched directly into the canvases. Looking closer yet, one begins to actually behold the energy, the spirit, the 'vibe', if you will, of the subject. Somewhere between the WORDS they have spoken and the faces they were given and often times, mingled with the historical aspects of American history: Robert Shetterly's subjects come to life. The portraits are awake, they speak to us, they educate us, they demand respect in one way or another. There is bravery, beauty and brevity in this body of work. For sure, it is indeed, politically charged and at the same time, on either side of the aisle, politically speaking, many of these, "Truths," being espoused could ultimately be embraced by any person who cares deeply about America and beyond that, the rights of human beings everywhere. On the American front, the subjects vary from respect for the environment, to the right to be a pacifist, to the concerns of racial equality, to the rights of women, to the original values of the native Americans and on into the original purpose of creating a country like America to begin with. This is a series of paintings that many of the founding fathers and mothers of America would appreciate. With over 200 portraits and no shortage of subjects to honor, Mr. Shetterly has found a way to take his inspirations and hand them directly back to the people of the world in an absorbing and educational manner.
The subjects vary from extremely famous personalities to little known local activists who have brought to light the simplest universal truth to an issue that concerns themselves and the broader world. In a time of increasingly draconian rule with multiple abuses of power at the highest levels by some of the most powerful overbearing decision makers in America: The Series is a Beacon of Light. The power of an Individual, You, or Mr. Shetterly, or Me, or any of the American Subjects lovingly painted here, is very much alive. One may not even realize this fact, without perusing the Series itself. It is a very liberating and honest sequence of images, ideas and complete revelations. America is a beautiful idea, it promises so much freedom, so much opportunity, so much success and yet, the flip side of that promise is the very fact that if we as a people do not stand up for those original values, we stand to lose them and quite possibly, we already have. "Americans Who Tell The Truth," is an important, relevant and absorbing series of works that, in my estimation, is one of the most forthright, timely & intriguing series of paintings to have ever been created about America. Why? Because the truth is very hard to come by these days. The truth is a commodity, like money or property. Those who have it know how good it feels. Those who want it will do anything to get it. Those who try to take it away will lie to do so and in that act itself, become the antithesis of TRUTH. Such is the paradigm of the equation. Telling The Truth in America can lead to many sorrows and yet, it could also lead you to the presidency. Retaining that truth, once you get there, may be all but impossible. Mr. Shetterly's art retains an integrity and a value that will last well beyond the terms of any president, senator or congressperson, so too his subjects. How then do we proceed ? For starters: Simply Tell It like It Is.
ROBERT SHETTERLY: INTERVIEW
Joshua Triliegi : The Project entitled, "Americans Who tell the TRUTH" is a very intensive and wonderful body of work. How did this series come about ?
Robert Shetterly : The Americans Who Tell the Truth project was not something I intended to do. I had never painted a realistic portrait. In the wake of 9/11 our government began using 9/11 to beat the drums of war for an attack on Iraq. Iraq, as I hope you all know, had nothing to do with 9/11, no links with al Qaeda, nor did it have weapons of mass destruction. This was a tumultuous time. The 2000 election was full of corruption, then 9/11, then an avalanche of lies and fear to promote an unnecessary, illegal, immoral war. I was in a rage of grief for all the potential victims. And I was in a rage of grief for the total failure
"The answer for me turned out to be very simple. Instead of obsessing about the people who were lying, I chose to begin surrounding myself with Americans I admired. I painted their portraits & scratched quotes from them into the surface.I chose a constituency I believed in and could draw strength from to stand up against a corrupt government."
I had a career as a surrealist painter and print maker, but all of my work seemed irrelevant now. I knew that I had to use the thing I do best -- art -- to gain a voice. And I also knew that if I presented my anger through my art, no one would be interested. I had to take the energy of that anger and use it in the service of love, compassion and justice. But how? The answer for me turned out to be very simple. Instead of obsessing about the people who were lying, I chose to begin surrounding myself with Americans I admired. I painted their portraits & scratched quotes from them into the surface. I chose a constituency I believed in and could draw strength from to stand up against a corrupt government. The US has always had a large gap between the values it professes and the reality of its actions. I was painting some of the people who have dedicated their courage and persistence to closing that gap so that the ideals of equality and dignity and freedom are present for everyone. I began with a goal of 50 portraits. I've now painted over 200.
Joshua Triliegi : The Title itself has a connotation, almost humorously, that not all Americans DO tell the truth. What is your criterion for choosing a subject and tell our readers about the working process of a single portrait ?
Robert Shetterly : Frequently, when I tell people the title of my project, I get an incredulous look and the comment, "I didn't know there were any Americans who tell the truth." Most Americans are deeply cynical about the level of dishonesty in all of their institutions, but particularly the government, the media, the corporations and the financial world. Sadly that cynicism most often translates into apathy. Apathy as much as institutional dishonesty destroys any hope of democracy. People also know at some level that governments all over the world are failing to govern, and that unless some serious world issues are dealt with, we will all be overwhelmed by these problems.
"When governments fail to do the right thing, the people must lead. I've been choosing to paint people both past & present who have done that leading. Without facing the problems and telling the truth, there is no trust; without trust there is no hope. I try to choose people to paint from the entire spectrum of fundamental issues of social, economic and environmental justice. I choose some very well known people and many unknown."
When governments fail to do the right thing, the people must lead. I've been choosing to paint people both past & present who have done that leading. Without facing the problems and telling the truth, there is no trust; without trust there is no hope. I try to choose people to paint from the entire spectrum of fundamental issues of social, economic and environmental justice. I choose some very well known people and many unknown. My point is not to paint only icons, extraordinary people who make the rest of us feel insufficient. I want to show that many great changes for the better were instigated by very ordinary folks. I spend more time researching my subjects than I do painting them because this project has become all about education. I spend most of my time now in schools showing the portraits, telling the stories, exhorting, and hopefully inspiring, kids to be better citizens.
Joshua Triliegi : The Works themselves are beautiful. They are somehow connected to early portraits of The Founders of our Nation, and at the same time have a slightly folk sensibility and yet they are very freshly presented. Tell us about your education and how that influenced the actual style and look of the work.
Robert Shetterly : I'm a self-taught artist who learned to draw & paint by copying the work of artists I admired. Leonardo, Durer, Degas and Goya taught me to draw. Rembrandt, Matisse, Magritte and Francis Bacon taught me to paint. There were many others. And you are right --- I am greatly influenced by folk and outsider artists because of their intensity and honesty. But the style of these portraits was a direct result of my intent --- to paint people of integrity and make that integrity the context of the painting. That's why the backgrounds are only color fields.
"I've learned enough about art to know that the quality of the painting is what authenticates the message. I'm trying to honor people I admire and present them as role models. Whatever success I may have at doing that depends on the my attempt to make real art, not simply political placards. So, as simple as the basic composition of these portraits is, it's very important to me to make beautiful paintings"
I want the viewer to focus entirely on the character of the subject and then on the subject's words. However, I've learned enough about art to know that the quality of the painting is what authenticates the message. I'm trying to honor people I admire and present them as role models. Whatever success I may have at doing that depends on the my attempt to make real art, not simply political placards. So, as simple as the basic composition of these portraits is, it's very important to me to make beautiful paintings. If viewers can appreciate the work for its artistry, they may be more inclined to be sympathetic to its message.
Joshua Triliegi : The color Fields in your work are extremely important, you also utilize quotes and then there is the actual portrait itself. Discuss the challenges and rewards in committing to a project such as Americans Who Tell the Truth.
Robert Shetterly : I think I may have answered the first part of this question. I'll focus on the second. When I first began this project, I really didn't think I could do it. Besides not having painted portraits previously, I decided I would not sell the portraits --- selling them seemed wrong. The people I paint have freely given so much. But how was I going to live? I had supported myself and family by selling art. I told myself that I needed to take this leap. That I would trust the world to either support the project or not, but I needed to do it. Frankly, though, choosing not to sell the art gave me a great sense of freedom. I could say whatever I wanted, make all my own choices about whom to paint.
"When I first began this project, I really didn't think I could do it. Besides not having painted portraits previously, I decided I would not sell the portraits --- selling them seemed wrong. The people I paint have freely given so much. But how was I going to live? I had supported myself and family by selling art. I told myself that I needed to take this leap. That I would trust the world to either support the project or not, but I needed to do it."
If it failed and I ended up with some portraits in my basement that nobody wanted to see, that would be OK. Instead, as soon as I began to show them I began to be asked to talk about them, to tell stories, to talk about history, ethics, social change. It's been over 13 years now that I have committed myself to this project and my learning curve is still vertical. My life has totally changed. The portraits have required me to be an artist/activist/teacher. I travel to schools, colleges, museums, libraries, and churches all over the country and even outside the country to talk about the portraits. The great challenges remain --- never relaxing the quality of the work and doing enough research so that I can talk intelligently and accurately about history, politics, economics and social change.
Joshua Triliegi : Please explain to our readers about the line you walk between artist, social Commentator or witness to truth, in this case, and the actual organization level of presenting these works in the way you do around the world.
Robert Shetterly : Part of the obligation I've taken on by spending so much time --- literally & figuratively --- with my subjects is the necessity to attempt to act in the world with the same degree of courage. On the one hand, in schools I present the portraits and the quotes as places to begin dialogue: What do you think of this person? What she said? Is he right? Why? What forces was she up against? What's the historical context? Could you do that? Why was it necessary? But on the other hand, as an activist I need to put my body & integrity on the line, commit civil disobedience if I need to, take risks. If I don't do that, I undercut the lesson I am trying to teach about commitment. I have a great small team that works with me on enhancing the educational goals of the project, and another group I do political action with. Each reinforces the other.
"I present the portraits and the quotes as places to begin dialogue: What do you think of this person? What she said? Is he right? Why? What forces was she up against? What's the historical context? Could you do that? Why was it necessary?"
Joshua Triliegi : Looking at your list of Portraits, one immediately realizes that Americans that Tell The TRUTH, sometimes, pay a big personal price. Here at the magazine, we have indeed begun to experience some of that. Discuss, if you will, your views on Honesty in America.
Robert Shetterly: When one witnesses for the truth, stands up against the power of the status quo, one takes a risk. When one tries to expose institutional corruption and hypocrisy, that attempt can be very divisive and meet with ridicule, humiliation and attack. Power wants to maintain itself and all the profit that flows from that power. Challenging it makes one vulnerable to all the means it controls --- law, police, media, politics. But then where would this country be without the people who have challenged the status quo? Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rachel Carson, Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden. Thousands more.
Joshua Triliegi : I see a touch of Andrew Wyeth in your work. Would you discuss your formative Influences ?
Robert Shetterly : My influences are various. I'm particularly interested in portrait painters who succeed at revealing the character of their subjects. Andrew Wyeth often does that. So does Alice Neel. I think, though, what's important to stress here is that an influence is someone who has helped you see. Not to see like him or her, but see for yourself. For me, having the patience to learn how to draw well has been my most important portrait influence. Being able to render the the eccentricities of any face, to really see what is there, is a big part of honestly conveying the character of the person.
"Most of our courageous whistleblowers don't even have have the opportunity to make their case to the public. The powerful use the law to sequester their voices. But, often the facts can overwhelm the attempts to suppress them ---whether it's about climate change, torture, mass surveillance or political and financial corruption. In a sense this is a great opportunity for truth tellers in America."
Joshua Triliegi : Edward Snowden and Bill Ayers are in the series and have names from more recent contemporary social events. Where do you think America is headed in terms of Truth ?
Robert Shetterly : That's a tough question. Never in our history has the media been so pervasive, so powerful, so continuous in its denunciation of those who challenge political orthodoxy or risk everything to tell the truth. That's intimidating. Most of our courageous whistle blowers don't even have have the opportunity to make their case to the public. The powerful use the law to sequester their voices. But, often the facts can overwhelm the attempts to suppress them ---whether it's about climate change, torture, mass surveillance or political and financial corruption. In a sense this is a great opportunity for truth tellers in America. The general public has so little trust in the honesty of most institutional leaders that they are open to the prophetic voices. The problem is for those voices to get access to the media. The powerful are not trusted, but they do still control who gets heard.
Joshua Triliegi : Do you have any particular Portraits that are significantly memorable, if so please describe why.
Robert Shetterly : Well, each portrait is memorable if only for the energy expended in attempting to make a good painting. But many of the subjects have become friends whom I continue to work with. For instance, Lily Yeh, the woman who founded Barefoot Artists & uses art to rebuild broken communities all over the world. I went with her to work in a village of genocide survivors in Rwanda & to a refugee camp in Palestine --- some of the most memorable events of my life. I painted John Kiriakou, the CIA agent who blew the whistle on US torture policy and we unveiled his portrait together in DC right before he was sent to prison. I got to know Judy Bonds, the courageous activist from southern West Virginia against Mountaintop Removal Coal extraction. Actually, I don't like answering this question because each portrait has a story like this & has enriched me enormously. I want to tell them all. Each person brings me into contact with courage. And, as William Sloane Coffin says, "Without courage there are no other virtues."
"… Each portrait has a story like this & has enriched me enormously. I want to tell them all. Each person brings me into contact with courage. And, as William Sloane Coffin says, "Without courage there are no other virtues."
Joshua Triliegi : Whats going on with The project this year and how can our readers support and participate ?
Robert Shetterly : AWTT keeps expanding. We are launching a series of new educational initiatives. I would hope people would visit the website and spend some time there exploring the people, the issues, the ways of teaching. Your readers can support our work by modeling their own citizenship on some of the portraits, by telling teachers about the project, by buying cards and posters, by writing to me with suggestions of people to paint. But mostly your readers can understand that most of the institutions that we have entrusted to care for the common good, to care for the future of our children, to care for stewardship of the earth, to care for the maintenance of democracy have failed. It is up to us not only to insist on better governance, but to do it ourselves. Our institutions --- political and economic --- are locked into systems of profit and exploitation which are endangering the future. We don't have to accept that. We shouldn't accept that. Morally, we can't accept it. And there is great personal and communal joy in building a sane, sustainable world.
All Items on This Page Are only a Portion of The Magazine
HIROSHI ARIYAMA : PRINTMAKER
Hiroshi Ariyama is a master printmaker living and working in Chicago. He is a family man, a disciplined printmaker and an Associate of the Printmakers Collective which is currently celebrating it's 25th Anniversary in Chicago. His work is contemporary prinmaking based in Photography, but created with a classic eye and knowledge steeped in the great print making traditions through the centuries. We spoke about his artwork, the process and working in Chicago. His Print is on The Cover of The Winter MidWest Edition available for free download on this site ...
BUREAU: Tell us about The Chicago Print Scene and your relationship with The City.
Hiroshi ARIYAMA: Chicago has many vibrant art communities. And within each community, there are artists making all types of prints. I would say Chicago Printmakers Collaborative is one of the few places that offer the equipment and materials needed to practice or learn a wide range of printmaking methods. I found many printmakers in Chicago have a certain blue-collar tradition--they tend to roll up their sleeves and get to work and let the art speak for itself—very industrious. I'm not saying that the artists in other parts of the U.S. are not hardworking--but perhaps, Chicago’s industrial past paired with the long & harsh winter keeps us focused on our artwork.
BUREAU: Explain the Process from taking a Photograph to the actual Final Print.
Hiroshi ARIYAMA: The process of my printmaking does not always follow the same path and I think that’s one of the keys to keeping it from turning into a production process rather than an art making process. So in my process, each step represents a chance to incorporate something new, different or improve from my previous attempts. Having said that, here’s a general work flow leading up to a completed screen print. Taking photographs: I often roam the city looking for a fresh perspective to see a moment- a slice of the city, that tells a certain story. Editing photographs : I explore the potential of image I want to use by playing with a variety of composition, contrast level, and how much detail I would need for my print. Color considerations : Thinking about the use of color or combination of it is something that I take as much time as it needed until I am satisfied. Positive films : A series of positive films are made from the photograph. In most cases each layer of film represents a certain tonal range of the image. Most of the prints I have been doing lately take around five to eight separate films. Preparing screens : Each screen is coated with photo emulsion. Once dried it becomes photosensitive and is ready for exposure. I Expose the screen with the positive film between the screen and the light source (UV light). Once the exposed screen is rinsed, the area that light didn't reach because of the film is washed away and creates an opening for the ink to go through. Ink : I use a water based acrylic ink mixed with an additive to keep the ink from drying too quickly. Paper : I use 100% cotton, acid-free paper, that is hand trimmed to size. Printing : I use my hands to pull ink onto paper and use my eyes to register each of the layers. I feel very connected to each of my prints and the slight differences between them are unique and special.
BUREAU: What originally attracted you to creating images?
Hiroshi ARIYAMA: My subject matter - urban landscape - is not very beautiful to look at in most cases. We tend to look at the same scenes everyday on the way to work or to school and back. Yet once and a while, we stop and look at that same ordinary view and realize its beauty just because the way the light is hitting certain building or the color of the clouds in the sky. I strive to recreate this experience in my artwork. I often think about places where I lived when I was growing up. And I feel this strong urge to go back there and see them once again. These places are not necessarily beautiful places. The only significance is that they are where I spent portion of my life. I think my prints are like that. I see something that is worthwhile and memorable in each and every cityscape I have made. It meant something to me. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but it’s for the few who identify the special moment in it.
" I often think about places where I lived when I was growing up. And I feel this strong urge to go back there and see them once again. These places are not necessarily beautiful places. The only significance is that they are where I spent portions of my life. I think my prints are like that. I see something that is worthwhile and memorable in each & every cityscape I have made. It meant something to me. "
- Hiroshi Ariyama / Chicago Print Maker
BUREAU: Ravenswood is a striking Image, describe how it came about.
Hiroshi ARIYAMA: This was originally done as a commission for the Ravenswood Artwalk (RAW)--an art event created to promote the neighborhood as it progressed through urban renewal This visual was used in a broad range of marketing materials.
BUREAU: Besides creating Fine Art, you have also made ART very accessible to younger collectors, explain your view on making art that everyone can own and enjoy.
Hiroshi ARIYAMA: Printmaking in general is a more affordable form of artwork because each original print is a fraction of a total. So you’re paying for a portion of total effort not shouldering the whole cost of the creation of the piece. Offering various sizes and different price points makes it easier for everyone to choose what they can afford and also ensure that their purchase is more likely to look custom made—and intended for that particular wall space. Often the parents of young children buy my work for their kid’s room. They can decorate the room with a fairly modest budget. On a side note, I choose my materials carefully so that they last. I want to make sure that what is bought today will look good for a long time and perhaps get handed down to generations to come. That would be wild.
THE DEC /JAN 2015 EDITION OF THE BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE
250 PAGES OF ART . INTERVIEWS . PHOTO ESSAYS . ARTICLES . REVIEWS + MORE
WE HAVE CREATED 4 LINK ALTERNATE COVERS FOR THIS MOST RECENT EDITION :
The Bureau Profile: MARGIE LIVINGSTON
BUREAU: What originally attracted you to modern art and share with our readers an early inspiration?
Margie LIVINGSTON: Two things attracted me to modernism: the grid and a spirit of experimentation. Working with the grid connects me to many artists including Mondrian, Sol LeWitt, Eve Hesse, and Agnes Martin. But I’m also interested in a much earlier version of the grid: Renaissance perspective which, as Rosalind Krauss wrote, “is inscribed on the depicted world as the armature of its organization.” The entwined histories of the grid and painting inspired one of my new works, Falling Grid with Underpainting. To make it, I wove a three-dimensional grid out of string, to literalize the perspective grid in space, and then covered it with paint. Of course, paint doesn't have much tensile strength, so when I cut the grid off the frame, the painting slumped under the force of gravity. This kind of experimentation, where I push paint to do what’s not expected, is at the heart of my practice.
BUREAU: The series of works that are sculpture crafted from paint are extremely interesting, share how this technique was discovered and where you are currently taking it.
Margie LIVINGSTON: Six years ago, I started experimenting with acrylic paint to discover its physical properties in order to exploit them for their own qualities, not pictorial qualities. I glued dried paint directly to the wall, like a decal. One of the glues I tested failed, and the paint skin fell on the floor. Instinctively, I picked it up, brushed it off, and folded it neatly like a blanket. This accidental discovery led to a new body of work where I poured out gallons of paint to make huge paint skins that I then folded and placed on shelves. The “Draped Paintings” hang on a peg like a coat or scarf. When I make them, my relationship to the paint is sensual, body to body, as I must caress the paint skins to shape them. I work with the weight of painting and the paint sags in response to gravity--just like we all do. That paint so readily took on the properties of fabric led me to my newest works. I tack paint skins directly onto stretcher bars and the paint literally stands in for the canvas. Body of Work, a jumble of these paint-as-canvas works held together with wood and metal brackets, will be shown at UNTITLED 2014 this year by Luis De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.
BUREAU: Do you subscribe to a specific thought process in your work, or is there a more tactile approach and please explain how theory meets reality in the actual creating of a work ?
Margie LIVINGSTON: My latest piece, Body of Work, provides a good example of my process, where the idea -- paint as canvas -- morphed and changed in response to the process of making. This piece came together using a combination of planning, model making, research, reflection, seat-of-the-pants problem-solving, and luck. Until I finally put it all together, I didn't know if the braces would hold. The stickiness of the paint is integral to its construction, but I didn't test that element at full scale until the final assembly, because putting two paint surfaces together creates a permanent bond. So I didn't know until the very end if I was making a prototype or the final work. This kind of problem-solving keeps things interesting. The white paint references Rauschenberg and Ryman, but a pile of white paintings reaches further back to the father of German Romanticism, Caspar David Friedrich, whose work I studied while in Berlin on a Fulbright Scholarship. The jumble of white paintings reminded me of his painting Sea of Ice (1823-24). As I worked on how to hang a pile of paintings on the wall, I made a small model out of foam core, balsa wood, and hot glue. The miniature paintings looked great on the wall, but I didn't like the way they hung there like a magic trick, denying the technical challenge of getting 18 canvases to hang together as one. This is when I added wooden and metal braces to hold them together, so its structure would be visible. I chose to use the utilitarian language of crating for this part of the piece, because I'm interested in the differences and similarities of making a painting and making a crate. During the three months it took to make Body of Work, I was imagining it hanging on the wall like a painting. The final twist came when I realized it looked great standing on the floor. As a sculpture built out of paintings, it blurs the line between sculpture and painting; it can either stand on the floor or hang on the wall with its ancestors.
ANDY MOSES
The BUREAU ART INTERVIEW
By BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Editor Joshua A. TRILIEGI
Joshua TRILIEGI: We have been following your work now for almost two decades, back when the magazine was an artists’ collective. You made a sort of break through with the Fire and Ice Series some years ago: could you talk about the process from that time to the present?
Andy MOSES: The paintings that you refer to as the Fire and Ice series are a series of paintings that I exhibited in Los Angeles in 2002. I had moved back from New York in 2000 after having been there for 18 years. The work I had been doing there was done in a similar fashion to how I currently work which is by preparing, pouring, and manipulating paint on a flat surface.
" After moving back to California I became interested in nature on a more human or tangible level and began making these panoramic paintings that were once again abstract, but now suggested horizons as seen from the ocean or the desert or the sky."
The paintings I did in New York were mostly done through chemical reactions. Those paintings were mostly abstract but they also suggested galactic or microscopic phenomena. After moving back to California I became interested in nature on a more human or tangible level and began making these panoramic paintings that were once again abstract, but now suggested horizons as seen from the ocean or the desert or the sky. They were made with one color of pearlescent white and were once again poured and manipulated on a flat surface. This time there were no chemical reactions. It was just the thickness of the paint that determined light and shadow. Shortly after that I made the first pearlescent white paintings I began making them on convex and then concave surfaces. I started making them convex and concave because of the way they interacted with light when you walked around them but also how the curve in the canvas seemed to suggest the curve of the earth and the curve of all space.
" They were made with one color of pearlescent white and were once again poured and manipulated on a flat surface. This time there were no chemical reactions. It was just the thickness of the paint that determined light and shadow. "
I have developed this work over the past 12 years going back and forth between being extremely monochromatic to working with color in extremely complex and varied ways, which is where I am at now. Also I have pushed the color from extremely subtle color variations to extreme contrast, which again is where I am now. Lastly the work has fluctuated between having what I call a defined horizon to being more topographical looking and more abstract.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Being a second-generation artist is both a gift and a challenge, I remember hearing people compare you to your father [Ed Moses] back in the day. Discuss what you have dealt with and how this has affected your own style.
Andy MOSES: Growing up with an artist Father has always made people make very strong assumptions about whom I am and where my work must be coming from. The truth is, both my brother and myself were consistently told that we could do whatever we wanted except be painters. We didn't grow up around the process at all as my Fathers studio was about five miles from our house and we were not encouraged to visit. Therefore I was never around the process of work being made growing up. I was however around finished work both in our house and at the occasional openings that we would go to. I was always intrigued by the work and always looked at it closely to try to figure out how it was done. We had a Sam Francis painting in our house for a while and I remember my Father always telling everybody that nobody knows how he does them. That intrigued me a lot - the fact that painting could be this mysterious and magical or even alchemical process. I went to Cal Arts in 1979 to study film. Once I realized how many chefs and how many elves had to be involved in film I realized I was a solo act. I had surfed a lot as a teenager and probably my favorite thing about it is that you could do it alone. You could paddle out by yourself and speak to no one and convene with the ocean. I had issues with authority as a teenager for sure and surfing was my escape. I was actually accepted into the art department at Cal Arts to make film. My teachers were John Baldessari, Douglas Huebler, Michael Asher and for one semester Barbara Kruger. Cal Arts was a very rigorous conceptual program that was extremely stimulating to me. I continued to work in film but added performance and installation to my repertoire. I did one pretty controversial performance/installation called Father Knows best. I did some paintings that were essentially like props for various installations. It was during this period that I experimented for the first time with painting flat and flowing the paint on to create an effect that I was looking for. This type of painting was like a drug for me. Once I tried it I knew I was hooked for life. Shortly after that, there was an artist visiting from New York who asked me to work for him in New York. I had only been at Cal Arts a couple of years and really loved it, but I knew I had the painting bug and I knew that it was going to take some time to develop these paintings. During that time I wasn't interested in having them critiqued as I was teaching myself how to do them and I figured, I would know when they were ready to put out in the world, to be looked at, and then critiqued,. So I moved to New York at age nineteen. When I got there the job I had been offered was gone, but that artist hooked me up with another painter Pat Steir and I worked for her. It was during the fall of 1981 that I did my first painting that I felt was successful. It was black and white and looked like a galactic explosion. I began exhibiting this work in New York in 1985 and had my first solo show in 1987 at Annina Nosei which was a very prestigious gallery for a 25 year old to have a first solo show. I lived in New York until 2000 when I moved back to Los Angeles. Some people had heard of me through my work in New York. Others who saw my work in the early 2000's just assumed that I had started painting a few years earlier and that this was the first work that I had ever exhibited. I didn't really have to deal with comparisons to my Father's work in New York but when I moved back to L.A. there were certainly some. I know that those comparisons would have been much more intense if I had never left L.A. I feel that it has been a double-edged sword for sure. I have definitely benefitted at times and have been afflicted at others, for being a second-generation artist, but I am certainly not complaining. Everybody who has ever lived has some kind of cross to bear. I will be having a thirty-year retrospective at the Pete and Susan Barret Gallery at Santa Monica College in 2016. For the first time my New York and L.A. works will all be exhibited together. I feel like this show will put a lot of ghosts to rest, as people in L. A. will be able to see how the worked developed and evolved over the last thirty years.
Joshua TRILIEGI: The current works are slightly concave, how important is surface in your work and tell us why?
The curves developed in an interesting way. I moved to New York in 1981. I was always very impatient and I wanted to make my stretcher bars as fast as possible so I could get to painting. I wanted to make paintings that had a weight and authority to them then so I decided to make my stretcher bars using 2x4's instead of something narrower and lighter. I wanted to make them 3.5 inches deep. I put the 2x4's together using only corrugated nails on the back. No cross bars and no triangles at the corners.
" I had to leave the studio really quickly to go somewhere so I just leaned the painting at a 45-degree angle to the wall because there was no room to lean it flat on the wall. When I got back the whole thing was lit up in a way that I had never seen before…"
As soon as I stretched the canvas the whole structure curved out from the wall like a sail. I kept that canvas hanging for a while because it intrigued me. I was just starting to make paintings flat on the ground by pouring and manipulating paint. I couldn't find a way to connect my paintings to that form and about 3 months later I had to move out of that loft so I took that curved structure apart. The idea of working on a curved surface remained dormant for twenty years. I had just moved to a new studio in Venice in 2002 that had incredible south light. I had just started making these very reductive pearlescent white paintings and the front of my studio was getting jammed up with clutter. I had to leave the studio really quickly to go somewhere, so I just leaned the painting at a 45-degree angle to the wall because there was no room to lean it flat on the wall. When I got back the whole thing was lit up in a way that I had never seen before, but if I moved a little to the left or right the color intensity would drop off and it had this much more mysterious shadowy look. At that moment the light bulb went on and I connected the dots. It was not long after that, I made my first convex painting and shortly after that, I made my first concave painting. I like the curves for a number of reasons.
" … If I moved a little to the left or right the color intensity would drop off and it had this much more mysterious shadowy look. At that moment the light bulb went on and I connected the dots. "
They blur the line a little between painting and sculpture. The curve has a functional aspect as I work with colors that shift in hue and intensity as you move from side to side and the curve enhances that. Also, I like the way that they refer to the physicality of the world at large, both the shape of the earth and the shape of space. I have continued to use and explore the curves since late 2002. I am just starting to really push the curved aspect as of late and have found some new materials to paint on. I have one painting in my current exhibition at William Turner Gallery called R.A.D. that I am really excited about.
" We didn't grow up around the process at all as my Fathers studio was about five miles from our house and we were not encouraged to visit. Therefore I was never around the process of work being made growing up. I was however around finished work both in our house and at the occasional openings that we would go to. I was always intrigued by the work and always looked at it closely to try to figure out how it was done. We had a Sam Francis painting in our house for a while and I remember my Father always telling everybody that nobody knows how he does them. "
- Andy MOSES / Painter
Joshua TRILIEGI: Abstraction has it's own challenges and rewards. Would you discuss some of your influences and how you developed a style of your own?
I have never thought of myself as a purely abstract painter. I was always looking to find a new direction through process-oriented abstraction into a new kind of language. I guess one of the things that draws me to abstract painting is it's freedom. It's free in terms of making a mark that is not beholden to anything outside of itself. I am very drawn to atmosphere as well as gesture, so I guess going back historically Pollock and Rothko sit in prime positions in terms of influence. A Rothko painting is filled with so much atmosphere and mood. A Pollock is infused with so much energy and turbulence and let's call it freedom. So historically I have been influenced in terms of abstraction by both of them equally. Yves Klein has been a huge influence as well for bringing this Metaphysical element to his work that is simultaneously extremely genuine and also somewhat staged. It keeps the viewer guessing. There are so many painters going back hundreds of years that have influenced my work as well. I love the Venetian Renaissance painters as well as the French Impressionists as well as Turner and John Martin, as well as the Hudson River school. I loved the radical approach of the early twentieth century and the Futurists, and the Surrealists and on and on and on. When I first moved to New York in 1981 there was an explosion of painting happening. I loved so many of the local painters and there were a group of young Italian painters being shown. Most of all, though, I loved the German painters that were being shown in New York. Their work went back to the sixties and Seventies but all of a sudden you saw it everywhere in New York and it was being talked about everywhere.
" I think what also gets lost a lot in an art world that is so obsessed with naming who is on top every five minutes is the contributions of so many artists that keep the language and dialogue moving forward. Every time I go to multiple galleries I see something that I find interesting on some level. "
My favorite German painters at that time were Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, and Sigmar Polke, and they still are. They brought gravitas and history to their work and their work was both figurative and abstract. Over the years though, I have really loved so much painting and so much art and so many artists that run the gamut of mediums and approaches. I always thought Barbara Kruger's work was so graphically strong and conceptually powerful and direct. John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha have carved out unique niches with their different kinds of deadpan humor. Jeff Koons with his perfection. The whole light and space movement out of Southern California, which is finally being appreciated internationally. All of the really radical art that has come out of Southern California since the seventies. Also there is so much great work being done right now pushing the envelope in photography, sculpture and installation. All of the great artists from Los Angeles who are still under the radar internationally, including Ed Moses. There are too many great artists to name. I think what also gets lost a lot in an art world that is so obsessed with naming who is on top every five minutes is the contributions of so many artists that keep the language and dialogue moving forward. Every time I go to multiple galleries I see something that I find interesting on some level. You see a lot of cynical and derivative work as well: but the good overshadows the bad. I think for the moment we are in a golden age.
" I made a very seminal painting in 1990 that was about Alchemy. I worked in Gold and Fuchsia and Black. This was the most color I had ever used and from that point on I was addicted to color. All through the nineties I worked with a lot of very intense color and the imagery although abstract hinted at earth forms and later back to galactic and microscopic forms. "
- Andy MOSES / Painter
Joshua Triliegi: What attracts you to a certain color, tone and creating combinations that develop into a series such as the current work?
Andy MOSES: Color has been an interesting exploration for me. Through most of the eighties I only painted black and white. I loved the immediacy and the contrast. It felt very powerful and very connected to the types of paintings which I was making which included abstract paintings that hinted at galactic, microscopic and rock like forms. In the late eighties I began silk screening images and text from the newspaper, which at that time was only black and white. In about 1989 I began using color for the first time and the color I chose to work in was blue. I was still working with these images silkscreened from the newspaper but now some of the imagery related to water and sky so it was a vey logical progression. I made a very seminal painting in 1990 that was about Alchemy. I worked in Gold and Fuchsia and Black. This was the most color I had ever used and from that point on: I was addicted to color. All through the nineties I worked with a lot of very intense color and the imagery although abstract, hinted at earth forms and later back to galactic and microscopic forms. In 2002 I sort of wiped the slate clean as I began working in one shade of pearlescent white. From there I brought color back in very subtle shades of pearlescent colors. In 2004, I was working again with a lot of blue as it hinted at water and sky, which the paintings were starting to make allusions to. I really exploded color again starting in about 2010. Over the last year, I have really pushed color saturation and contrast, the most that I ever have, as well as brought very complex and layered color palettes into the work. What I always look for with color is to cause sensations that physically overwhelm and create very strong visceral reactions. Usually the reaction I am looking for is a kind of euphoria but at other times, I want those sensations to be more aggressive or turbulent.
ANDY MOSES is Currently showing at William TURNER Gallery Santa Monica CA USA
Visit his Current Exhibition or The Official Gallery Website www.williamturnergallery.com
BUREAU: Tell us about the current piece at Angles gallery.
Linda STARK: “Fountain (crying eyes)”, is a caricature of the eternal crier, from the ongoing investigation of an archetype, and more specifically, woman as eternal crier. But in this work, she has full spectrum rainbow colored tears, so there is a combination of the auspicious with the tragic.My paintings and drawings operate as metaphors, sometimes for emotionally charged wounded states regarding the human condition, often from a particular standpoint of living in the physical body of a woman, in a world entrenched in patriarchal systems. Or they may be inquiries into feminine mysteries, and a woman’s relationship with nature. I like the pairing of opposites, expressing dualities, often with mordant humor.In this work on paper, the tears are dripped in watercolor, an ephemeral medium. But the idea stems from earlier oil paintings, such as “Crying Eyes” 1991, a face-sized self-portrait with paint heavily dripped from the eyes, like a murky gargoyle. At that time, I was influenced by the industrial storm drains, with their mineral buildup, near my downtown LA loft. I was drawn to explore the natural gravity and fluidity of oil paint, it’s tendency to drip, the way it builds up over an extended period of time, to convey a sense of geological and emotional density.
BUREAU: What originally attracted you to painting?
Linda STARK: I have always had a reverence for the activity of painting, instilled in me when I watched my mother from a distance, painting her pictures, in the garage on weekends, with special intensity. She painted out of inner necessity. It made me want to paint, but I didn’t start until college. It was in Cornelia Shultz’s Beginning Painting class at UC Davis, that I fell in love with oil painting. I still remember how she made the act of painting seem like an alchemical process. She taught me a valuable lesson on how to nurture and protect my creative flow. My paintings were expressionist then, and Cornelia told me to “go to the library and look at a book on Soutine, then put it back on the shelf, and walk away.” She cautioned me not to over-saturate my mind with other artists, in order to maintain a strong connection with my own voice.
BUREAU: Can you describe an early time in your life when a work of art spoke to you?
Linda STARK: When I was in grade school, we had a field trip to the Balboa Art Museum in San Diego. It was my first trip to an art museum. I remember sitting in front of a Gorky painting, entranced. I opened myself up to the painting and experienced what I later learned was synesthesia. I heard an orchestra of sounds, as I looked at the complex abstract forms. That was when I had a profound realization of a painting’s potential. It was talking to me.
Linda Stark received a B.A. from U.C. Davis (1978) and an M.F.A. from U.C. Irvine (1985). Her work has been exhibited in museums and public spaces such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo, New York), UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (Ridgefield, Connecticut), Oakland Museum of California, Site Santa Fe, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, and Pasadena Museum of California Art. She is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowships, a California Arts Council Fellowship, a COLA Visual Artist Fellowship, and a California Community Foundation Fellowship. Stark lives & works in Los Angeles, California USA. Tap The Link Below Visit ANGLES L A
By BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE Editor Joshua TRILIEGI
Picture if you will, The Titanic, after submission. The bodies and their souls: passengers, crew and stow ways. What would it feel like ? What might it it look like ? Imagine a world in all it's minute detail that could illustrate such a scene & you will begin to fathom the world of Mr. Kris Kuksi's sculpture. An accomplished painter who happened upon sculpture by hobbling together preexisting objects into new and original arrangements which set the bar a notch or two above any previous ideas of sculpture since, say, French Rococo or Italian Baroque architecture of olden day. Mr Kuksi subverts the ideas of religiousity, empiric nobleness and the wreckage of a post modern society into a sort of anarchy of the mind. One of the very few artists in our known history to tap into an ephemeral world with all it's detail, all it's nightmarish qualities, all it's passion, lust, violence and posture, in a tone and style that is wholly original. Mr Kuksi is steeped in mythology, astrology, greek gods and a modern history that includes Napolean, Beethoven and Oedipus. Comparisons are few, though, I would suggest Dore', Heronymous Bosch and the films of Terry Gilliam. Kuksi manufactures an overall visual schematic that provides a battlefeild of ideas which suggest the afterlife of a major event, such as, The Civil War, The French Revolution or the end of the world.
" One of the very few artists in our known history to tap into an ephemeral world with all it's detail, all it's nightmarish qualities, all it's passion, lust, violence and posture, in a tone and style that is wholly original."
He creates a fantasy world come true in mono and duo chromatic form, that is entirley haunting, fantastic and when he is really on his game: darkly humorous.The artwork utilizes themes that freely criticize war, religious crusades and ideas of empiric ideology, while at the same time, employing the very devices, symbols and gestures that originally propagandized and sold those ideas to a hungry public. Kuksi is like a fiction writer who has established identifiable characters who will then willfully act out scenarios of a horrendous and beautifully haunting plotline that leaves us aghast, enthralled and sometimes in awe. When Jack Nicholson was asked to describe the filmmaker Stanley Kubrik after working on The Shining, he famously replied, "Brings new meaning to the word: Meticulous." To echo those sentiments and ride Jack's wave a bit, Kuksi, it might be said, brings new meaning to the word: Obsessive. Like Kubrik, he is creating a world that hints at a larger literary and historical idea wherein each character plays a part. So far, Mr Kuksi has spent a large amount of energy and time tackling European history. When he has focused on American history, there are modern takes on issues of politics and religion, though the canon is scant of our own story, such as the Native American experience or African American slavery, which is indeed a landscape worth considering. Mr Kuksi, who was born in 1973 has discovered and mined a mature style and body of work that has captured the attention of both collectors of fine art and the general populist, it will be interesting to see where he takes us next, whether it be Heaven or Hell is simply a matter of opinion.
RUSSELL NACHMAN
The PAINTER
BUREAU: The current paintings derive from a core story and literature, explain how that process works for you.
Russell NACHMAN: The basic answer is connective threads. In the case of my current show at Paul Loya Gallery, I was reading Stay, Illusion!: The Hamlet Doctrine,* when I first started thinking about possible themes for the exhibit. The book is an examination of Hamlet, combining literary theory and psychoanalysis. One of its themes conceives the temperament of Hamlet as a kind of impotent louche... which I found resonated with the insouciant temperament of my painting’s characters. As far as ideas based in literature, I have always found more inspiration in novels, poetry, and philosophy than I have in the theories of contemporary art (which I personally find circuitous). * by Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster
" My audience is that person out there, whoever he or she may be, who sees a painting, hears a song, reads a book that totally enriches their life, augments their thought, stirs their emotion, and adds to the quality of their life. That is what all the art I love has done for me and I want to return the favor."
- Russell Nachman
BUREAU: Your aesthetic is both post modern, punk rock and 17th century, that’s an interesting mix, how did this develop ?
Russell NACHMAN:I wanted to continue the art historical trope of the harlequin to best express my ideas and emotions via an “every-man.” My harlequin developed into a stooge wearing Black Metal corpse paint. The Black Metal death mask is meant to be seen in the same way that Japanese Kabuki face paint is meant to be seen—as an embodiment of a theme or emotion, not as an individual. Using these characters I want to explore the thoughts I have concerning what I see as a loss of relevance in the Other of religion and metaphysics. Now I’m not referring to a general mind-set, I am referring more to the current state of aesthetics, philosophy, science... basically the current state of serious thought. Historically, the underpinnings of expression most often had relationships to religion or to a metaphysics concerned with “something larger than ourselves.” Presently an ambivalent stance exists that dares neither to go forward nor to retreat. A stance curtailed by an understanding that it is almost certain that there is nothing to us but matter and energy (a “dead weight” of simple mass). The current theories of consciousness and free will rest on the basis of complexity rather than exteriority. To put it simply, you are an individual with free will because the mechanism of consciousness is so intricate and “un-mappable” that, as such, manifests identity. We are much more complex than toasters, and therefore, conscious, individual beings. I have reluctantly come to see this as a more probable truth than any metaphysical truth, however much I find a need for something more or outside to my being. As a result, I arrived at the idea of post-religious documents that are figured like Christian illuminated manuscripts, that depict a naive “fuck it” bacchanal of existential aporia.
BUREAU: When did you first utilize drawings and paintings as a way of expressing yourself and tell our readers about development.
Russell NACHMAN: I grew up drawing. For as long as I can remember drawing has been a constant companion and a source of joy in my life. I was a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, comic book kid and when I discovered “high” art in my late teens, I eschewed my former aesthetics, fearing them childish and low-brow. Fifteen years of avid exploration in art history and contemporary aesthetics found me constantly enamored of rebellious movements, such as DADA or FLUXUS, that challenged the status quo. With that under my belt and a dogged need for a truly individual voice in the art world, I returned to drawing and painting on paper— to the rendered image. Everything is permissible in the art world now, except for highly rendered “illustrational” images. So fuck, that’s what I’m going to use, not only to challenge the status quo, but because it is a part of who I am as an artist.
BUREAU: Cinema effects your subjects and characters quite a bit, explain how you relate to film in this way.
Russell NACHMAN: Cinema is the lexicon of facial expressions! I turn to cinematic images for moments, for those amazing expressions you see in freeze frame.
BUREAU: The paintings are brave, ruckus and yet disciplined and visually pleasing, who would you say you paint for and how important is finding your audience as an artist ?
Russell NACHMAN: It has always been my goal to craft a voice that is contemporary without being complicit. I’ve never wanted to be relevant based on a shrewd, “professional” adaptation that jibes with the current climate. I paint for me, above all else, but I also have a great desire to share my work with other people. I need people to see my work. My audience is that person out there, whoever he or she may be, who sees a painting, hears a song, reads a book that totally enriches their life, augments their thought, stirs their emotion, and adds to the quality of their life. That is what all the art I love has done for me and I want to return the favor.
Represented By Paul Loya Gallery in L A at http://paulloyagallery.com/
Represented By LMAK Projects in N Y C at http://lmakprojects.com/
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10 QUESTIONS : COLIN SHERRELL
Every Now and Then, You feel that you may have discovered something quite special. This is exactly how we feel about the sculptures of Colin Sherrell, heres the Exclusive. BUREAU Spoke with Sculptor Colin Sherrell about his Process, Experience & ART.
Bureau: How long have you been creating objects?
CS: I have been creating for as long as I can remember. When I was five, my father gave me a bunch of scrap wood and a hammer and let me build my first chair. The chair took on characteristics of a Gerrit Rietveld classic De Stijl chair and was built to the best of my abilities. It held together with bent nails, hammer dents, and rather rickety but surprisingly strong enough to hold both me and my father. Before that I can’t really remember, but I’m sure I was messing around
with something in my dad’s studio.
Bureau: Your sculpture work is very impressive, do you have any immediate influences?
CS: Too many to list. I am a third generation artist & grew up surrounded by art. I spent the majority of my youth going to museums, galleries, openings, and artists’ studios with my father and found that most of everything I saw, I absorbed into my own practices. Most of my work is informed by art history and characteristics of both modern and contemporary art.
Bureau: The work seems to be evolving from a raw aesthetic into a kind
of refined ideology, what drives the evolution of your work?
CS: Well I try to just go with the flow of my styles, but I leave my practices open for growth and experimentation into many different mediums, processes and concepts. I don’t necessarily like to stick to one or the other so that I can always be thinking about different avenues and approaches to making art.
Bureau: Much of your work is charged with a pervasive sexuality, how much do personal relationship effect our work as artists?
CS: Depends on the artist. For me, my personal relationships certainly effect avenues of my artwork. My Master’s thesis was centered on the
idea of unions between two objects and was mainly influenced by the relationship I have with my fiancée Theresa Karnick and my immediate family. The connections between the two objects in each piece in the thesis show hold metaphorical and symbolic significance to my own relationships, but also to anyone and everyone. I feel that as an artist
I can look into my own relationships for inspiration because they are
what shape my life and my life shapes my art.
Bureau: You have experimented with video, photography and sculpture,
do any of these mediums inform each other?
CS: Yeah, although they are completely different mediums, depending
on how I use them and in what context I use them, I feel that they can transform into each other or at least take on characters of each other.
For instance, I take photographs of lumber and scale and print them to
life size, and mount the photos back onto the original piece of wood.
In some versions I remove the photographed knot hole and expose the
real wood knot below. Once the photo is mounted onto the wood, the photograph transforms into that piece of wood and turns into, at least
for me, a sculpture and not a photograph. Or in another piece,
I projected a video of a braille book onto a blank braille-less book.
The viewer went to touch the book and felt nothing, losing the image
of the braille under their hands shadow. The video for me transformed
into or informed the sculptural aspect of this work. Although the video
I made was used traditionally as a projection, the act of using it to imply space and texture, I feel became sculpture and transcended the medium
of video.
"… This was a tricky
piece to make …"
Bureau: Did you go to school and what did you pick up along the way ?
CS: I started my studies by attending Joliet Jr. College in Illinois, were my father was my teacher and mentor. I then went on to the New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL where I received my BFA. Immediately upon graduating I pursued my MFA from University of Miami, and as of this weekend have now received it. Along this long journey I have picked up so much I wouldn't even know where to begin. I couldn’t narrow down to anything specific without going on and on because they taught me so much. I did find that by working through art schools, I now think that I know what the hell it is I am doing as an artist and what my work is about, in ways. I don’t think I’ll ever stop picking up things throughout my life as an artist.
Bureau: PLUSH is a lovely object, tell us a little about the process of creating this work from beginning to end.
CS: Well this was a tricky piece to make, and rather interesting that you ask about this piece the way you do, wanting to know from beginning to end. I'll keep it short for you. This piece is the final version of three attempts. The first version gave me tremendous amounts of difficulties and eventually was scrapped and recycled to attempt it again. After getting about 98percent of the way complete with making the second version, an electrician went into my studio and attempted to move it. It resulted in being completely demolished and an insurance claim with their company. After the third attempt I was successful and able to create this plush form. The piece was tricky because it has both and interior view and exterior view and made from ceramic. Its form takes on resemblances of pillows or for me a plush shape and needed to be as smooth and uniform as possible.
" If I have an idea and I can’t shake it fora few months, I know that I have to lookinto it …" - Colin Sherrell
Bureau: How important is experimentation in your work?
CS: Extremely, how else am I going to grow or learn anything?
Bureau: Some of your works are rather obsessive, like the cigarette sculpture. Tells us about following through with your ideas and how that works.
CS: I’m still trying to figure that out. I don't know what makes me choose the pieces or ideas or processes that I want to work with until the time comes. If I have an idea and I can’t shake it for a few months I know that I have to look into it a little deeper and make the idea come to life.
Bureau: You have representation on the East Coast at NOW Gallery, where else can we find your work and what are you working on at this time?
CS: As of right now I am mainly in private collections, in Chicago, LA, New York, and Miami, but currently only showing out of Miami. My next projects involve a series of sculptures based around birdhouses and another series based on child hood objects such as a large scale pacifier, a high high chair, and other children's toys.
GARY LANG
ACE GALLERY in Beverly Hills The CIRCLES / WORDS Exhibit
BY JOSHUA TRILIEGI
So, we got all excited about this exhibit, planned an interview with the Artist and no matter how serious we were, it, uhmm, just didn't happen, due to scheduling. In It's place, is one of those ART ESSAYS that we are known for, you know the kind, rambling, searching, reaching for some form of truth telling through Art, etc ...
Gary Lang's Press kit tells us that he was born in Los Angeles in 1950, Lang attended California Institute of the Arts. He received an MFA from Yale University in 1975, and a Fulbright / Hayes Travel and Research Grant to live in Barcelona for two years prior to settling in New York City. Lang has had more than seventy solo exhibitions in the US, Austria, France, Japan, Netherlands & Spain. He lives and works in Southern California.
Matt Gleason, One of L.A.'s Independent Art critics sites that, " Painter Gary Lang has enjoyed a celebrated career worthy of his keen talent. Free of the burden of conceptual angst that plagues most artists of our era, he penetrates optical space in his large circular paintings that defy the nihilism of both Duchamp's mechanical spinning wheels and Jasper Johns' targets. Far from [being] mechanized, these are exercises in concentration and close inspection sees an ever - present hand in the almost precise brushstrokes."
Ah yes, very well put my compadre. In other words, Cool art! I like IT ! Bravo!
" The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, to lose our sempiternal memory and to do something without knowing how or why; in short to draw a new circle. "
- Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Yes, even Waldo agrees, that is, if you can find Waldo. We were looking to interview Mr. Lang, but like Waldo, he was, unavailable for comment.
" A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry that is the set of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. " - Wikipedia
I see, I see, o.k . Were getting somewhere.
circle ˈsərkəl| (abbr.: cir. or circ. ) noun 1. a round plane figure whose boundary
(the circumference) consists of points equidistant from a fixed point (the center).
- Webster's Dictionary
Yes, Yes, that's all true, but, What About The A R T ?
" You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles and everything tries to be round. "
- Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950
We have gathered that Gary Lang was born in 1950, the year that Black Elk moved past this world & yet, there is a small connection here, let's continue. Don't lets get
lost just yet, stay with me here. "When you are excited about something," Lang says, "I think you should take that very seriously." Mr. Lang stated to Art Ltd Magazine
in an interview from his Ojai Studio last year. Now, I want you to remember that statement, for it will be used again in various ways very soon.And indeed, I agree wholeheartedly, that is why you will find his work & show at ACE Gallery in Beverly Hills on The Cover of last months BUREAU of ARTS + CULTURE Magazine on line.
If you want to belong to the Art Mafia on the West Coast, You go to Cal Arts & indeed Gary Lang is a made man, so to speak. He has been in the game a very long time, working with lateral lines, triangles & circles for some amount of time. Visit the ACE Gallery and their site for visual examples or simply view the credit pages in this edition of BUREAU of Arts and Culture magazine to see that The Circle works are indeed powerful, inspiring, sometimes very exacting & other times loose, allowing for us to see the actual brushstrokes. As, Janet Koplos, my senior art critic from Art in America mentioned in 2010, "… each line is composed of pulses of color that reveal the depletion and reloading of his brush." Yes, that too, is very true.
Please Joshua, you say to yourself, tells us about the art, explain as you so often do what it means, think for us, please, pretty please. Tell us what to think. Tell us what you think. Ruminate on how and why it is important. Give us something we can smile about. Help us sell this stuff. Contribute to the canon of great Art critics who all agree that Gary Lang is brilliant. We did that already, he's on the cover. And yes, of course he is brilliant, but so are you, so am I. We are brilliant and life is good. So, then why did Gary Lang get the cover for March Edition of The magazine? And here is the part where I give in & describe his, my own and yours too: Brilliance. Because Gary Lang is focused, because he is disciplined, because he has been doing this thing we call ART for decades and mostly, to be honest, because I like the ART. This current work does have a relationship with those I have quoted & many I have not.
Circles are what we live on, well, spheres anyway. Some believe that within each being, each human, you will find an area of, lets say, 'energy' commonly called a CHAKRA. A sort of zone or area that often correlates with an ephemeral energy
within the person. I believe, without speaking in depth with Mr Lang, that he has tapped into a fine representation of what we might call a chakra with his ongoing CIRCLE Series. View the books by Leadbeater of the 1930s, to see what I mean. Standing alone in the gallery, in front of a Gary Lang Circle can seem dizzying.
The works are alive, they throb, they orb, they breath in and out. Not like a silly
optical art experiment, but organically, they move. The retina of ones eye [ not a reference to ONE the group, just 'one's' as in a person ] actually has to do some serious work to deal with the amount of color information that the viewer is dealing with. Mr. Lang has done this with lateral stripes and again with triangles, but the circles, take the cake, as it were.
Years ago, I recall standing in front of a medium sized painting [8 foot] as compared to say his eleven foot paintings currently on view. The effect was nothing less than mesmerizing. His current works are iconic to the degree that, like the work of Artist Ron Riehel, they are so lovingly crafted, they could substitute for 'religious icons from another planet', to steal a line from my own description of Mr. Riehel's show from 1996. Artists today, must find something they are very serious about and be excited about it, to flip Lang's advice. He has done just that with this Art. Which brings us back to circles. Native Americans, Mathematicians, Scientists, and if there is a god, which there might very well be & I don't want to turn off any readers that don't believe there is a god, whoever and whatever contributed to the great creation of this planet & indeed the universe, somehow, wether out of design or out of convenience or out of necessity, utilized the sphere to make it happen. So did Gary Lang, Jasper Johns, Richard Long, Newell Harry and me and you and just about every one that we know has drawn a circle & enjoyed doing it. Kepler obsessed over circles in his search to define the orbits of the planets, which led to Newton, which led to Einstein, its endless, the work we do, based on the work somebody else has done. So then, what is this thing called ART ? Why do we do it ? I cant answer for Gary Lang, he was unavailable for comment prior to my deadline.
I will say this, Art: painting, sculpture printmaking, the application and craft of expressing ones self is something we humans need to do, it feels good to do it, and if we did it correctly, it makes others either feel good, or at least understand what it was we were feeling, and in some cases, the effect is sorrow, pain, sadness, because that is the life's experience, that is the human experience, that is the gamut of emotions we go through on this planet, this very round planet that from a distance, looks like a circle. This particular example of creating Circles is much more than cool, it is partially undefinable in text. In other words, I can't actually tell you how damn cool this stuff is, you have to visit the Art Gallery yourself, see it for yourself, feel it for yourself, have your own experience.For that is what ART is really all about, your own personal experience with another persons work.
The great New York Painter & World Class Filmmaker Julian Schnabel describes often, the need to 'see the work in person', so true, so true, in this case especially true. Art is kinda weird like that, so are those that make the stuff, that's why we do it, because, we are never quite sure how it is going to end up upon completion. Not unlike this extremely weird & unorthodox art essay. Which is clearly not as pretty as a Gary Lang painting. Not as focused as a Richard Long Sculpture.Totally missed the bulls eye that Jasper Johns painted so vividly. Clearly, not nearly as funny as a Newell Harry work of art. Possibly, just as confusing as an Einstein Theory. Though, through it all, I took Mr. Gary Lang's advice, " When you are excited about something, I think, you should take that very seriously." End of Discussion. End of Essay. As Shakespeare's King Lear might say, " The Wheel has turned full circle." See The Art Exhibit at ACE GALLERY by Mr. Gary Lang.
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE ART REVIEWS :
OJO PERFORM LIVE . WILLIAM EGGLESTON at GAGOISIAN
PHRANC . RACHEL LACHOWICZ . The Art of VAN CLEEF & ARPELS .
KENT TWITCHELL . HANS BURKHARDT . CHARLES DICKSON
LINKS TO AUDIO INTERVIEWS & SLIDE PRESENTATONS
AT THE MAIN BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE SITE:
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PETER CARAPETIAN . BEN NIXON . RUBY RAY . JIMMY STEINFELDT .
PETER CARAPETIAN . BEN NIXON . RUBY RAY . JIMMY STEINFELDT .
ARTIST SANDOW BIRK INTERVIEW : CURATOR : SUSANNE VEILMETTER
FROM THE BUREAU NATIONAL ART ARCHIVE INCLUDING ART GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS IN CITIES : L. A. N.Y.C. SAN DIEGO SEATTLE SAN FRANCISCO ETC ...
WILLIAM EGGLESTON AT GAGOSIAN GALLERY Beverly Hills CA USA
William Eggleston made a rare appearance at Gagosian Beverly Hills recently for the opening of his famous Series of Photographs entitled, “ Los Alamos “. What may have seemed like a Random photo essay on life in America during a tumultuous time in our history has since become an extremely important and entertaining body of work. Iconic. Simple. The straight ahead Jazz of The photographic world. Eggleston has an eye for the random. When many of his contemporaries were shooting weddings, superstars, or their own families. William drove through sleepy little towns capturing real life moments, a time and a place, little vignettes of what is now commonly known as, “Americana” .
Mr Eggleston’s work has a social symbol aspect to it. A special and keen eye for light, a brave and vigorous snapshot sensibility that goes far beyond documentation. He changed the entire landscape of what a photo is, by simply being interested in the smallest detail, texture, object, person, place and thing. Sounds easy. Most things do fifty years later, during the time, not so. Eggleston focused on the America that was changing. He turned his lens to things that few others noticed, took for granted, or simple had left behind. With much of the interest of the time moving to the big cities, the Los Alamos Series captures small town America at a pivotal moment in our culture.
" Mr Eggleston knew exactly what he was doing and did it well. When asked recently if he thought his work would be collected, sought after and celebrated while he was making it, he simply answered : “Yes. ”
There is a long lineage of documentarians including Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier – Bresson to name a few, but William Eggleston took all that tradition and went a step further, his color saturation, his dogged, roving eye, his well rounded interest in people, places and things, seems to take it all in, as if the world itself was worth viewing in every minute detail. The changing times are often
what makes photography valuable. Money, power and activity of energy were moving away from places like Los Alamos. This was the end of an era. Pre - hippy, post beatnik, just prior to the entire cultural, sexual and youthful revolution that changed everything for everyone, everywhere. Los Alamos captures a sleepy little town with a provincial flair for what is coming soon. Mr Eggleston knew exactly what he was doing and did it well. When asked recently if he thought his work would be collected, sought after and celebrated while he was making it, he simply answered : “Yes ”. A handsome man with a strong grip and few words. Mr Eggleston is a Southern Gentlemen, the type of artist one would enjoy a day at the races with, a Scotch on the rocks or maybe take in an old film while discussing anything but art.
Eggleston’ s legacy to the American art scene is by no means nostalgic overtly. Not in any traditional sense of the word. There is a political aspect to much of his documentation, a juxtaposing of subjects walking towards, while others are walking away. In it’s time , it may have seemed obsessive, random, even simply mundane. But not so quickly my friends. This catalogue is immensely important. Thanks somewhat to time. That ever present thing that marches on and waits for no man. Time is the secret ingredient for artists and always will be. This body of work is clever, disciplined, organic and colorful. It is extremely gratifying to see an elder artist being honored while alive to tell it all. All too often, talent, fame and yes, genius is lauded after the fact, leaving only the galleries, the museums and the professors to speak for the man, the woman, the hard working individual who actually did the thing we like. Or in this case the thing we love, for this is indeed a great art. A man alone with a camera, no assistant, no team, no baggage. Just a vision, a time, a place and a wanderlust to capture it all.
The Definition of what ART IS
by Joshua TRILIEGI
How do we define what art is ? Do we look to Webster's dictionary to do so ? Or do we define Art by what moves us ? ART is an ever changing element of the world we live in . Every now and then a certain artist or medium or group will come along and change the definition of what it is. French Cave Painters knew they were artists, they had no website,they had no canvas', they had no cameras, they had none of the tools that later artists like Da Vinci , would use to further what it is that artists do for society , and yet their work still stands the test of time. Through the years artists like Man Ray would come along and shrug off what Da Vinci and his scope contributed, and at the same time , make his own mark. Female artists like the late Diane Arbus, Eva Hesse, Camille Claudel and Frida Kahlo would blow the doors open on their lovers, and other male contemporaries whom thought that it was exclusively a boys club. I look around my world to ask myself the definition of art. I see it in the birds song, I see it when the light hits the face of an 88 year old woman, I see it when the sun rises, I hear it when the train sounds its horn, when the harbor boats wail their fog horn and when James Brown sings, " This is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing, nothiiiiiiiiinnnnnnng, without a woman or a girl ." I was elated to attend a performance by OJO .
I was told by their fans that an article in my favorite magazine ANP Quarterly by Ed Templeton and Aaron Rose had described the groups work properly, but I wanted to write this article without the influence of my contemporaries until later . Some of the audience had seen OJO over five times, so that was pretty encouraging. Their own descriptions of the group included the words : Incredible , Important , Inventive . The audience was mostly people in their twenties with the occasional thirty or forty something , maybe a few teens , even a child of about one year old had attended. The gallery was also exploring it's first year in our community and everyone was attending to wish them well and light the candles on this one year Anniversary party. We enter the basement and are immediately transported to a beatnick , basement tapes, black historical secret meeting vibe.There is a sense of high wire act , pre-barnum and bailey , sword swallower style heeby - jeeby's in the air .
" Live art performance is a bit like making love, were their to pleasure others as well as uh , you know, get off on the experience ourselves and maybe to have a great memory of the sensual variety that will last a lifetime in our memory , in our psyche , in our body and one that will set the standard for the next time we will meet our lover , and or create a ceiling which can be raised for the next interlude or session. "
Live art performance is a bit like making love, were their to pleasure others as well as uh , you know, get off on the experience ourselves and maybe to have a great memory of the sensual variety that will last a lifetime in our memory , in our psyche , in our body and one that will set the standard for the next time we will meet our lover , and or create a ceiling which can be raised for the next interlude or session. In the center of the room sits a table with more wires and computer electronic equipment than one would expect from an airport security team or the sound and lighting crew of a major motion picture, our mattress if you will, if you wont, too bad for you. Its an impressive rectangle of technology, several participants have their work station , they are busy creating a wall of sound , there is an unspoken conductor at the helm , he sends messages like a coach will send a message to the pitcher and catcher in a baseball game. He knows his team, he knows how to get a home run out of them, they are playing on someone else's field, this aint no home team stadium, they're not goofing at a training game, this is big league night and he is not f*cking around, uhm, what I mean is, he's taking this as a very serious game and we can all sense it. Someone's got to keep it real here. A man steps up to the mic, he reads us a piece of literature of the historical variety, a cuban history lesson and description of the suicide of a cuban radio man whose death goes unnoticed due to a commercial break in the radio stations schedule. The man at the table pushes a button, turns a few knobs pulls a level or two and the cuban speech is repeated in strange and manipulated pronunciations, sometimes repeated slower than the original delivery and other times speeded up to create a new way of hearing the speech. The players add a touch of techno stimulation, someone strums an electric guitar, were onto to something here. The foreplay has begun, I am already realizing that this could be something to remember, the room heats up, I take a sip from my Tecate, their slogan is: con character! Damn straight.
I am told that one of the founding members spent some time in Mexico City : Orale! A young woman reads some text about Mork from Ork, spaceships and some directions on how to deal with some personal dilemma.Again the coach touches the appropriate buttons and her statement comes out faster and repeated like the mantra of a wicked little virgin, submitting to the process voluntarily, but also somehow mad that this will never happen again for once experienced, all is lost.A man steps up and reads from a book about sex and mexican literature through the eyes of a twisted blasphemous tempest beast. The reading is dangerous, bolstering , insulting, provacative to say the least,uh,now they really have our attention, no one leaves the room. Except the lady with the child. A woman steps up with an inspiring text on how to start over : living, eating and believing. Again it is transformed via the electronic mattress in the center of the room . A sound orgy begins to permeate the basement, another man on guitar chimes in, the pace is quickening , so is our pulse. " Something is happening here but you don't know what it is do you Mr Jones? "[ A Quote from Bob Dylan ] Another reader steps up, at this point the actual text matters less than the way its beginning to meld together, we are in the middle of a happening , Andy Kaufman' s ghost is standing in the corner, same with Mary Shelley and even William Burroughs hovers close at hand. "This aint no party. This aint no disco. This aint no fooling around." [ A Quote from David Byrne ] The sound rises, the performers meld, the audience is lost in the rhythm . ( Check out the spelling of the word: rhythm, isn't that strange ? )
"Now we are all lost in a cacophony of maddening and enjoining vibrations that only art can provide, this is indeed happening and everyone either knows it or is going to know it the next time they try to repeat this type of thing. Don't try this at home. I am not an artist or art critic, but I play one on T.V., yeah right, whatever."
Now we are all lost in a cacophony of maddening and enjoining vibrations that only art can provide, this is indeed happening and everyone either knows it or is going to know it the next time they try to repeat this type of thing. Don't try this at home. I am not an artist or art critic, but I play one on T.V., yeah right, whatever. The guitar player begins to pass out little boxes of children's toy poppers that when thrown on the ground make a small explosion of sorts. Pop! pop! Pop! Andy Warhol's ghost is now clearly visible behind the microphone, he's surprisingly emotional and in a post coital vibe. The audience goes wild with the poppers, the men with guitars all strap on and a trio of strings begin to grind at our ears,the audience is elated. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and the spirit of San Fran Beat Poets have now entered the room via the psychic transportation device at the center of the room. The synth player reads a letter written to him in 1998 through a kind of Vox Box, no one understands a word he's saying, no one cares because it feels so fucking good by this time that he might as well be howling joyful,ejaculative enjoyments from the starship enterprise as Scotty beams me up and Spock will try to explain to the Captain that all of this experience was highly illogical. As I walk down Broadway toward the bus stop, Jack Nicholson and the final lines of the classic noir flick comes to mind " Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." But I won't forget it. A book I saw a man reading the other day. I think it was called,'Making love to the Chupacabra'. Yeah , that's what just happened. Someone just made love to the Chupacabra and this world will never be the same again. That's what art is .
HANS BURKHARDT : Within and Beyond the Mainstream
by Joshua TRILIEGI
We can talk about the paintings of Hans Burkhardt. Born in Basel Switzerland in 1904 and moved to New York at twenty years of age where he met and studied under and practiced with Arshile Gorky and William De Kooning for the better part of a decade. Each were new to America, none were born here. All three would make their mark on America and visa versa. Though we cannot talk about Mr Burkhardt's current exhibition and future shows without bringing to light his relationship with L.A. Art dealer Jack Rutberg.
Mr Rutberg, whom you may call Jack, after spending an hour or so with in his La Brea Gallery, met Mr. Burkhardt in 1973 and represented him up to the moment the artist made a last request to his daughter on his deathbed in 1994, " Have Jack sprinkle my ashes over the ocean ". A twenty one year relationship that Mr Rutberg has continued to honor well beyond the life of this great Los Angeles treasure. Hans Burkhardt was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Arts and Letters in the spring of 1992 with a roster of artists and members that include : Allen Ginsberg, Paul Theroux, Roy Lichtenstein, Edward Albee, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo , Chuck Close, Wayne Theibaud and Max Roach, just to name a few. Without Mr Rutbergs staunch commitment and perseverance, it is safe to say that a certain obscurity known to happen to L.A. Artists, writers and rabble rousers through the years ( F. Scott Fitzgerald' s Funeral had less than a handful of attendees when he died ) may have happened to Mr Burkhardt. A testament to a rare commitment and friendship of the ' old school ' variety that does not exist much in todays day and age. Especially in Los Angeles where trends come and go, names scratched like sand in the desert, contracts fade and relationships are traded in like used cars on Sunset Boulevard.
Picasso's Guernica was the game changer for Mr Burkhardt's generation. One could say there is painting before the Guernica and painting after the Guernica. Hans was extremely conscious of his contemporaries and those that preceded him along the way. Matisse, Picasso, his pal De Kooning and of course Gorky. But this is not a future point in his work by any means. Only a starting point, Mr Burkhardt' s passion, technique, commitment and work ethic as well a certain discipline and rebellious spirit put him in a special place that must have blown the mind of a young Jack Rutberg whom committed wholeheartedly to rep Burkhardt all the way to this day. Thirty-five years in the ring. " Hans had a house up in Laurel Canyon, that he had kinda made from scratch, a lovely place," Jack tells me over laughter and tears as he sets up booklets, sketch pads, hand made holiday cards from 1939 stating the words, "PEACE " on the back : Mr Burkhardt was extremely aware of what was brewing politically throughout his career and never once faltered in his protest towards war and fascism.To the point where certain museums and institutes were to label him a certain color, unfairly so. The color he used so well to express anger, power, passion and the flowers that inspired much of it : RED. One of his first jobs was at a garden nursery, later he finished furniture, Mr Burkhardt came from poverty.
"Picasso's Guernica was the game changer for Mr Burkhardt's generation. One could say there is painting before the Guernica and painting after the Guernica. Hans was extremely conscious of his contemporaries and those that preceded him along the way. Matisse, Picasso, his pal De Kooning and of course Gorky. But this is not a future point in his work by any means. Only a starting point, Mr Burkhardt' s passion, technique, commitment and work ethic as well a certain discipline and rebellious spirit put him in a special place that must have blown the mind of a young Jack Rutberg whom committed wholeheartedly to rep Burkhardt all the way to this day."
- Joshua Triliegi / Bureau Editor
"Hans always painted alone, he would sketch in a group setting, but when painting, it was sacred." Jack explains, as he is setting labels and attempting to decide what to include and how best to tell the story without overcrowding the gallery. One gets the sense that he could hold an exhibition for Mr. Burkhardt every month for a year straight. Or better yet open a Hans Burkhardt Museum as was once rumored near the late eighties and when those rumors stopped, Mr Burkhardts point of inspiration switched, matured, and entered into what we would call the Winter stages of his career. The tragedies if you will. Black American flags flown backwards with an extra stripe, ' for hope' , Jack chimes in, hung over three burnt wooden crosses created shortly after the second L.A Riots which must have effected him strongly. He had been invigorated by the youth throughout his career and angered by the wars. His travels to Europe and a ten year on and off studio in Mexico kept his inspirations flowing strong.
From the 1930's through to the early nineties his body of work is an amazing canon to behold. Mr Burkhardt moved to Los Angeles in 1937 and continued to keep a home here up until his passing. Every decade he finds something to hold onto, rail against and rediscover, for us to see. Hans' style is one in which he reveals to the viewer, process, technique and evolution all within a single painting. He implores us to go abstract by starting with a figural aspect and begging us, seducing us, turning us into a more imaginative individual. I have seen some private collections in my day : Tiny Picasso sculptures never before photographed, Francis Bacons paintings, ' given' to the Private Collector and Lucien Freuds that have never been seen by the public. Jack Rutberg's collection of works by Mr. Hans Burkhardt are by far the most interesting and underrated best kept secret within the history of Los Angeles Art ever. This is no exaggeration : from 1945 through to 2009, every major and minor Art critic worth their weight in canvas has chimed in for this collection and the value, integrity and brutal force of beauty that he reflects in mankind, the world and our present dilemma's thereof. Mr Burkhardt' s paintings are current, dangerous, beautiful and full of magic, innocence and demise in a way that mankind itself is. Somehow he managed to stay in touch with a Shaman - like aspect of knowing what was what and why it was that way.
For the serious art lover, student and collector, I would suggest focusing on one decade at a time. Meanwhile , the current exhibition which is being included in the much ballyhooed Pacific Standard Time : Art in LA 1945 - 1980 Celebration at many Galleries, Museums & Institutes throughout Southern California is among one of the most important shows to see in the whole shebang . But this is just a taster, you will want to buy the books and return to see the next Burkhardt show and spend some time asking Jack Rutberg to tell you a few of the stories that we both decided to keep off the record. Like any artist whom has thrived , worked, sweated, toiled, travelled , lost, won, even triumphed, and sure could lay down a set of oils on the canvas, charcoals on the paper and re-ignite his passion for things current, the story continues well beyond the artists own beating heart. As Jack planned out the schematics and let me peruse the private sketchbooks and travel journals, I got the sense that what we do as artists is well worth the agony it provides. We have to do this thing, there is no choice to quit, not when the world needs our voice, for now and for later. Making and presenting Art, Music, Words : these are our offerings, our ashes, and this too is that ocean. Leaving the Gallery while the sun is setting, I get the feeling that Hans is smiling down on the world as he once did from his studio in the Hills and says, " As long as the sun shines, the soul of the Artist lives . " I take out my camera and capture it, repeating this process several times until it gets dark.
Welcome to The SUMMER 2015 Edition of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE. This Edition contains The BUREAU ICON Essay on Georgia O'KEEFFE, A Photographic Profile on Robert FRANK's Classic Book The Americans, INTERVIEWS with Photographer Alex HARRIS, The Portrait Painter Jon SWIHART, The Legendary SURF Photographer Jack ENGLISH and The BUREAU Summer Guest Artist: Irby PACE. CINEMA: On The Set of The Classic Film RAGING BULL. CUISINE: PALMS Beverly Hills & Pedro INOSCENCIO, Heir to The Throne: Jamie WYETH, BOOKS: David BROWNE's Opus on The Grateful Dead. Herb RITTS in Boston, Charles RAY in Chicago, Andy WARHOL in Phoenix, Peter BLUME in Hartford, FASHION: The Dandy LIONS Photography and New FICTION by Linda TOCH. +An Interview with The Bureau Editor's Mom, Maria Francesca TRILIEGI on her New Book. We are pleased to have New Readers in The SOUTH: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Louisiana at our Newest Community Site, BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE: THE SOUTH. Links to Summer Events across the USA including, The CHICAGO Blues Festival, AUSTIN Biker Festival, Scorsese Collects in NEW YORK, 4TH of July Celebrations + so much more. The BUREAU EDITORIAL DIS - Organizations: Are Groups in America Abusing Power ?MUSIC: Lets ROCK at Fahey / Klein Gallery in MIAMI, MUSEUMS: National Gallery of Art, PORTRAITS: Native American Portraits from The YALE Collection of Western Americana. Plus Links to Our Eight Different Community Sites Celebrating The ARTS Across AMERICA . The Social Media Sites serve More as a look back at Previous BUREAU Editions + Features
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE SUMMER EDITION 2015 EDITED by JOSHUA TRILIEGI
THIS SITE IS ONLY A SAMPLER OF THE ENTIRE 200+ PAGE MAGAZINE
THERE ARE [ FIVE ]ALTERNATE COVERS FOR THE SUMMER 2015 EDITION
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THERE ARE FIVE ALTERNATE COVERS FOR THE SUMMER 2015 EDITION HERE ARE THE FREE DOWNLOAD LINKS TO EACH MAGAZINE EDITION :
THE GEORGIA O'KEEFFE:https://www.dropbox.com/s/9vmexjpu97uzwzg/2015%20SUMMER%20EDITION.pdf?dl=0
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TAP HERE TO VISIT THE BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE IN MIDWEST SITE
BUREAU FASHION: The DANDY LIONS
BUREAU FASHION: The DANDY LIONS
Dandy Lion: (Re) Articulating Black Masculine IdentityNow Through July 12, 2015
All too often in America and across the world, we are exposed to a negative image regarding people of color. Within the mainstream media and often times in films and publications, we are given cliched versions of life on every level. Stories and images are pushed in our faces with a determination to send a larger message to the populist about the populists.Anyone who is pretty hip can see through this device and yet, after a while, we have to simply oppose this tool by simply showing the world a whole other side of the coin. These images from the Exhibit, Dandy Lions:(Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity, are on View at The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity features work from emerging and renowned photographers and filmmakers from the US, Europe and Africa, including Hanif Abur-Rahim, Jody Ake, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Rose Callahan, Kia Chenelle, Bouba Dola, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Russell K. Frederick, Cassi Amanda Gibson, Allison Janae Hamilton, Akintola Hanif, Harness Hamese/Loux the Vintage Guru, L. Kasimu Harris, Jamala Johns, Caroline Kaminju, Charl Landvreugd, Jati Lindsay, Devin Mays, Terence Nance, Arteh Odjidja, Numa Perrier, Alexis Peskine, Radcliffe Roye, Sara Shamsavari, Nyugen Smith, Daniele Tamagni, Richard Terborg and Rog Walker. This exhibition is guest curated by US-based independent curator Shantrelle P. Lewis.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College in Chicago 600 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60605 USA Tap to Visit the Exhibition online Now : http://www.mocp.org
Charles Ray: The American Sculptor
Charles Ray is one of the very few artists alive today to combine both humor and pathos in a way that is equally foreboding as well as strangely understated. Unlike Jeff Koons, who is considered one of Ray's contemporaries, Mr. Ray comes off as just a bit more modest, not just in scale and subject, but in the actual, 'Selling' of the idea. Mostly due to the size, surface and finishing styles of the actual sculptures. Mr. Koons, whose work is magnificent in the same way as, say, a Salvador Dali, is what we might call a 'Hard Sell'. Koons' candy coated surfaces are reminiscent of a famous 1950's Car Commercial by Earl Scheib who promised to paint any car for $39.95, of course the prices went up as time went on and so too for these Sculptors. Ray is represented by Matthew Mark$ and Koons by Larry Gago$ian. This retrospect entitled Charles Ray: Sculpture 1997-2014, had us thinking he passed away last year. But, like The Art World, the title is deceiving & this is simply a survey of those years. Charles Ray lives in Los Angeles and as Dr. Frankenstein exclaimed, "IT'S ALIVE!"
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
Charles Ray: Sculpture 1997 - 2014
Tap to Visit On line: http://www.artic.edu
BUREAU MAGAZINE CINEMA
Academy Award Winning Actor Robert DeNiro as Jake "The Bronx Bull" LaMotta in RAGING BULL / United Artists
ON THE SET: RAGING BULL
By Joshua TRILIEGI
A man in a hooded, leopard skin robe walks down a long hallway while a group of men push aside those standing in his path. We hear a crowd of thousands cheer the man on, "Jake Jake Jake …" they begin to chant. He is wearing boxing gloves, this is a championship fight, the crowd is dressed in their finest, the men are wearing suits and hats, the women are wearing jewelry, the place is filled with cigar and cigarette smoke, sailors, businessmen, middle aged characters scream the man's name over and over, the women smile as he passes by, his trainers walk in front of and behind the man as he walks down the pathway toward the ring, the volume of the crowd amplifies as the man gets closer and closer to the large roped off square canvas at the center of the arena. The man in the leopard skin robe enters through the ropes, a nondescript fellow with a microphone introduces the man in the robe, the crowd goes wild with frenzy, people are shouting, clapping, everyone is yelling something and then, suddenly, a quiet gent behind a camera yells, "cut" and the place goes silent, the action ceases, everyone settles and a pensive discussion between the crew behind the camera ensues. A few changes are discussed, several people make notations and we do it all over again. I am barely a teenager. It is a first time experience and I am collaborating with the finest in the business. My father and I are working together on the film set of a classic piece of cinema with the Actor Robert DeNiro and Director Martin Scorsese. This is On the Set Raging Bull, thirty-five years later & this is all true.
Academy Award Winning Actor Robert DeNiro as Jake "The Bronx Bull" LaMotta in RAGING BULL / United Artists
I get home from school and, once again, my parents are having a debate and it is about me. This has happened a few times, once, when my brother wanted to take me to an important surf contest on a week day and another time, when we got stuck at the border of Mexico and America late one Sunday night and didn't get home until early Monday morning. Today's negotiation is all about what is more important ? For me to attend school or for me to participate in making a film? The prior debates were also surrounding weather a day in real life would mean more to my education than a day at school. My dad had always felt that real life events had a gravity that would inform much more than the controlled environs of a formal education. In the past, his debating skills would convince mom that this was true and after some heated discussion, he wins her over. Now, we have to figure out how a thirteen year old kid with shoulder length hair is going to fit into a film that takes place in the late 1940s and early Fifties. First, he offers to cut it and I say no. Then, my hair is tied into a pony tail and stuffed up into a woolen cap that my old man had worn since he was a barber down on Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee. Back then, my mother had found herself single, with three kids, she was italian, she was beautiful, she was liberated and although the barber had barely begun his own life as a bachelor and hadn't entered college, when my mom walked in to get my older brother's hair cut, he fell for her and at six months old, he and I become pals. Through the years, we seldom had to deal with any of the father & son bullshit that can ruin a great relationship, we were often, simply friends or roommates or just happened to be living together. We both had to answer to the same lady, for him, it was the love of his life, for me, it was my mom, who made me clean my room, do chores, wash my own clothes and do my homework before running out for the day and get back by nightfall.
Academy Award Winner Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci play The La Motta Brothers in RAGING BULL / United Artists
We have been through some tough times together as a family and come out unscathed. But things are about to get really rough. In about six months, mom is going to move back to Milwaukee for a stretch, my brother and I will stay in California and my sister will go with mom. We did fifteen years without a separation, but my mom is coming into her own and my dad is freaking out. We get up at five in the morning and drive downtown to the Olympic Auditorium, where my old man is moonlighting nights as a security guard. The Olympic was the place, back in the day, where boxing matches happened every weekend. The great American boxing tradition was much bigger and wider spread than most people realize today. A few kids from just about any working class neighborhood, would start fighting in the ring, very early on, certainly kids my age did. There was the Golden Gloves, usually sponsored by a local newspaper and there was the Diamond Belt, often played live on local radio stations. My grandfather fought for these competitions in the late 1920s & early Thirties. He and his friends even started a boxing club, the Battling Bombers. They'd get up in the morning, run along the lakefront, work out at the gym and then go to work all day. He was a great fighter, he naturally had the correct build, could take a punch, had a mean right hook, but one thing he didn't have, was the reach. And if you can't reach your opponent, nothing much matters. In any event, my dad was very aware of my grandfather's history as well as the talent that lay in director Martin Scorsese. My parents had seen Scorsese's early films, but when, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," was released, both my parents had noticed that my precocious behavior compared that of Alice's son.The big screen rapport between the boy and Alice had undertones of my own relationship with mom.
Actress Cathy Moriarty plays Jake LaMotta's Wife, Vicki in RAGING BULL / Image Courtesy of United Artists
We get to the set and already thousands of people are filling the auditorium. I am dressed in jeans and suspenders, a cap and tennis shoes. He is wearing a suit and tie. Because my dad is actually an employee, we have all access. The scene we are shooting today is a famous 'single take' that Martin Scorsese will later make into one of his trademark style techniques. A favorite example of which would be the incredible scene in, 'GoodFellas' when Henry and Karen walk into a nightclub through the kitchen, to avoid the lines out front. They stroll through the door, down a hallway, into the kitchen, where Henry greets the chef, past a couple, who Henry chastises for always meeting here and on into the club, where a table is placed directly in front of the entertainer, who then sends Henry and his date a bottle of champagne. It is an amazing and exhilarating piece of cinema. The scene we are about to shoot uses similar elements. The first time we shoot the scene, the camera is behind Jake and he walks from dressing room to hallway to entryway of the arena and down the long path to the ring, where he makes a sharp left, past the judges and a right into the ring. My father and I are seated just above left of camera, the crew is situated below us, to our right. In between takes, and I can only assume that because my dad worked at the auditorium, or because it was meant to teach me something, or because he thought I would 'be discovered,' he began to call over production techies and assistants, asking questions about this or that adjustment. All these years later, having worked on films, directed and produced, I still can't believe what guts my dad had for the way he participated in the actual filming of the day. I mean, we were just extras, actually, we weren't even that, we were bum rushing the entire experience and here he is actually, 'participating' in the filmmaking process.
Actors Frank Adonis, Joseph Bono and Frank Vincent in RAGING BULL / Image Courtesy of United Artists
The first, 'adjustment,' we notice, is when Martin Scorsese moves an extra on the right hand side of the scene from visibility. The man is dressed to the nines, in suit and hat. This is a crowd scene with thousands of people. At any one time, the camera is taking in from twelve to twelve hundred people. This is Mr Scorsese as a master oil painter, creating a giant fresco, placing each individual exactly where he wants them, every now and then, within the single take, an individual character may express an action that will end up on the screen for maybe a second or two. An older, portly man in the hallway, reaches out to Jake outside his dressing room, a middle aged man in a mustache, turns to his left while Jake passes by, clapping, a young woman cheers Jake on as he turns to the left towards the ring. When my father calls over one of the crew members and inquires about the particular change of position, the man simply looks at my dad, then looks at me, then gets on the talkie and finds out. A few minutes later, he comes over to inform us that the well dressed man is in an outfit that resembles one of the main characters and could be confusing to the overall film. This is the first of several inquiries that alerts the crew that either one of Marty's close pals is in the audience or a renegade security guard with kid in tow is taking notes. For now, we are still flying under the radar. We do the scene again, this time, the camera is in front of Jake, the sound of the arena is deafening. This is the moment, in the story & script, where Jake LaMotta finally gets the title fight he deserves. After several editing techniques of a wide variety, mostly, extremely fast and short clips, his shot at the title is pronounced, with this extended, single take and in the final film, it works out beautifully.
Joe Pesci and Nicholas Colasanto, The Neighborhood Don in in RAGING BULL / Image Courtesy of United Artists
We break for lunch. The entire auditorium is practically full with thousands of extras and somehow, my dad is able to situate me right next to Robert DeNiro. To this day, I still don't know how he did that, but I have a few ideas why. All these years later, looking back on that very important day in my life, I can see clearly that he wanted me to have the opportunities that existed here in Hollywood. As it turns out, he was a natural born bum rusher, who, on several occasions had done this type of thing before. One example, that stands out, is the time he got backstage at a concert and handed Waylon Jennings a tape with a bunch of songs he had written with his cousin. I should also say here that my old man was definitely a gambler, but he also had talent, he wrote poetry, painted, he knew music very well, was a master craftsman, he had charisma and the gift of gab, he was handsome and had a great heart, but to me, back then, he was simply the guy I had lived with, that my mom had loved, since I was six months old. That said, here I am, eating lunch with a silent Robert DeNiro, who is donned in hood and robe, no one else dared to sit at that table. While I am chowing down with Bobby, my old man is chatting up the crew, he's, no doubt, getting that high that can easily be had when on the set of a great film, probably doesn't even realize it. I look up and he is now talking to the real life Jake LaMotta, getting his autograph, introducing me to people, we are no longer, under the radar. After lunch, a crew member stops by and explains that because I am not an adult, and there are no tutors on the set, the law requires that half day rules apply to actors under eighteen and so, we will not be able to stay for the full day. My old man tries for a second or two to appease and convince, then realizes, ultimately, that we have already succeeded, it has been a great day at the roulette wheel of life. We walk back to our car and drive home. Ten years later, I buy my first film camera, write my first screenplay & produce my first short film. The screenplay is a finalist for the Sundance Film Festival's writers workshop and the short film wins nominations elsewhere.
Academy Award © Winning Actor Robert DeNiro as Jake "The Bronx Bull" LaMotta in RAGING BULL / United Artists
Raging Bull, as a film, is ahead of it's time. The critics, who had, just a few years earlier, lauded Sylvestor Stallone's, 'Rocky' as a winning, feel good boxing film, did not know what to do with a film as brutally honest and unapologetic as Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. The film was actually, a project that Robert DeNiro had been working on, for quite some time. After the success of The Deerhunter and Godfather II, he was able to put projects together which suited his goals and challenged the audience. For the first time in film history, an actor had gained a record amount of pounds, to play a character in a 'later in life' sequence, setting the bar several notches higher for techniques utilizing one's physique. Even the best film critics are not quite ready for the honesty of Martin Scorsese. America wanted another feel good film about boxing, and what it got, was a stark, reality based film that exposed the brutality, realism and masochism that surrounded Jake LaMotta's life. Not to mention the art house aspect of filming the entire project, with the exception of a few color home movies, in classic black and white. A bold, artistic decision that has, since then, garnered "Raging Bull" the reverence and deep respect of film lovers and cinema creators around the world. All one needs to do is study the film stills and camera work of Michael Chapman to realize why this film is a work of Art on almost every level. Even the sound design is especially mesmerizing, specifically how each crucial punch, in every single fight scene, is given a special mix of audio effect. It is a mesmerizing work of art and a testament to great cinema, without a doubt. At that years Academy Awards © Ceremony, Robert DeNiro walks up the isle, people are cheering, they reach out to him, applaud his performance and he gladly accepts the Oscar Award for Best Actor. Although my dad is unable to read this, I would like to thank him, Marty, Bobby and the Academy: We Made IT.
HERB RITTS
25 YEARS:NOW A CLASSIC
ON VIEW NOW THROUGH TO NOVEMBER 8, 2015
The Herb Ritts catalogue is now over twenty-five years young. A recent Exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts gives us a chance to reassess the work of a fundamentally commercial photographer who wanted dearly to shatter the worlds perceptions of Art, Commerciality and Fashion. He had access to the worlds best models, personalities and locations and through it all, had the simplicity and potency to create iconic imagery that harkened back to the earliest days of photography. In looking at The HERB RITTS catalogue, we can see the influence of another great American photographer, Walker Evans, whose work was first celebrated 50 years before Herb Ritts would go onto create some of his most exemplary images that actually defined the times he lived in. Although Walker Evans subjects included the downtrodden and the disparaged, due to the very struggles that occurred economically in the 1930s, Ritts takes that clean, straight ahead style and points his camera at celebrities and clothing in the way that Evans might document a wrench or a trowel. The excesses of The 1980s allowed Ritts, budgets and portfolio commissions, that to this day, seem extreme. And yet, he filtered it down into something very basic, taking a creative note from the architect Mies Van Der Rohe's ever famous quote: "Less IS More."
Considering other influences, we must also mention photographers such as Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz who had both fought a tedious battle to affirm that photography, in the hands of an artist, could indeed be an 'art' and that the by product of this new instrument called a camera, was indeed an Art-form which could rival and compare to great paintings created by great painters and therefore photographs could, should and would be considered: a great art.
The very fact that Herb Ritts' work is now residing within the walls of an institute such as The Boston Museum of Fine Art is a testament to those early battles.It is often said that an object becomes valuable and collectible at its 25 year mark. Many of the images in this exhibition were valuable the day they were taken, but we can also see, with that mellowing, like a good whiskey in the barrel, that yes indeed, The Herb RITTS Portfolio is gathering a value that is now vintage value and all the while his works are earthy, sleek, deceivingly simple & purely classic.
Madonna, Tokyo Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) 1987 Photograph, gelatin silver print
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Herb Ritts © Herb Ritts Foundation
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Mick Jagger, London, 1987 by Photographer Herb RITTS at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1.Naomi Campbell, Face in Hand, Hollywood, 1990 2. Backflip, Paradise Cove, 1987 3. Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen, Long Island, 1987 Images Related to this Bureau Article : Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Herb Ritts © Herb Ritts Foundation Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
image: Guest Artist Irby Pace Courtesy of Gallerie Urbane
SO MANY ROADS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD
By Joshua TRILIEGI
David Browne has written a grand opus of a book on, of all things, the greatest rock & roll accident that has ever occurred: The Grateful Dead. No other band in Rock & Roll history can be compared to 'The Dead,' as they have been commonly known by fans and professionals alike. From the early days in Palo Alto California to the later days across the entire world, Mr. Browne has fashioned an exhaustively researched book into an easily readable tome of sorts. The writer for Rolling Stone magazine has taken an original and interesting approach and given us a portrait of the band through a very straight forward concept that fits well with his style, his experience and his day job, writing about music in digestible amounts. Mr. Browne breaks down the careers and characters that make up the Dead, from start to finish, by simply creating complete and utter portraits of various days in the life of The Grateful Dead. Days in which Mr Browne felt that a significant window into the soul of the band could be glimpsed. It is a smart concept considering that Mr. Browne was not an insider. He did not tour with the band, so he was well aware that this book would not compare, nor did he wish to compete with the previous books which have preceded this fine piece of history. Through his research methods, which seem to be exemplary, without all the show off style that can sometimes leave a bitter taste in the reader, and his experience at Rolling Stone magazine, Browne takes us into the forming of the band, their many transformations and delivers portraits of each member with the greatest care and delicacy available. Its a complex story, told with an exacting style.
By the fifth page of The Prologue, the reader is hooked. I personally cannot think of a more easy reading style, chocked with so many actual facts, insights and observations in a very long, long time. Sometimes his acuity is just as strange and off the cuff as the formulas and elements that make up The Grateful Dead's original and one of a kind style of music. For instance, Jerry Garcia's early concerns and fears regarding the Cuban missile crisis in America is a real eye opener, which on first impression seems slightly heavy handed, but upon consideration of Garcia's age and experience, entirely fitting. Browne interviewed surviving members, had access to The Grateful Dead Archive in Santa Cruz as well as a multitude of interviews directly from his office job at Rolling Stone magazine. But he didn't stop there, apparently there has been more literature in connection with the Grateful Dead than one would ever imagine. From sources as diverse as Tom Wolf'e, Electric Kool - Aid Acid Test, written in 1968 to the source that broke Watergate, The Washington Post. Everyone has seemingly spent some time ruminating on the indescribable elements that make up the iconic sound that originated such classic pillars of Rock & Roll History like, Truckin', Casey Jones & Uncle John's Band. Mr. Browne has received attention previously for writing about, brace yourself: The 'Importance' of John Tesch. Lets not hold that against him, maybe, like The Grateful Dead, he was intoxicated or simply mixing and matching inspiration and improvisation. Either way, this author has delved deep down into the facts, the myths and the fiction surrounding Garcia and his band of bad boy compadre's and has surfaced with a nice read that newcomers as well as hardcore fans will surely dig. Mr. Brown has also written about: Sonic Youth, Jeff Buckley and James Taylor. As a writer who occasionally hitchhiked to and from preschool in Northern California, with my mom, and on more than one occasion received rides home from members of The Dead: I wholeheartedly approve of this
book. Now available on Da Capo Press. Worth every dollar spent on the 482 pages it offers readers.
CHICAGO EVENTS SUMMER 2015
The CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL : June 12 - 14, 2015 Grant Park FREE The largest free blues festival in the world and remains the largest of Chicago's Music Festivals. During three days on five stages, more than 500,000 blues fans prove that Chicago is the "Blues Capital of the World." Past performers include Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, B. B. King, the late Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and the late Koko Taylor.
The SHEFFIELD Music Festival & Garden Walk : July 18 & 19, 2015 Sponsored by the Sheffield Neighborhood Association (SNA), a non-profit community organization. The "Summer's Best Festival" features self-guided tours of more than 80 Gardens, guided Architectural Tours, live entertainment by some of Chicago's and North America's finest bands, food and drink, and activities for children at the Kids' Corner. http://www.sheffieldgardenwalk.com/
The CHICAGO TRIATHLON : AUGUST 30, 2015 : The new bike course will allow Elite participants the ability to start first, providing unobstructed space along previously congested Lake Shore Drive.The swim is held in Monroe Harbor, with the start line at Balbo Dr. and Lake Shore Drive. International swimmers first head south, swimming parallel to the sea wall.The run course begins at the grass reserve just south of Randolph. http://www.chicagotriathlon.com/
ANDY WARHOL IS IN ARIZONA !
How a genuinely curious and simply child-like Individual took over the entire Art World… Is Probably how I would begin a story describing Andy's entire career and trajectory into and then out of the stratosphere of Culture. He used genuine experiences, friendships, new technologies, interest's and even phobia's to reflect on and represent what he saw, but most of all, he used and honored: the experiment. Willing to fail but determined to succeed and sometimes achieving both concurrently. A personal failure could easily become a professional championship win in Warhol's World. A professional failure could lead to personal triumphs. Andy used the world and the world's inhabitants returned the favor. The Story of Andy Warhol can never be told in a single sitting, nor should it be. All good artist's should simply be viewed one image at a time. That is the nature of art and artists, stories and writers, photographs and photographers, musicians and music: One word, One Note, One Image at a time is as ample a device as any to experience what need be.
ALL ART IMAGES: Courtesy of The PHOENIX ART MUSEUM and The Andy Warhol Museum,
Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Phoenix Art Museum 1625 N. Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85004
Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Phoenix Art Museum 1625 N. Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85004
TAP TO VISIT MUSEUM EXHIBIT / ANDY WARHOL PORTRAITS at : phxart.org
What is Sacred ? What is Holy ? What is Original ? What is American ? They tell me that Football, McDonalds & The Automobile are American. Although, the only thing that seems to me that is holy, sacred, original and also American is: The Native American. The original ecologists, with a deep understanding of the natural sciences, including astronomy, keeping time, recording natural and spiritual occurrences in regards to evolution. They are the storytellers and record keepers in tune with nature, animals and the planet earth. We are Americans and we are now out of balance. We are struggling with our identity, as a country, as a people and beyond that, as human beings. How will we make peace with one another ? How will we solve the riddles of our history ? In 1492, "Columbus sailed the ocean blue…" 500+ years later, we are left in the dark, regarding race relations, regarding peaceful understanding of our diverse lifestyles, regarding the history of Slavery, regarding how we all speak different languages, regarding our different religions and the fact that all our official political representatives have boiled down each and every argument into a request and or a bequest of financial gain or loss. We are in denial, ecologically, ideologically and in general. Native Americans lost much of this great land and what it meant to them, they sacrificed and they survived. Will we as modern day Americans also experience a similar take over of this Beautiful Country by handing it over to Big Business ? What will be left in the aftermath ? Take a look around, I have a sneaking suspicion that it's happening now or maybe it already did.
ROBERT FRANK: VISUAL POET
Photographers around the world revere Robert Frank's contributions to the image pool. Museums of the National and International variety create anthologies, catalogues and booklets attempting to put into perspective the precise importance of Mr. Frank's work. Art galleries and private dealers invest tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in reproducing and reselling the Robert Frank catalogue to new collectors at higher and higher prices each year. Robert Frank's photographs have become iconic, the images are American to the core and yet, he was an outsider, a beatnik, an immigrant, a visual poet. It is almost impossible to define why and what and how the impetus, the formula, the motivation surfaces within an individual artist, but within the example of Mister Robert Frank, it is safe to say that this honest man, with a most basic and unadorned tool in hand, was indeed on a quest for that rare and delectable entity known quite simply, plainly & rather straightforwardly as: The TRUTH.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Robert Frank travelled the United States in search of America and Americans: he found both. Seeking the truth, leads to knowledge, with knowledge comes responsibility, with responsibility comes wisdom and somewhere within the wisdom, sits some version of truth. What if the truth you find has something in it that is just the slightest bit askew ? What if your parents fled a dictator for a place that was safe and secure and then you were to gamble all that away for a place that spoke of a much larger idea and when you went out to find that idea, it didn't actually exist ? Like many immigrants, like my ancestors and many of your ancestors, we as a people came to discover America and quickly, we realized that America didn't really exist in the way we thought it did. Within that realization also comes a comprehension that although America is not everything we were told, it is now ours and as Americans, we can collectively & individually make a contribution, and in that offering, in that very active step forward into our lives, we make America what it is: You and me. Frank turned his eye on America and took its picture. He did not flinch, he did not turn away, he did not judge, he did not separate, he did not categorize, he did not modify, he did nothing but document, and in that study and within his vignettes, his so-called snap shots, something quite real surfaced, it expounded well beyond the veneer and eventually he found what many of us can only hope to fathom: Mister Robert Frank had simply discovered America & made it his own. He was not the first to, 'discover,' America. Columbus had discovered America in 1492. Washington and his boys followed suit and decided they liked the place more than they did their own homes. Who could blame them ? This place is awesome. The big difference with Robert Frank's discovery is that he did not conquer, nor did he enslave, he just simply captured the image and after all: image is everything. When America actually viewed it's own portrait shortly after World War II and in the decade to follow, it was somewhat shocked at the signs of poverty, the segregation, the somewhat disheveled look. The melting pot of life had seen it's own reflection and turned away, blaming the mirror. The Portrait of America and Americans by Mr. Robert Frank has gone onto have a lasting effect on the populist, the politics, the entire cultural landscape, which in the mid fifties was about to undergo a major shift in values. These images of America immediately influenced an entire generation of writers, artists and activists that had both preceded and coincided with this very new and emerging America. A recent exhibition presented by The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University unveiled many works from Mr. Frank's famous AMERICANS Series that had never been publicly displayed.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
At seventeen years of age, Frank learns to develop and print photographs with a neighbor who also introduces him to modern art, the apprenticeship lasted a year. At about this same time, fascism and the rise of Hitler's influence in Germany, where his family emigrated from, his father is German, his mother Swiss, effected the young man's perspectives. Frank, who was of Jewish descent, surely knew, growing up in Sweden, that he was different. His parents were both culturally astute, his father could quote Goethe in two languages, his mother created drawings. When a cousin of Frank's came to visit, her parents, who had stayed behind were eventually victims of the holocaust. The memories of Frank's parents recoiling from the sound of Hitler's hatred remained with him forever. In 1942, Robert Frank studied at Wolgensinger studio in Zurich, where he became influenced by the New Photography and an ethic that, in his teacher's own words, "Photography is the representation of reality - its mission is to convey essence, form and atmosphere." Frank learns to light, print and organize his works as well as contact sheet his 2 1/4 negatives. Two years later, he lands a job developing works for the largest photo studio in Switzerland, by day, he prints their work, by night, he prints his own. By 1946 Frank produces an impressive portfolio entitled, simply 40 Fotos. With the end of World War II, he travels to Paris, Milan and Brussels and by 1947, with a rebellious streak of independence and stories of American culture engrained in his psyche by literature and world events, Mr. Frank boards a ship to America. He recalls sitting between a wild, gangster-hatted American who eats with his hands and a Bishop with rosary and red sash: a scene straight out of a movie. Frank briefly worked for Harper's and a year later, he travelled to Peru and Bolivia. By 1949, he was back in Europe traveling to Spain, France, Italy and later that year is published in Camera magazine, with a prophetic declaration, "We believe Robert Frank can teach us how to see …"
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Robert Frank travelled between Europe and America several times in the early nineteen fifties. He married, had a child, applied for and received a Guggenheim grant & drove across the United States documenting a very real America. He had already captured iconic images in England, Scotland, Peru and Spain, including top hatted Londoners, coal miners in Whales, workers in LaPaz, bullfighters in Barcelona. He was now in search of the American image, outside of the big cities, rural America. It is fitting that the author of, "On The Road," Jack Kerouac and Robert Frank would eventually collaborate on a film. Kerouac also wrote the preface to Frank's seminal mid fifties survey work that was eventually published in 1958, entitled simply, "The Americans." Mr. Franks entry into America in 1947 and his many travels coincided exactly with author Kerouac's own pursuit and invention of a New Prose language in America. It was the perfect alignment. Frank's search for the truth in images, his abhorrence of commercial situations, where he quickly realized that, "There was no spirit there … the only thing that mattered was to make money," was in total unison with the emerging beatnik movement. Which eventually led to the cultural revolution and a new generation of values that included women's rights, civil rights and alternative lifestyles. Frank was also very much in line with the new school of painting that had taken hold by the likes of New York action painter Jackson Pollock, who had graced the cover of time in 1947, the year Frank first arrived in America. He states, regarding the new found style, after a conscious exodus from his New York commercial assignments, "I was very free with the camera. I didn't think of what would be the correct thing to do. I did what I felt like doing. I was like an action painter… I was making a kind of diary."
The tools Frank selects become even simpler when he begins using a point and shoot 35mm Leica, suggested by his boss and mentor at Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch, rather than his 2 1/4 inch box camera. It is very possible that Robert Frank was one of the few modern photographers to be fully conscious of his intuition, utilizing a philosophy of following one's heart as opposed to one's mind. The 35mm camera made this very particular and personal transition that much easier. Frank was also very aware of the myths that had surrounded photography since World War II, with the adventurous roving journalist tradition of photographers such as Robert Capa, who later co-founded Magnum Photo Agency, the first agency to be run by and for photographers. There were times in Frank's early career when lack of sales and rejection from the large magazine publications only fueled his motivation. He strived to break free of the style, story concept and basic mainstream presentation of imagery that pervaded the publishing industry: the beginning, middle & end formulas that LIFE magazine so heartily represented. Frank began to present his layouts and book design works without many words or narration and juxtaposing images such as Christ on the cross with a Ballon at a parade, titled : Men of Wood & Men of Air. Though, even more effective and minimalist are images presented with no text at all and no image juxtaposed, simply an image on one page and a blank page next to it. In this way, Robert Frank elevated the conversation by allowing the viewer to do some thinking, to read the symbols, to project themselves into the image and decide for themselves what was going on. By doing so, he also added a much needed element that had been missing from the photography of the nineteen fifties, Mr. Frank brought back a sense of curiosity to photography and in doing so, he created a new visual poetry with various meanings to each viewer.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
No Less than ten minutes into the documentary entitled, "Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank," Mr. Frank rejects the films process, unveiling a glimpse into his very true character as a kind of idiosyncratic jazz purist. Up to this point in the film, the filmmaker's have decided to do a, 'connect the dots' biographical take, asking Mr. Frank to discuss and recall all the known biographical facts that have been so well explored before in books and catalogues, such as the very detailed essays by Sarah Greenough of The National Gallery of Art in Washington D. C. where much of Frank's photographic work resides for future study. These biographical essays can also be found in the very extensive book entitled, "ROBERT FRANK Moving Out" on Scalo Press. In the middle of a question and answer session, Mr. Frank is asked to repeat an earlier observation, because the film crew had actually run out of film. He responds with a fiery exchange: "Well, look, forget it. Look, I'm not an actor, you know. I can't go through this shit, you know. I mean… theres no spontaneity in this, it's completely against my nature what's happening here. So, if the crew can't get it together with the film, let's go out to Coney Island, lets play a Beckett play there and lets look at the landscape with my photographs and see that this man is looking for something he did fifty years ago." In the next shot of the film, Mr Frank is seen on the street in Coney Island asking a cop on a horse, "Sir, do you know where this is ? I took this picture almost fifty years ago," The cop answers, "No, I don't know." Mr Frank turns to the camera in response, "Let's find a real old guy, he would know." Suddenly we get some authenticity and a peek into what it Is that Robert Frank does so well: He connects with real people. Eventually, a young african american man points out the location, "It was right there," he points across the way, "So then, you knew it as a kid ?" Frank asks and the young man answers, "Yeah." There is a very heart felt parting glance, Franks says, "Thanks a lot." Then, suddenly, the young man reaches out his hand and Mr. Frank grabs the young man's wrist, their eyes meet and they relate. It's a small, yet beautiful moment where two strangers have connected. We get the sense that
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Mr. Frank's pictures, his early and entire catalogue were also indeed created with this special human need, for a man, alone with his art and his ideas, to connect with his people, with his immediate surroundings and with the world at large. At another point in the documentary, Mr Frank is riding a bus, looking out the window, recalling an earlier series of works taken from the windows of moving buses. He looks out the window quietly reminiscing in a solitary manner. As an admirer of Mr. Frank and his work, to watch him with no camera in his hands, was literally, for me, quite painful. When a human being you love turns ninety years of age, as Mr. Frank currently has, it is high time to celebrate his life, his work, his experiences. It is also time to ensure that this human being has everything he needs, that he knows how very well loved, well respected and well deserving he is of life's gifts. When both of my Grandfather's had turned ninety, I dropped everything I was doing and focused on them, we made documentary films together, we created images, we conducted interviews, we ate together, we discussed their lives, we set the story straight. Now, both of those men no longer walk the earth, they have moved on to another world. As I look at Robert Frank's world of images, as I look at Robert Frank's life, as I look at Robert Frank's experience at my own 'middle age', I get invigorated, I get inspired, I get turned on to life again and a new phase of creating begins. The power of the Individual is awe inspiring. Very few singular Artists, Writers or Filmmakers have set the bar to a new standard in the way in which Mr. Robert Frank has done. He is stubbornly passionate, defiantly individualistic, decidedly authentic, unabashedly truthful, culturally curious and it is very safe to say that Mr. Robert Frank did not sell out. He influenced and continues to influence The Arts, Advertising, Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers and of course photography, every single decade since his first appearing on theses shores. He is a living legend and most likely, he would shun that appraisal. Which is neither here nor there, the fact is, he did his job, the images remain, end of story.
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
ROBERT FRANK
VISUAL POET : In His Words
ON PHOTOGRAPHS: "I like images and so to make images became kind of natural."
ON PARIS: "I never really had a concept for something. It was really the intuition before I really saw it. So, Paris was very good for me.
ON LONDON: "It was wonderful, because, they didn't pay any attention to you. Which, today, they would tell you to fuck off or turn away, you know."
ON NEW YORK CITY: "New York is a very good city, wherever you look around, it has a character. and you know, It isn't a pretty life, it isn't a sweet life, it's, it's the real life, that I looked for, and that I got.
ON AMERICA: "In America I wanted to do it differently. There was no more romanticism really, a look at a country that I didn't really know, I had only been here a couple of years. The Americans was the first time I made a trip across the country… I really felt something very strong from the people. I looked at poor people, how they tried to survive, what a lonely time it can be in America, what at a tough country it is."
ON EARLY INFLUENCES: "You grow up in a place and the culture of that place or your parents or your situation, it influences you. There was a war going on, Switzerland was a place that was closed off from everywhere, you couldn't get out and you were afraid that the nazi's would invade … so of course, it had an influence on a jew."
ON RACE RELATIONS: "Also, I saw for the first time the way blacks were treated, it was surprising to me, but it didn't make me hate America, it made me understand how people can be. You know, you learn a lot traveling and you learn a lot when you are a photographer and thats what probably what makes the difference, if you have some brain and some feeling for people, you are going to be a good photographer."
ON PERCEPTION OF HIS IMAGES: "The reaction surprised me, because people thought it was an anti-American story, so then, it took ten years till that changed, but I do like America, so I became an American and thats what I know best."
ON CREATING PICTURES : "The Pictures have to talk, not me, and so be it."
All Photos © Robert Frank / Courtesy of The Stanford University and The Cantor Arts Center
Mr Robert Frank is Represented by The PACE / MacGILL Gallery In New York City N.Y. USA
Mr Robert Frank's Images are Archived in The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. USA
The PAINTER: GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Georgia O'Keeffe, as a person, was precocious, defiant, intelligent, unwavering and spirited. Throughout her education and early years as a painter, she produced an original abstractionist style that had preceded a group of New York painters of the male variety that has, to this day, remained wholly original, breathtakingly expansive and sexually charged in a way that empowers feminine energy and iconography. O'Keeffe rejected analysis of her works from start to finish, from her early years in New York, to her later years in The West, everyone seemed to get it wrong. So then, let us look again at the paintings and life of Ms. Georgia O'Keeffe and see if we can put this incredible body of work into a new and contemporary context with a fresh eye and revisionist look at this phenomenally bold American.
THE BUREAU ICON : GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Georgia O'Keeffe is born in Wisconsin in 1887 to Irish - Hungarian parents. By the time her years equal her fingers, she discovers art. Early study of watercolors leads to college, art school in Chicago and the Arts Student League in New York City. She recalled, later in life, "I only remember two things that I painted in those years - a large bunch of purple lilacs and some red and yellow corn." Subjects and colors she would return to throughout her life. By her twentieth year, she is awarded prizes and still seems to reject the praise, due mostly to the fact that her art education seems to reward technique over originality. Adding, in those later reflections, "… I never did like school." While in New York, she and a group of fellow students visit the progressive Art Gallery, 291, eight years later, her own drawings will land in the hands of 291's founder, Alfred Stieglitz, who will become one of her greatest friends, confidants and legally, her husband. In the interim, Georgia O'Keeffe quits painting for four years straight, then, at the University of Virginia and later while studying for a teachers credentials at Columbia College, she falls under the tutelage of Arthur Dow and is set free to pursue something new and wholly original. "I decided to start anew - to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true, my own thinking. This was one of the best times in my life. There was no one around to look at what I was doing - no one interested - no one to say anything about it one way or another. I was alone and singularly free, working into my own, unknown - no one to satisfy, but myself." This particular statement is extremely important to the core of her character, as it displays O'Keeffe's disdain for any particular reactions to the work, either casually, by fellow artists or formally, by the art critics. As a woman who was decades ahead of her contemporaries, in terms of abstraction in both form and color as well as feminine energy personified freely and independently in an iconic manner: O'Keeffe took a beating by the critics. Some of the blame often falls on Alfred Stieglitz and his in depth photographic series of Ms. O'Keeffe in all her natural beauty as a young woman. Unfortunately, the public discovered Georgia O'Keeffe as the muse of an older male rebel on the front lines of intellectual battles which included, photography as art, the importance of european abstraction and American art as a whole, before they had gotten to discover the original paintings and watercolors of O'Keeffe as Artist. The timing was off and Ms. O'Keeffe, although celebrated on a national level in art circles, was also widely dismissed through the lens of new psychological trends that included the great Freudian fraud which attempted to minimize the feminine energy that Georgia O'Keeffe's work so boldly personified. Once again, from the beginning of time and written history, the female is minimized by rhetoric & ideology through the powers that be, when all along, Georgia O'Keeffe is actually winning the game. From the modern perspective of 2015, it is time to liberate O'Keeffe's eroticism.
O'Keeffe's journey into public notoriety had all started through a mutual friend in 1916 when Stieglitz famously receives a series of charcoal drawings by a young Miss O'Keeffe and immediately is smitten by the originality, the boldness and no doubt by the fact that the drawings are created by an American who is both young and female. He has seen nothing like it before and in a letter that is formally typed and mailed to O'Keeffe, he expresses his admiration. "What am I to say ? It is impossible for me to put into words what I saw and felt in your drawings. As a matter of fact I would not make any attempt to do so. I might give you what I received from them if you and I were to meet and talk about life. Possibly then, through such a conversation I might make you feel what your drawings gave me. I do want to tell you that they gave me great joy… If at all possible, I would like to show them." O'Keeffe would later describe the 291 gallery, "The things you saw at Stieglitz's place sent you off into the world, just like his conversations did… It was a place that helped you find your own road: It was the only place."
"The things you saw at Stieglitz's place sent you off into the world…"
Alfred Stieglitz and his artistic efforts had been on the verge of the vanguard since the early 1890s. In the beginning, through his own photography in New York City and later in Austria, Italy and Germany. His trips to Paris and his friendship with Edward Steichen had exposed him to the works of Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and Rodin, all of whom would later be exhibited at 291 Gallery. Culturally speaking, there was a fight for the new and Stieglitz had taken the side of The Moderns, "The search for the truth is my obsession." he describes, "The camera fascinated me and photography became my life." While many people enjoyed the new found art of the photograph, there were purists, such as Baudelaire, who hated photography. Although, at the same time, a new group of painters, also in search of truth on American soil, began to create a new type of painting, which became known as the Ashcan School, painters such as Bellows, Shin, Luks and Sloan, who did not shy away from everyday people, subjects and locations of the populist working class lifestyle.
Alfred Stieglitz walked the streets of New York from 1893 to 1895 capturing photographic images of everyday life. He came from a wealthy family, married into another wealthy family & soon found incompatibility, he took refuge into photography. In 1902 Stieglitz started a magazine, opened a gallery and founded a new group of photographers with Edward Steichen called The Photo Secessionists, by it's very name and definition, it was a rebel act of separation from the norm and it began a steep and unsteady incline towards a peak of cultural defiance that would slowly lead upward to the very top. At the start, Alfred Stieglitz's fight was for photography as art and he indeed found supporters and subscribers. Eventually, he began to fight for modernism at all levels, which included much of the art from the newest and most outrageous European painters. In 1907, while on a ship headed for Europe, Stieglitz has an epiphany through a photographic image that, as he describes was, "A Step in my own Evolution."
Georgia O'Keeffe Pedernal with Red Hills 1936 oil on linen, 19 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches. Collection of the New Mexico M.O.A Bequest of Helen Miller Jones
While in Paris, Alfred Stieglitz photographs Rodin, he views Cezanne's new cubist watercolors and Picasso's paintings, including, "Madame's De Avegnons." A year later, in 1908, his exhibition of the sculptor Rodin's drawings causes a stir by their very nature and erotic simplicity, again, he is ahead of the pack and slowly loses the photographic subscribers who originally supported 291 Gallery and the magazine. In 1911, Stieglitz's Gallery is the first American gallery to exhibit the drawings of Pablo Picasso.
"Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Gallery is the first American gallery to exhibit the drawings of Pablo Picasso"
The public reaction to Picasso's new modernist and primitive approach is abhorrent and with only a single sale, Stieglitz felt obliged to purchase a work himself. His magazine, "Camera Work," was the very first to publish the writings of Gertrude Stein, who would go onto become a modernist wonder of literature and a champion of Picasso's work around the world. Then in 1913, The New York City Armory Show pierces the veil of modernism and justifies many of Alfred Stieglitz's prior decisions. Soon he realizes that the struggle for American Art is lagging behind the europeans and his next cultural battle is for the validity of an American modernist art form by American artists.
Why all this history, you wonder ? I thought this was an article about Georgia O'Keeffe, you ask ? Yes, dear reader, it is, but to comprehend the importance of the beauty, the freedom and the defiant nature of Ms. O'Keeffe's work, you must first understand the fight that preceded her grand entry and the very importance of the simple fact that Georgia O'Keeffe was a very solid American woman with ideas and images stirring inside her imagination that would come into existence and be related directly with a man that had been searching for just such an ideal for over a decade.
"Everyone began talking about the search for… The Next Great American Thing."
When Stieglitze found Georgia O'Keeffe, he had found: "The Great American Thing." As Georgia O'Keeffe herself had described time and time again, looking back at those heady times, "Everyone began talking about the search for the next Great American Novel, the next Great American Poem, the next Great American Painting, The next Great American Thing." Well, my dear readers, I am very happy to inform you that Georgia O'Keeffe not only filled that void, she had been working on the equation, without actually defining it as such, from the time she was ten years old. Now she was twenty-nine years old, had been discovered by Stieglitz and was about to take center stage.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) Yellow Cactus, 1929 Oil on canvas, 30x42 in. Dallas Museum of Art Texas. Courtesy Colorado Springs FAC
The world of the 1920s and it could be argued, that the world of today, is a male dominated world, where woman are subjugated to second class citizenship. Georgia O'Keeffe along Steiglitz's other contemporary painters including John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Arthur Dove helped to define a new and original abstract form in painting that had never, ever, been expressed before. Ms. O'Keeffe did not copy, she did not follow, she did not supplicate, she Invented a whole new 'Thing' and it had all been based on her inner life, her female power, her very sexual and erotic nature.
"The Interesting thing about O'Keeffe is her ability to learn from the Steiglitz gang and the opposing faction of artists commonly called the precisionists ..."
It was new, it was beautiful, it was bold, it was sensual, it was exciting, it was tempestuous, it was authentic, it was avant-garde, it was unblemished, it was purely Georgia O'Keeffe and above all: It was a New American Art Form. The Interesting thing about O'Keeffe is her ability to learn from the Stieglitz gang and the opposing faction of artists commonly called the precisionists group, which culled inspiration from factories, architecture & machinery, leading the way into modern pop such as Andy Warhol's work. O'Keeffe's work includes both a very personal inner emotional and naturally inspired oeuvre and a very precise and overall interest in architecture & modernism. She won by simply using techniques, ideas and methods that did not devote themselves to any school or group.
Pelvis IV, 1944 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on Masonite 36 x 40 (91.4 x 101.6) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
But not so fast, there is still so much to say, so much more to explain, this is really just the beginning and yet, due to O'Keeffe's consistency, in both style and technique, the works she will produce, from 1918, when she moves to New York, up to her big abstract art exhibition in 1923, compare, very much in power, in expression and in composition with the works she will produce for the rest of her life: Amazingly so. Georgia O'Keeffe the artist, was seldom in search of a style, if anything she had abandoned her own original approach briefly, only to return to it and then held steadfast to what has now become the O'Keeffe method, with a clearly recognizable iconic brand in todays contemporary world of art. Her move from teaching in Texas to living with Stieglitz in New York happened relatively easily and her adjustment to the big city, where she had briefly studied was seamless. Having been promised by Alfred Stieglitz that she could work for a year straight, without interruption, the original vow had turned into the pledge of an entire lifetime. Though, there were times when his photographic objectification not only was a hinderance to her personal space, it did ultimately damage her perception in the public's eye and personally, she was hurt by the mainstream reaction, especially by the critics. Two years prior to her one person abstract exhibit, Stieglitz displayed 145 new photo works, many of them were of his new muse and lover, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1945 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 36 1/8 x 48 1/8 (91.8 x 122.2) ) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
The images of O'Keeffe are comparable, in modern times, to that of, say, a celebrity power couple such as Jay-Z and Beyonce'. The sexualization of Georgia O'Keeffe had begun. Lets remember, this is by no means the 1930s with Clara Bow or the 1940s with Greta Garbo or the 1950s with Marilyn Monroe or the 1960s with Bridgette Bardot or the 1970s with Raquel Welch or the 1980s with Madonna or the 1990s with Sharon Stone or the 2000s with What's - her - name: This is 1921. On top of that, we are talking about a very serious artist, not a broadway showgirl, not a singer, not an actress, an intellectual visual artist who, in the words of Arthur Dove, one of the male painters in the Stieglitz art gallery stable, "…Is Actually Doing What All The Guys are Trying to Do." O'Keeffe's Abstract Art show is more than impressive, but due to the harsh criticisms, she gives up abstraction for the next few years and switches to representational objects. Though, her choice of subjects such as fruit and flowers is a rather subtle change. If we look closely at the psychology behind this maneuver, we can see that it was entirely calculated and was actually a bold move toward flipping the script on the subjective mind-scape that had pervaded the times via Freudian theories that were trendily in vogue. By creating representational works that still contained a fierce and even blatantly sexually charged nature, Georgia O'Keeffe was tempting critics to fall on their own swords. The critics had originally tried to intimate that she was a sensual animal, expressing her hidden desires through her paintings. Two years later, when O'Keeffe showed up with pears, apples, flowers and the like, all incredibly and beautifully rendered, with the definite possibility of being interpreted as orifice - like shapes and feminine curves that one might taste or touch, she had set a trap for the critics and still marched on into the next sixty years doing exactly as she had from the very start.
Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur, 1930 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 30 1/8 x 40 (76.5 x 101.6) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
On the one hand, O'Keeffe had won the battle, on the other hand, we still must wonder what might have been, had the critics not been so foul. It seems that in Georgia O'Keeffe's very nature, there was a sly, humorous, independent human being with a philosophical bent that took each challenge, like a boxer might take a rap on the chin, she simply shook her head and got right back in the ring. A year later, Stieglitz handed her a different type of ring and the two began a journey that would last up until his death in 1949, he was twenty-three years her senior. Many years after his death, O'Keefe described their relationship in the simplest of terms, "I was interested in what he did and he was interested in what I did: Very Interested." Decades later, Georgia O'Keeffe had also taken a much younger lover and partner, shocking those around her and creating the same type of stir that had originally started her career in the first place. Her life had come full circle. Georgia O'Keeffe's first visit to New Mexico in 1929, five years after their marriage, started a new love affair with the landscape, which included annual summer stays and eventually a permanent home that would provide an entirely new style, technique and viewpoint which harkened back to her earliest works, before the critics had tried to sexualize, demonize and project a nasty glaze over her very robust, sensually charged paintings that, to this day, will get just about anyone thinking about the beauty of love. If I find myself looking at an O'Keeffe for very long, well, there is no other way to put it, I get turned on. Anyone who says different is either sexless, afraid or most likely, simply too young or a virgin. O'Keeffe's images simply approve of passion, desire and the art of lovemaking. It is also safe to say that, were she alive today, O'Keeffe would most likely dismiss this entire analysis. The fact of the matter is, for a painter so, 'In Love with Color,' language, words and any verbal communication seemed almost rudimentary compared to the purity of visual expressions by a genius.
The BUREAU ICON : Georgia O'Keefe / Summer 2015 / Written By Joshua A. Triliegi
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GEORGIA O'KEEFE EXHIBITIONS AND RELATED LINKS
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM: Georgia O’Keeffe: Line, Color, Composition
May 8 – September 13, 2015 TAP THE LINK: www.okeeffemuseum.org
PHOENIX ART MUSEUM: From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism June 7—September 7, 2015 TAP THE LINK : phxart.org
FINE ARTS CENTER COLORADO SPRINGS: Eloquent Objects: Georgia O’Keeffe and
Still Life Art in New Mexico June 27 – Sept 13 2015 TAP THE LINK: csfineartscenter.org
SCHEINBAUM & RUSSEK LTD: Representing Photographs by Todd Webb & Myron Wood
TAP THE LINK : www.photographydealers.com
TACOMA ART MUSEUM: TAP THE LINK : www.TacomaArtMuseum.org
DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART : Georgia O'Keeffe in The Permanent Collection
TAP THE LINK : www.DMA.org
THE BUREAU CUISINE : PALM
The Palm Restaurants have been around since the early Nineteen Twenties, first in New York City and then the world. There are very few American establishments that can boast existing for three generations, being owned and operated by the Original Family and retaining a reputation with new trends in cuisine. Palm in Beverly Hills, their newest flagship, does all this and more.
We recently visited with Chef Pedro Inoscencio over dinner to discuss the Palm in Beverly Hills. The new space is an incredible improvement from the former location in West Hollywood. The Palm regulars will feel they have some spacious new breathing room, while newcomers will simply enjoy the vibe. Comfortable booths, high ceilings, private dining sections, a quiet table in the back, or front and center and a bar that has you easily chatting over the best cocktails money can buy. Many of the famous trademark celebrity artworks and drawings have been tastefully transferred to keep the original flavor intact as well as the tried and true recipes and yet, Chef Pedro Inoscencio, who has worked at Palm for twelve years, climbing the ladder, one rung at a time, is always looking for new ways to entice his budding clientele. Beverly Hills has always been about retaining a tried and true customer with new and consistently healthier recipes. Executive Chef Inoscencio knows very well, from experience, how to do so. "Food is really an Art," he explains over a glass of Fourteen Hands Merlot and a hearty salad made of baby kale, pine nuts, currants and romano cheese tossed in oil, dijon & lemon, "I found out early on, how much I actually enjoyed creating food and so, after working in the kitchen on a summer job, I went back to school and got a degree in the culinary arts." His first job out of school was with the Ritz Carlton, working with the best in the business inspired the young up and comer to continue honing his craft, that was over fifteen years ago and now he is at the top of his game. It's inspiring & a pleasure to discuss cuisine with the best in the biz.
CHEF: PEDRO INOSCENCIO
One of the newest aspects of Palm Beverly Hills is a returning original tradition of the freshest meat and steaks available by having an in-house butcher and closely watched aging process. Chef Inoscencio describes the advantages of this capability, while I simply marvel at and enjoy both the New York Steak and the local selections. "Everything is done in-house, drying and selecting here makes the end result much more tender. All of our meats are hand selected by the president of our company." One of the advantages of working in the culinary industry from entry level to Executive Chef, Inoscencio relates, is a deep comprehension of the entire business, "I appreciate everyone's job, because Iv'e done it, I know what it takes, I know how hard it is and I understand." It is this mix of humble know how and skilled expertise that makes Inoscencio someone special to Los Angeles. An example of Pedro's modest attitude would be the time he was offered Head Chef position and declined. "I simply wanted to learn every aspect of the management side, so I could be successful at the executive position, so, I turned it down." Luckily, Palm's management was patient enough until Inoscencio felt he had mastered his craft and some five years later, he was offered the job again, this time, he was ready. Pedro comes from a large family, he was born in Mexico and travelled to America at twelve years of age. The very fact that his position as Executive Chef has coincided with this new location makes this particular progression that much sweeter. We have to hand it to both the Palm's management for allowing and nurturing an entry level employee to work their way up to the top as well as Chef Pedro for waiting until he felt his time had come. Watching him walk from the kitchen to our table with the gravitas of a seasoned pro, one immediately observes, first hand what over fifteen years in this industry provides: Inoscencio simply belongs here."This new location in Beverly Hills has been a goal and dream come true to the owners of this company for a long time and to be offered this position at this location is an honor and I feel pretty proud of it." As he heads back into the kitchen, I walk into the bar, thinking to myself, "Someone very cool has just made it."
" I appreciate everyone's job, because Iv'e done it, I know what it takes, I know how hard it is and I understand. "
- Pedro INOSCENCIO
Executive Chef
PALM Beverly Hills
PALM RESTAURANT IN BEVERLY HILLS
267 N CANON DRIVE BEVERLY HILLS CA 90210 PHONE : 310 550 8811 FAX : 310 278 5334THEPALM.COM
INTERVIEW GUEST ARTIST: IRBY PACE
Joshua TRILIEGI: How did the idea for the Smoke series originally come about?
Irby PACE: I had the idea of starting this project a few years before leaving graduate school in 2012, but initiating the series always seemed to get pushed back because of other priorities I had at the time such as school, teaching, etc., but it stayed in my mind and in my sketchbook. Occasionally... weekly... monthly... I would go back through my sketchbook and just absorb or contemplate new ideas or revisit old ones, even the ones that failed. After graduate school I became part of an artist run collective, 500x, which inspired me to do something new from my previous artworks.
Starting any body of work is complicated, at least for me it is, because I have a specific visual image and I have to see it come to fruition before I can continue to explore within the given work. I failed with the Pop! series more times that I can count and I continue to do so. On average I make anywhere from four to five setups for every successful one final photograph. But this challenge keeps me motivated, I feel like I’m always fighting the elements, wind, lighting, etc.
Another challenge I wanted to explore was to do everything “through the lens.” This is what keeps me on edge and it makes it all of the hard work worth it when everything just lines up perfectly. With the work I was thinking like a painter and a photographer combined. I wanted to add these clouds to these physical spaces much like a painter would manipulate a space with oils or acrylics, but the photography makes it hyper realistic because it’s actually happening. It is in these small split second moments that I really truly live as a photographer.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Experimentation and hard work are always a big part of finding an original idea in modern art, your art catalogue shows clearly that you have earned your position and yet the smoke series seems so simple. Tell our readers a bit about your ' search ' for the art image.
Irby PACE: I, and other artists, live in a time where it is seemingly harder and harder to make an original piece of “art.” Yeah I know... that’s a trite statement. Its the mantra of undergrads and artists and everyone. Well, I can’t say everyone, but how about a majority of people. But, it is surprising to me how common that statement is. Even non artistic people say that, or at least I’ve heard a few here or there say that. Maybe the old adage that “everything has been done before” really is true. Maybe it’s bullshit. Maybe we need to move on from this self imposed pity party and start trying to make some original shit happen. But how do we do this? When I hear “nothing’s original” I step up on a soapbox and let them know that every new piece of technology that is being introduced daily has the potential to be an outlet for an art making practice, tool, etc.Experimentation is what makes this process difficult. We’re conditioned to make something “right” then to continue to rinse and repeat this process. But you have to take the time to deviate from the path, to try something new, and to be willing to fail. Failing isn’t necessarily desirable, but that’s my barometer to know when I’m on to something.
To Download The Entire INTERVIEW Tap This Link : SUMMER EDITION PACE:
BUREAU ART in AMERICA : TEXAS
Tap To Visit On Line: NasherSculptureCenter.org
DALLAS Art Pick : THE NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER
The Nasher Sculpture Center is located in the heart of Dallas’ thriving downtown Arts District. This summer, the Nasher Sculpture Center will present a major exhibition of the work of British sculptor Phyllida Barlow. Barlow employs commonplace materials—wood, plaster, concrete, cardboard, and strips of colorful cloth or tape—in extraordinary, monumental, ramshackle, hand-built structures that expound a dizzying array of novel sculptural forms. Recent projects at the Tate Britain in London and the New Museum in New York have showcased the prodigious talents of the now 70-year-old Barlow, who, after a distinguished teaching career at the Slade School of Art in London, is finally enjoying the broad international recognition her work has long deserved. Her exhibition at the Nasher will feature new work inspired by, and created for, the unique spaces of its galleries. Like several of Barlow’s recent projects, these new works will challenge accepted notions of sculpture, blurring the line between constructed form (sculpture) and constructed environment (architecture), and providing a powerful counterpoint to the refined surroundings of the Nasher’s Renzo Piano-designed building. More than simply a presentation of unique objects, the distinct sculptures in Barlow’s installations create a coherent, if varied, environment, linking to one another through materials, method of fabrication, or color palette. 2001 Flora Street Dallas, Texas 75201 214 . 242 . 5100
Shigeo Gochō, Self and Others Series, 1975–77, printed 1992, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum © Hiroichi Gochō
MUSEUM OF FINE ART HOUSTON TEXAS
The Museum of Fine Art Houston is home to The Films of Robert Frank as well as a fabulous permanent collection of Art and Temporary Exhibitions that rival any Art Institute across the United States. Currently on View through to July 12, 2015
FOR A NEW WORLD TO COME: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968–1979
The late 1960s and early 1970s marked a period of political and social turmoil in Japan. The country was struggling to forge a new identity on the world stage, and Japanese artists were seeking a medium that could adequately respond to these uncertain times. For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968–1979 explores in depth, for the first time, the role of photography in the formation of Contemporary art in Japan. 250 works: photographs, photo books, paintings, sculpture, and film-based installations. The unprecedented survey demonstrates how 29 Japanese artists and photographers enlisted the camera to make experimental and conceptual shifts in their artistic practices during a time of radical societal change.
Tap The Link to Visit: http://www.mfah.org
SUMMER OF 2015 EVENTS IN AUSTIN TEXAS
MONIKA SOSNOWSKA ART: The Stairs Opens MAY 10, 2015
On View at Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria
LAGUNA GLORIA 3809 WEST 35TH STREET AUSTIN, TEXAS 78703 512 458 8191
TAP TO VISIT: http://www.thecontemporaryaustin.org
The Republic of Texas Biker Rally June 11TH to June 14 2015
Travis County AUSTIN: Center & Sixth Street / The state's largest motorcycle Gathering of Bikers for rides, Parades and music. TAP TO VISIT: http://www.rotrally.com
The Austin Fourth of July Fireworks and Symphony
Auditorium Shores: The Austin Symphony hosts an annual concert of Patriotic Music
culminating in a spectacular fi rework display over Lady Bird Lake. www.roadwayevents.com
Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival August 23rd 2015
Fiesta Gardens : If you wanna beat the heat this summer then you gotta eat the heat! Join
The Austin Chronicle for one of the world's largest hot sauce festivals. www.austinchronicle.com
PHOTOGRAPHER: VICTORY TISCHLER BLUE
There are Rock Star Photographers. There are Photographers who shoot Rock Stars. There are even Rock Star Photographers who shoot Rocks and Stars, Victory Tischler Blue is a combination of all three. We discovered this image and knew nothing about the photographer who apparently has been a bass player for The Runaways, made an appearance in Spinal Tap and is a serious photographer with some of the most interesting images of the American Desert Landscape that we have seen lately. Ms. Blue's desert is haunted, hallucinated and hallowed. This is Sam Shepard's desert with long lost gas stations, deserted automobiles from other decades, satellite response gear, dried out cacti and ancient artifacts that still provide the mysteries that behold the great American West. Defunct signage from an old cafe that once hosted stories such as The Petrified Forrest stand defiantly like an erect statue in Time Square. And yes, as is so often the case, there is just a hint that maybe , somewhere out there, some living being has landed, will land or is just passing by on it's way to another galaxy not so far, far away. This incredible Image was originally exhibited at The Spot Photo Works Art Gallery in Los Angeles, California U. S. A.
Spot Photo Works 6679 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038 USA
ALEX HARRIS : PHOTOGRAPHER
Alex Harris's Photographs are Quintessentially and to the Core: American. He is a Master Photographer with decades of consistently important, relevant and revelatory images. From the early Nineteen Seventies with a socially conscious black and white portfolio and a degree from Yale, Harris captured images on the front lines of culturally significant moments. In The Nineteen Eighties he founded the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. In the Nineties, he co founded the groundbreaking photographic magazine, Double Take. He has received fellowships from The Guggenheim & Rockefeller, has published fifteen books and is a Professor for the Practice of Public Policy and Documentary Studies at Duke. His work in CUBA was very Influential to many of his contemporaries. We are very pleased to bring you the very first of several Photographic Essays Celebrating The Art, The Experience and The Conversation of One of America's Best and Brightest Living Photographers, Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mister Alex Harris.
Joshua TRILIEGI: What initially attracted you to Photography ?
Alex HARRIS : I was attracted to photography before I really had the words to express that attraction. My grandfather Alexander Eisemann, used his camera with great wit and precision to chronicle my mother’s life before I was born, and then the life of her young children and family – me included. I was so attracted to the stories he told with his pictures and the albums he put together, the stories of an intact family living together, full of joy and humor. In fact I was more attracted to that story than the reality of my family life, which must have been fraught with difficulty as my parents separated and divorced by the time I was six and moved to separate homes. When I graduated from high school, I can’t think of one family in my neighborhood that had remained intact or remained in their original homes. Looking back I see its not an accident that my first projects as a required me to immerse myself in some of the most intact, long-lived communities in the United States, the Hispanic villages of northern New Mexico and the Inuit villages in Alaska.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Describe how one image leads to another in creating a Series.
Alex HARRIS : I began shooting color landscapes and interiors in New Mexico in 1979 with the premise that I didn’t want the photographs to be about color so I would try to ignore color with my camera entirely, to photograph color blind. And for about six months I successfully photographed colorblind while making absolutely uninteresting color photographs! One evening at dusk I saw the way the light was hitting my neighbor George Romero’s yellow front porch, and I stopped to photograph it. The porch post visible in the picture was painted blue, white, and red. A shadow from a second post off-camera made it appear that shadows were falling in the wrong direction. I allowed myself to respond to this scene and to color. From then on I looked for color as an aspect of culture, as an essential part of the way the people express themselves with their homes. I was able to go back to the people, homes and fields I had visited over the years as a black-and-white portrait photographer and to photograph would have been the backgrounds to those portraits, now as the foreground and subject of the picture, making what I began to see is another kind of portrait, a portrait without people. I tended to work with one theme at a time:, so bedrooms and other interiors of homes, close-ups of objects and possessions, photographs of villages from a distance, landscapes with signs of human presence, landscapes as seen through automobiles. And I would move back and forth between those series.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Lets talk about this series we are currently sharing with our readers. Tell us how the dashboard images came about and describe the juxtaposing the interior with the exteriors.
Alex HARRIS : When I had the idea to photograph the landscape of northern New Mexico through the interiors of the cars of people who lived there, I’d been living in northern New Mexico on and off for almost 15 years and working in color there for about five years with a view camera. I saw myself as making the portrait of this region without including any actual people in the pictures. So I photographed extensively inside homes, whose decoration was primarily the domain of women, and the outsides of homes and in the fields, which was primarily the domain of men. In photographing these spaces, in a sense I was portraying the people who had created or shaped those spaces over the years. I wanted to represent the younger generation, and the spaces they controlled and decorated were the interiors of their cars. It seemed uninteresting simply to photograph the dashboards and interiors wherever the cars happened randomly to be parked. I had the idea that if I could balance the light inside and outside the car, I could use my camera to make a connection between the car interior and the landscape that person lived in or often drove through. I thought my pictures could represent what it felt like for people in the villages to see their own landscape and community, for the viewer of the photograph to see their world through the frames they had decorated and that they themselves often peered through. The best portraits make a connection between a person’s interior world – in a sense their life history – and the world that surrounds them. That’s what I was looking for in these pictures.
To Download The Entire INTERVIEW WITH A FABULOUS PHOTO ESSAY AND TEN QUESTION INTERVIEW WITH ALEX HARRIA Tap This Link : SUMMER EDITION
North Carolina Museum of Art
James Prosek, American Bison, 2014, oil, acrylic, and mixed media on panel, 45 x 56 in., Courtesy of the artist and Schwartz Wajahat, New York, © 2014 James Pros 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607 www.ncartmuseum.org
Image: Martin Scorsese in London England 1996 Photographer: Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photo
ON THE SET: RAGING BULL By Joshua TRILIEGI for BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine / 2015 SUMMER Edition
TAP LINKS BELOW TO VIEW RAGING BULL FILM CLIPS RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE: Scorsese Collects
THE FILM and ART PICK NEW YORK: May 30 – October 25, 2015
In celebration of New York City director Martin Scorsese’s enduring commitment to the preservation of international film culture, MoMA presents 34 works from the Scorsese Poster Collection. The installation is centered around a rare, billboard-size poster for the 1951 film Tales of Hoffmann, and features other large-format pieces representing the work of directors such as Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, 1948), Max Ophuls (The Earrings of Madame de..., 1953) and Jacques Tourneur (I Walked with a Zombie, 1943), and key designers, such as Italy’s Anselmo Ballester and Britain's Peter Strausfeld. In addition to European art house and American genre films, Raoul Walsh’s silent classic The Regeneration (1915) and Howard Hawks’s Scarface (1932) (represented by a rare lobby card) are included. The Film Poster Art Exhibition will be accompanied by the Film Series, Scorsese Screens in August 2015.
MOMA: The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 Tap To Visit On Line : http://www.moma.org
THE BUREAU PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY: YELLOW
PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY : YELLOW ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT © TRILIEGI STUDIO 2015 LOS ANGELES CA USA
Image by Guest Artist : Irby Pace Courtesy of Gallerie Urbane
THEY CALL IT THE CITY OF ANGELS
The Original Fiction Series: " THEY CALL IT THE CITY OF ANGELS," began two years ago with Season One. An interesting experiment that originally introduced five fictional families, through dozens of characters that came to life before our readers eyes, when Editor Joshua Triliegi, improvised an entire novel on a daily basis and publicly published each chapter on-line. Season Two was an entire smash hit with readers in Los Angeles, where the novel is set and quickly spread to communities around the world through google translations and word of mouth. Season Three begins in August 2015 and the same rules will apply. The entire final season will be improvised and posted publicly on a weekly basis beginning, Friday August the 7th 2015 and continuing each friday to the stories final completion of Book One. "Improvised," in this instance, means: The writer starts and finishes each section without taking any prior notes whatsoever and publishes the completed episode on all Community Sites. Season III is The Finale'.
READ A NEW EPISODE EVERY FRIDAY IN AUGUST 2015
BEGINNING ON AUGUST 7TH / 14TH / 21ST / 28TH
INTERVIEW : JON SWIHART
THE PORTRAIT PAINTER
Joshua TRILIEGI : Lets discuss, Commissions. You were recently commissioned by Brad PITT to create a portrait in relation to his wife's new film project on the American war hero Louie ZAMPERINI. Discuss how this came about, how you approach the assignment and how much time you may spend on a daily basis for each overall portrait.
Jon SWIHART : The whole experience surrounding Louie Zamperini really felt like kismet, because before I was commissioned by Brad Pitt to paint Louie, I had been approached a few months earlier to paint his portrait for an organization. At that time, I read Unbroken and was enthralled and clearly envisioned how I would portray Louie dressed in his old WW2 bomber jacket and officer's cap, his body deteriorating but his spirit still resilient and unbroken. So,it was hugely disappointing when that first commission fell through. Then out of the blue, fate gave me a second chance when Pitt saw my recently completed portrait of the artist Don Bachardy, which gave him the idea of having a portrait of Zamperini painted as a talismanic gift for Angelina Jolie. Laura Hillenbrand had written the book, “Unbroken”, telling the amazing story of Louie’s life through WWII. After spearheading efforts to bring this epic story to life on the big screen, Angelina Jolie was also directing the picture. While doing her research, Jolie became very close to Louie, admiring him and taking strength and inspiration from his indomitable spirit. I went to Zamperini’s home to do the photo shoot and had the opportunity to visit with him for a bit. It was obvious that behind the 96 year old façade was the same determined and precocious young man from the book. Even in his frail condition, he exuded a zest for life that was inspiring in itself. Louie was known to those close to him, for an expression in his eyes, so with the family’s help, I was able to capture this expression for the painting. Now, inspired by the book, but even more so by the man himself, I set out to do the painting. I was extremely honored and excited, but also, a little intimidated by the task at hand.
I was confident about getting a likeness, but unsure about striking a balance between the reality of his frailness and the dignity of the man and his history. For instance, in reality the bomber jacket was much larger on Louie’s shrunken frame, so I had a friend come over and pose in a similar leather jacket so I could accurately compromise between reality and the painting. The portrait took 6 weeks, working about 8 hours per day. When the painting was completed, I brought it to Louie’s home so he could see it in person and I could get his feedback. I thought I was confident about the final result until I got a big thumbs-up from Louie and felt this huge wave of relief flow over me. His family was also very happy with the portrait, which meant a lot to me. Formalities over, I spent the next hour listening to Louie tell stories and had the opportunity to ask him questions. I had been wondering about the ethereal music he heard late in his time on the raft while marooned at sea and wondered if it would be recreated in the movie. Louie said he did remember the tune for some time afterwards and had been whistling it in the prisoner camp when another prisoner who was a musician asked where he heard that wonderful piece of music. Over time, he forgot the melody and, unfortunately it hadn’t been written down. I made one more visit to bring Louie a framed photo of the painting for his 97th birthday. He was in good spirits, making plans for a birthday dinner and happy to have more visitors. Unfortunately, this would be the last time I saw him. This commission was the most meaningful of my career. I have painted many ‘famous’ people, including ex-presidents, movie stars and astronauts, but I felt that in honoring Louie, in my small way, I was also honoring all of the thousands of men and women in uniform with untold stories of courage, determination and character.
TO DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JON SWIHART INTERVIEW WITH PORTRAIT IMAGES AND TEN QUESTION SIMPLY TAP THE LINK
THE BUREAU LITERARY SITE
Literature has a Power and a Scope All It's Own. We originally founded the publication and the magazine to become part of the great history of writers, editors and publishers of the world. Interviews with writers Luis VALDEZ of ZooT Suit and La Bamba Fame and The Great Fiction Writer T. C. BOYLE have been instrumental in grounding that original goal. The BUREAU of Arts and Culture Literary Site gathered readers quickly through Google Member Readers and followers/subscribers. We wrote about writers as diverse as Rod Serling, Paddy Chayefsky, Ernest Lehman and offered resources for Writers, Publishers and Booksellers around The World from London to Paris and beyond. Our Coverage of The Los Angeles Book Fair brought us in touch with Art Book makers and small press publishers around the world. We interviewed authors and artist from Germany, Portland, The U.K., and plenty of East Coast booksellers. Now we also create the BUREAU Literary Edition which is e-mailed directly to 100s of Bookstores in the USA and abroad. Contact us with your next Literary Event or Book Reading or have your Publisher or PR firm Request The Bureau Interview.
LITERARY SITE http://TheyCallItTheCityofANGELS.blogspot.com
Archie Thompson and Albert Rudin American, active c. 1935 Shoes, c. 1940 watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paperboard overall: 32.3 x 42.4 cm (12 11/16 x 16 11/16 in.) Courtesy of National Gallery of Art Washington D.C. USA
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
In Washington D.C. deep inside The Archives of The National Gallery of Art lay objects, images and great works of art that have defined who we are as Americans. For some modern day Americans, a defining object might be the washer and dryer at the local laundromat or a half a gallon container of homogenized milk for the baby or the metropolitan bus that takes them from one end of town to another. The significance of an object is sometimes related directly to the importance of that object in relation to the Artist who creates the portrait, the drawing or the work of art, be it a drawing, a musical composition or a piece of literature. We have chosen several images from the gallery for no particular reason, other than the very fact that these everyday objects are indeed a part of our American history, which we can never forget. The Artists in America have become the heroes of this country, not because they died in it's defense, not because they were forced to actually sacrifice their lives to be remembered, but because they simply loved, adored, reflected on and represented an object, an idea, a rendition of their life in America, in Art, in Music in Words.Today, We salute The Artists of America.
Daniel Marshack American, active c. 1935 Woman's Gym Suit, 1935/1942 watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paperboard overall: 45.5 x 30.2 cm (17 15/16 x 11 7/8 in.) Archives of The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. United States of America
JAMIE WYETH : AMERICAN PAINTER
There are very few American Artists, who are self taught, third generation and bent on creating works that are studied, intuitive and strikingly original, Jamie Wyeth, Son of Andrew Wyeth, Grandson to N.C. Wyeth is one of the rare few. In a show that originated at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and has since then travelled to The San Antonio Museum of Art and will next be in Bennington Arkansas at Crystal Bridges, Mr. Jamie Wyeth exhibits a survey of works, from the earliest drawings to recent projects with a stunning series of paintings and drawings that display a life's work of the highest magnitude. The Wyeth Legacy is one of America's greatest contribution to the arts and through Jamie Wyeth, that legacy is alive and well. I recall my father describing the first time he had viewed a Painting by Jamie Wyeth depicting a man on a motorcycle, facing the viewer head on. He had studied the works of Andrew Wyeth and had grown up reading the literature which N.C. Wyeth had illustrated, but upon viewing the masterwork of Jamie Wyeth, he gladly handed over the reins to young Jamie, then he looked at me and smiled. Since then, I have always respected the Wyeths and their family, their lives, their art at a level which can only be described, not in words, not in metaphor, but simply as it is.
Maria Francesca Triliegi is an Author with an upcoming book, a personal counselor to a very wide variety of people, from everyday working class folks, to some serious public figures that include both the worlds of politics and entertainment. Maria also happens to be The Editor of this Publication's Mother. So then, the other day, I called my Mom and we discussed her new book, her career and what it is like to do what it is she does by personally counseling people.
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE: BOOKS
Let’s discuss the new book that is being released later this summer. Although you have been working on a number of book projects recently, you decided to release The book of forty essays entitled, "LIFE IS GOOD: When You Do The Work". Why this book first and why now?
Maria Francesca Triliegi: I have been doing my work as an astrologer, teacher and retreat leader for over 30 years and have had a myriad of clients with so many different challenges and life changes as well as a curiosity for understanding themselves. Each time I meet with a client, I am excited to share with them their individuality and yet through it all I have noticed we human beings are so similar. There are basic tenets in life that remain certain and trustable. These are what we humans have a tendency to take advantage of and these are essentially what the essays describe. I adore words. I always have. I’ve been a reader since childhood and have kept journals through the years. The reason I decided to write and release LIFE IS GOOD now is because with the speedup of time we can easily lose track of what makes life good.
"There are basic tenets in life that remain certain and trustable. These are what we humans have a tendency to take advantage of and these are essentially what the essays describe."
No matter our circumstances, situations or challenges there is much about our lives that, if we are willing to pay attention and notice more about who we truly are, collectively and individually; as well as how much the Universe, God, Goddess or whatever we call the essence of life we have been given; we will find that it is possible to choose to live with the mantra that LIFE IS GOOD. The added tagline “When You Do the Work” is, I find, a necessary component in how to live one’s life respectively, responsibly and with a consciousness of alive integrity and passion. The beauty surrounding us in the natural world along with the compassion and kindness innate in each of us is in itself something to strive to protect and enjoy. After that there is so much one can do to pay closer attention to how to honor the gifts each one of us is given. The essays are my way of expressing my thoughts collected through the many years of being an observer of all of life. I see with eyes that care deeply about the simple pleasures that we all have access to. I want my book to be a reminder of how to observe, appreciate, enjoy and take responsibility for all that we have been given at what seems to be very little cost.
TO DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW WITH MARIA FRANCESCA TRILIEGI SIMPLY TAP THIS LINK AND RECEIVE THE ENTIRE SUMMER EDITION FREE :
The Italian Straw Hat, 1952 Oil on paper on board, 22 1/4 x 30 3/8 in.Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The Schnakenberg Fund, 1955.32 Art © The Educational Alliance, Inc./Estate of Peter Blume/Licensed by VAGA, New York
Peter Blume
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
Tap to Visit : http://www.thewadsworth.org
THE BUREAU IN SAN DIEGO
SAN DIEGO is another one of those Cities that unless you visited more than a few times, you might not realize what a great Community it actually is. As a Photographer, I find the place to have a very special sort of light that keeps me returning again and again. La Jolla, Mission Beach, The Lamplight all with something to offer tourists, locals and professionals. As a writer, visiting San Diego is a boon of simple and earthy characters, with a fine mix of working class individuals, retired professionals and a bevy of wealthy folks. The magazine has taken readers into original design interviews, the Museum of Modern Art, Photographic Essays into Old Town San Diego, Interviews with local Theater Productions, An In Depth Surf Interview with Community Surf Hero Bird of Birds Surf Shack in San Diego, Inside The La Jolla Athenaeum and a constant relationship with Dennis Wills of D.G. Wills Bookstore a legendary location visited by The best Writers in the world. It's been a wild ride San Diego. Next Up: A Photographic Essay of The Coastal Walkabout from Solana Beach to La Jolla, Articles on Eateries such as The Cottage, Mary's English Kitchen and Juice Crafters, Plus an Interview with Roman Palacios Local Opera Singer and Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire ...
BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE
presents
SURF INTERVIEW: JACK ENGLISH
Joshua TRILIEGI: Your catalogue is beautiful, diverse and modern and yet, at the same time, your images have an original and purist aesthetic that harkens back to the 1970's. Discuss style in surf photography and explain how you go about 'picturing ' images.
Jack ENGLISH: I love being different and getting a different shot from the next photographer which in the surfing world is so very challenging. If your on the North Shore of Oahu and their are 20 pros out well you're going to have at least 20 photographers on the beach and 20 in the water shooting the same shot and for the most part shooting the same angle. When I do my shoots here in California I always make sure I am the only photographer or if I show up to a place like Malibu on a big swell and their might be 3 other photographers there I will try to sneak down the beach and get an angle in which they aren't getting in hopes that I picked the best location in or out of the water. Every photographer has their own style, but I always try to imagine the shot I am going for months in advance for a specific surfer or location. I rarely show up to a spot and just start shooting. I put everything together with the surfer before he goes out in the water. It's like he is my model and I communicate to him or her what type of shot or move I would like them to do. I like to be involved on what their wearing or what board their riding. I like to direct my shoots and be just as much involved if not more then the surfer. I am not like go out and surf and I will take your picture - it's not like that for me. I am a director of my own shoots.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Surf culture is now a worldwide thing, for those of us on the West Coast, who grew up with it, it was and is a way of life. For the audience, its exotic and a commodity of sorts. Explain how you view the trajectory of Surf culture in the recent decades .
Jack ENGLISH: Maybe it's not safe for me to say this based on [ the fact that] I eat, breathe and sleep surfing and surf photography, but it's kind of boring now to an extreme. Kind of like everything has been done. To me, the late 80's into the early 90's was the best. The 80's had the bright fluorescent wetsuits and the early 90's had the momentum generation: Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian, Ross Williams, Rob Machado, etc… They took surfing to it's highest level. These guy's weren't trying to dress all groovy, they just ripped at surfing. They we're untouchable. You have guy's now that pretty much suck at surfing, but they try to dress the part kind of like, hey I am not that good at surfing, but I will try to be the hipster or groovy guy that way I can still get paid to surf. Companies fall for it for whatever reasons based on their are so many dam brands nowadays and all of them want or think they need to sponsor someone.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Share your views regarding Digital versus Film and the future of photography.
Jack ENGLISH: Digital is such a f*cking copout. It's like a musician who needs all these machines to make their music for them. Take someone like an Elton John who just needs a piano and he will kill it. All these digital photographers became photographers because it was easy, cheap and mostly no cost for film and processing. I have one friend who told me he would never had shot photos if it we'rent for digital. I think in the past before digital you had the true photographers who really loved photography. The photographers that loved going to the photo lab dropping off their film and then hours later racing back to the photo lab praying they nailed the shot. The photographers that loved the smell of the photo labs or the smell of film. On the flip side I can't speak for the digi guy's and say they don't really love photographer or their not really photographers, that's not it. I mean if I was brought up after the film era I to would most likely just be shooting digital and always question what is film. But I was brought up int he film era and my heart is for film. I have passed a point where I hate digital. I hate hard drives, cords, cards, all that shit just bugs me and then have to worry if my hard drive crashes I loose everything. I can't handle that. How am I suppose to shoot so many wonderful images and then I am to rely on some hard drive not to crash, fuck that. I much rather have a folder full of tangible slides or negatives on my shelves and be done with it.
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WITH SURF PHOTOGRAPHER JACK ENGLISH ON COVER TAP LINK:
Santa Barbara California is a very Beautiful Community. Recently, I was asked by someone in the big city, "Why did The Magazine focus on a City such as Santa Barbara ?" I found myself having to defend, rather easily, a place I have grown to Love. So many of our greatest writers and actors have also fallen in love with Santa Barbara, but it's rather difficult to describe why. There is a first class Film Festival, top of the line Wineries, A Coastal Beauty that compares to any coast, in any country around The World. And all the while, It's laid back. With lots of Surfers, Bikers, Real people, living their lives everyday. No matter how respected this magazine gets in New York City or Los Angeles or even overseas, I personally spend more time in cities such as Santa barbara, more quality time than I have ever expected. After all is said and done after the work is over, there is nothing quite like a Glass of Wine or a Swim in The Oceans at Santa Barbara County. So far, we've brought readers into The Santa Barbara Winery with Photo Essays, Audio Interviews at The Lost Horizon Bookstore and Adama Vegan Cuisine and an in depth Interview with Santa Barbara's Award winning Board Shaper Wayne Rich.
SANTA BARBARA http://BUREAUofARTSandCULTURESantaBarbara.blogspot.com
BUREAU EDITORIAL DIS-organization[s]
What has happened to today's organizations ? There was a time when being 'organized' meant doing something that improved life for the group of people you were associating with. Is today's society embroiled in a power struggle that allows Members Only to be favored exponentially ? Are organizations and associations wielding their power in a manner that could be abusive ? Have you noticed that individuals and heads of particular departments, including the mouthpieces in media outlets and those in the public eye are using their platforms in a disingenuous manner ? If you have answered, 'Yes' to any of these questions, you are not alone. From Churches to Non - Profits, from Television networks to Newspaper publishers, from Markets to Corporations, from Neighborhood to Region, from States to Cities & Counties: we are now experiencing a shift in the ideology of a Group vs The Individual.
Of course there are the exceptions, sometimes within an organization, one will find a partial, fair and exemplary individual & even the occasional entire organization as a whole. Though, we should always remember that many clubs, schools, religions and membership style affiliations are exactly created for the sake of empowering that particular group and sometimes rewarding it's members for their behavior within the group. A membership radio station will reward it's listeners with occasional gifts, a membership film festival will rewards its members with discounts to events, a membership museum will allow priority access to its members and a membership religion will go as far as offering jobs, counseling, a social activity and sometimes even life after death. The membership markets offer admission and discounts to products, all sounds fair, yes ? Well, maybe. What happens when non members wish to participate in a related event ? What happens when non members wish to promote or interview or even celebrate something related to this group, be it, radio or museum or marketplace or film festival or even religious ? There is room for abuses of power here and often times exclusive privileges depend on the very rejection of outsiders, non members and 'interlopers.'
There are times when actually making an example of an individual is all part of the membership and organization game. Either on the grand scale, for instance, when someone like Edward Snowden is admonished for sharing secrets, he is made to no longer freely live in America as an American, he is forced to make choices which drive him away from his country of origin. On a smaller scale, due to the many facets of groups and group thinking that have slowly but steadily spread into industries such as entertainment and publishing, being a member, is now being offered as entry into an industry, acceptance as an artist and eventually: success. Thats a very dangerous game. I recall visiting a small community on a tropical island, where the original group of natives had been, for many, many 100s of years affiliated with a particular religion. Because I was a visiting person with business contacts in the West, many of the people I met exclaimed how they had converted to a religion which is very popular in the West. I saw how there was a connection between business opportunities for converts and it startled me. Since that time, I have become more and more aware of this dilemma and must confess that I would personally prefer failure to success due to affiliation through a group of members of some sort. There are entire Arts Publications whose only contributors are members, graduates and teachers and or students of that school of thinking. There are entire theaters that exist solely to exhibit the talents and works by graduates of a certain school where people have studied art or film or music.
So then, the financial aspects of this debate now creep into the room. If your parents can pay for your entry into a school or a University, then, talent allowing, you may have a chance. The problem with this dilemma is that, eventually, it sets up a much larger paradigm wherein a whole other group is conversely created, one in which non whites or non asians or non mexicans or non _________ [ Fill - in - the - blank ] are excluded. Thus creating a world of clubs, cliques and collectives without respect, regard or reward for non members. Unfortunately, I believe we have now arrived at this particular destination and within the very borders of each city, state and country, the infantile philosophies surrounding this way of thinking are handicapping our ability to progress as a society, a country a planet: we are in trouble people. Had I not been raised in Los Angeles or travelled throughout the world or even been respectful, curious and a learned student of International films, art and music, maybe I would not even be fully aware of this dilemma. Editing and creating a magazine that seeks to speak with the best artists, actors, filmmakers, culturally aware individuals has indeed been an education in this regard.
"Every now and then, I meet an incredible individual
who seeks only to offer the beautiful thing that
their institute is actually there to offer…"
As was mentioned, every now and then, I meet an incredible individual who seeks only to offer the beautiful thing that their institute is actually there to offer. An example of that would be every image you see in this edition of the magazine from a gallery or museum. Though, unfortunately, more often than not, we receive a cold reception or worse a manipulated, contrived and down right embarrassingly false set of circumstances that include denial of full access, a series of bureaucratic levels which hinder the goal or simply being lied to or delayed or ignored, resulting in a particular due date having since than expired, thus creating the inability to sponsor, participate or include a contribution of some sort. Sometimes, non members are offered some form of limited access, which is than manipulated to show the 'non-member,' how great life could be, if only they joined the club of conformists, believers, non-believers, etc… Playing the game to get what you want. These social traps are set on a daily basis. More often than not, walking away is the best bet, though, as a publication, with a goal oriented schedule to promote, affiliate and sponsor social events that surround art, music, film, science, culture and eventually receive advertising dollars to provide a service to the institutes, organizations and companies or non profits, my concerns sometime lead me down the path to investigative journalism: where I am often aghast at the quote un-quote 'members' of some of these organizations. Sometimes this includes a local market or a non profit or an art gallery or even a member of my own government. How far will all of this member versus non member go before it blows up in our faces ? Or is that the point ? Look around at your world. Look around at your organizations. Look around at your own religion, your own so - called group. If you like what you see. Cool. But, if you notice that your superiority is based on the fact that you are a so-called 'member' of a group, that is either based on belief, income, non-belief or lack of income, race, color, age, sex, education, admission fee, a particular lifestyle or some other in-crowd superficial aspect, it may be that you are not superior at all. Quite possibly the exact opposite may be true.
Norman Seeff : The Ramones New York, 1977 © Norman Seeff Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
LET'S ROCK
Now Through JUNE 13, 2015
Rock & Roll Music has always been affiliated with the medium and Art of Photography. Performances only last a few minutes, hours or the duration of the current tour. Musicians found early on that the power of the image from last years tour could sell tickets and albums to next years tour and the fusion or marriage between the camera and the music was complete. Let's Rock, the current exhibit at Fahey / Klein's new Gallery in Miami, Florida takes us through the History of Modern Rock and Roll with photographs by the best in the biz. Including: Jim Marshall’s iconic shot of Johnny Cash flipping the bird, Barry Feinstein’s image of fans peering into the window of Bob Dylan’s limo, Frank Stefanko’s Bruce Springsteen at the beginning of his career and Harry Benson’s playful photograph of a Beatles’ pillow fight.
Led Zeppelin (In Front of Plane) New York, 1973 © Bob Gruen, Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
Lets Rock, is an important photographic exhibit because it balances the grit with the glamour, the guts with the glory and the guys with the gals in all that bare truth that Rock and Roll Music was originally meant to express. Lets not forget that this was a music in touch with it's anger, in touch with it's passion, in touch with it's feelings, it's roots, it's working class upbringing. Surely Mick Jagger is the face of the Stones, but without a working class pal such as Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones might just have been another Hermans Hermits. As Rock & Roll becomes more and more appropriated by millionaires, museums and extremely wealthy non profit entities, it may be a good time to remind them all, that Rock & Roll, belongs to The People. We saw these same trends with William Shakespeare, who originally wrote for the people and Classical greats such as Ludwig Van Beethoven.We The People Own Rock & Roll, we own Rap, we own Country, we own The Blues, we own Jazz. This is All Peoples Music, much of it originated in America, so then, we own America. Take pride in great music America, you made it happen. It's Yours : Lets Rock.
Norman Seeff Keith Richards Los Angeles 1972 Courtesy Fahey / Klein Gallery Miami
Gered Mankowitz : Jimi Hendrix (Classic), 1966 © Gered Mankowitz, Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Miami
FAHEY / KLEIN GALLERY in MIAMI 4025 Northeast 2nd Avenue Second Floor Miami Florida 33137 U.S.A
On 2nd Avenue, between 40th and 41st St. In the Miami Design District. Across 2nd Ave from the newly established Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Fahey/Klein Gallery Miami is on the Second Floor of the Chrome Hearts building. Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am – 7pm.
The BUREAU of Arts and Culture Seattle Community Site will be featuring neighboring Cities such as Tacoma and Portland's Museums, Galleries, Music Events and Special Cultural happenings as well as ALL The Subjects that The Magazine brings you regularly: ART . FILM . MUSIC . DESIGN . CULTURE . ARCHITECTURE . ECOLOGY . INTERVIEWS + More …Coming Soon : Exclusive Interviews with local Artists, Musicians and Museums Including Rock Hushka Chief Curator at The Tacoma Art Museum. In Depth Articles on Seattle & Washington's Cultural Touch points including: Jimi HENDRIX, ECOLOGICAL Concerns, The PORTS of Washington, Native American Issues and Historically significant Moments in it's History.
NEW FICTION: KAZUO ALONE
A Short Story by Linda Toch / Little Tokyo Story Contest Winner 2015
Kazuo embraced Mondays like no other and that was because of its silence. Mondays were sweet, a sweep of semi-peace in the streets of Los Angeles. The typical street-crawlers were in school and the typical tourists at their nine to five jobs, and so Kazuo chose Monday to roam, map, conquer his neighborhoods unperturbed. Mondays were a convenience only when eighty five of your years had passed and your company along with it. It was nice timing for those who desired solace. The old man had fit this criteria to a tee. People talked about him, of course; no one who walks alone can keep his name out of others’ mouths. They say he had a wife once. They say his marriage was a spectacle, a whirr of harmonies—he, a striking man, she, an incandescent beauty—he, solemn-faced, she, the embodiment of joy. She was his joy. Small talk still lingers about their wedding to date, a legend left for the gossip mill to disperse. 100 brown doves. That was how many they released that day.
Rumor had it, the birds swirled around the couple, drawing a ribbon with their synchronized bodies before soaring up and beyond sight. They called this God’s miracle, God’s blessing on a beautiful union. A year later, when the wife’s cheeks ran out of ruby colors to make room for pallor, they called it God’s apology instead. His solemn face turned sorrow. He hadn’t remarried since. Years past and people trickled in and out of his life, and Kazuo never put forth the efforts to make them stay. He, ever the true Buddhist, held no attachments. Religion had nothing to do with this, of course; he simply couldn’t be bothered with anyone else to begin with. Yet in spite of this, there was something that drew him back to Little Tokyo time after time. Kazuo knew his streets well, but he was mindless when he walked. He lived in his head, in a world far detached from realities, from earth—perhaps that was the sole reason why he enjoyed his solo strolls. When he returned, unaware of the lefts and rights he chose, he found himself wound up on First or Alameda. Always. He’d spot the museum’s large puzzle cube, listen to the paper lanterns crinkle above his head, feel the gust of wind as children breezed by him with an excitement so distantly familiar to him… it was the way wide streets became smaller and then wider again, and the way the tiny shops were cramped so closely. He’d be a dead man before he admitted it, but Little Tokyo had wormed its way into his heart.
The streets were by no means empty on Mondays, but Kazuo didn’t need to bump and squirm his way through crowds among crowds. It was mostly college students flocking to the modernized corners, anyway. The sushi joints. Yogurtland. Anything with bright letters and an appearance that promised a good time. Kazuo rested in a quieter area, a little sector of a street filled with mom and pop shops. He sat in front of a bakery store of the Japanese Village Plaza, listening to a performer improvise a song for a family next to him. The singer’s voice, mellow and pleasant, was a charmer. It was as if people paid for the happy ambience his keyboard brought instead of the performance itself. The tip jar was filled to the brim. High school ditchers passed by him, the corners of their mouth dribbled with ice cream. The infectious bliss that came from the musician seemed to make them younger and younger. Such a gift, to be able to have your keyboard turn the elderly to adults, the adults to teens, the teens to children…and the teens laughed joyously, ecstatically, their heads thrown back the way a seven year old’s would.
Kazuo’s heart stung a little. He remembered how it was, to be young and enamored. No one else existed but the person by your side; nothing else was tangible except the hands brushing against your own. “And you, sir!” the performer called, suddenly, index finger pointed straight at Kazuo. “What is your name?” “Ah, I…no, I didn’t tip you,” Kazuo responded sheepishly, waving his hands to the artist. “No money.” Smiling, his inquirer replied, “I’m here to talk, not much else. How are you?” His words reverberated from the microphone and bounced around in Kazuo’s ears. I’m here to talk…when was the last conversation Kazuo had? It was with his insurers, wasn’t it? Or his doctor? The nurses? “I…I’m fine, thank you.” It felt like all of Little Tokyo stared at him, their eyes digging into his skin. Even the pigeons that scattered among the Plaza seemed to look into the old man. Seemed to look into how he sat, crookedly. How his back hunched and his teeth yellowed even more in bare sunlight. How his forehead wrinkled and sagged his face downward into a perpetual frown. He finally felt like his age in his skin, and he’d never been more aware of eighty five years than that day. “Ah, before I launch into a song, do you want me to dedicate it to someone?” the performer continued. Again with the questions. “A loved one, maybe?” he pressed. Kazuo merely shook his head. “No, no one. There’s no one.” “You were in love, weren’t you? I can tell by the way you look down.” The performer pressed a few keys, his fingers cascading over them with a feathery lightness. The sounds floated melodiously into the air, drawing in more and more of a crowd.
Kazuo shuffled his feet in embarrassment. “Let me ask an easier question, then. How did you meet?” The grin the musician gave coaxed an answer out of the reluctant Kazuo. He stuttered, yelling it half-heartedly, just loud enough for the other man to hear. “We met by the Aoyama tree!” Too loud, Kazuo thought, cringing. I was too loud. Too much noise… The performer’s eyes glinted, and his smile widened. He continued pressing down more keys, more and more, a stream of gorgeous sounds making way to Kazuo’s ears. But he sang nothing into the microphone. Kazuo was startled by the silence, but sat still to enjoy the music regardless. A minute had passed before the man proceeded with more questions. “The Aoyama tree…what a beautiful place to meet a beautiful woman, no?” Kazuo nodded. “It was,” he agreed softly. “It was.” His mind drifted back to a time when his heart was filled with inexplicable emotions, a mesh of pain and thrill, hope and fervor and ultimately: heat. There was the sting of leaving his family behind. He could not touch his mother’s face anymore, or help his father walk in old age. But on another hand, he had made his way into LA. The city of the greats. The giants. The powerful, the dreamers. The city to get lost in, to get found, to be anonymous, to make a name—LA. It was an achievement all on its own, making it there. And then there was her. He remembered meeting her perfectly: the clumsiness that ensued, the awkward exchange of greetings that followed. He stumbled, and she tripped, and he fell, and she toppled over. And he said hello. And she gifted him a smile. “I’ve seen you a couple times, sir,” the performer continued. “You come here often. I want to give thanks for showing love to our little world.”
Kazuo remembered the shops, the nooks and crannies found in them, and the entanglement of histories and modern culture. The celebrations, the festivals. The morning prayers. Kazuo remembered all of it. And he remembered her traversing by his side the entire time, exploring the ‘little world’ that only seemed to get bigger the more they stayed in it. And he remembered the happiness. Where was the crying child in Little Tokyo? The frowning human? They didn’t seem to exist. The streets were flooded with happiness, a happiness like no other. And it was still flooded today. But the idea of joy was so faint in his heart, as time wrung out the euphoria in all his memories, that Kazuo only now began to feel again. There was bitterness locked inside of him, a bitterness that never left him since her passing. And so he exhaled this bitterness with the timing of the music. In and out. Just like the morning meditations she used to accompany him to, around the temple near their precious love-tree. He breathed in the piano notes and breathed out the heaviness in his heart. “The Aoyama tree,” the performer started, “is a sign of resilience. It’s a sign of forever. Of going on. It’s an old, old survivor in the city…much like you, I’d imagine.” Again, the performer smiled. “And much like your love. The tree is entwined with your past, my friend, and that’s a beautiful honor.” Kazuo lifted himself up slowly and walked toward the performer. His hands shook. He leaned forward and put a five dollar bill in the tip jar. It was all the money he had. “Thank you. Thank you. I feel light again,” Kazuo whispered. The performer shoved the microphone out of the way, and whispered back, “Your joy is long overdue…you needed to visit your roots again. Back to where it all started. No thanks are needed for that, my friend.” But with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “I thought you had no money, Kazuo.” It was Kazuo’s turn to smile. He made his way to Aoyama Tree, this time, his mind clear of directions. Somehow, his feet remembered the paths he had taken with her decades ago. Back to the tree’s roots, back to his roots, back to the roots of his first and only love. He felt his heart pump vigorously to keep up with his pace. A part of him wanted to touch the bark. Stroke it. Carve initials into it. He wanted to interact. To feel. But he stayed behind, admiring the piece of art nature invested into this land.
What made Little Tokyo magical was the people around it, he realized. The children, the teens, the adults, the families, the couples. The performer. Her. And him. He was a part of it, the city, the culture. He always was. It was six o’clock by the time Kazuo finished. His legs tired of the walk, he walked in a daze, a wonderment of the new Little Tokyo he was seeing. With every street was a new memory he uncovered once more. There was no more pain heaving down in his chest. He walked a little straighter, stood a little taller. He would visit the tree next Monday, he decided. And the week after that, and the week after that. And forevermore. He would visit the tree for as long as the tree stood there, and as long as he stood alive. There was no more remorse in his reminiscence. Just joy. Kazuo grinned as he thought of the performer. He relived the entire ordeal in his head as he made his way back home. And then it struck him—how did the performer know of his name in the first place? How did the performer know anything at all? And, most importantly, did any of that matter? His spirit felt rejuvenated, youthful. Twenty years old at best. And that was the greatest gift anyone had ever bestowed on him since her smile. For that alone, Kazuo didn’t need the answers to his questions. The sunset settled down and the darkness cloaked the colorful skies with black. He stepped into his house, exhausted by this Monday’s elongated walk. The loneliness always kept on his shoulders had all dissipated by then. Certainly he lived by himself, but that didn’t mean he was alone, no. Not any longer. And before he could lock the door shut, Kazuo could swear he heard the faint coo of a dove outside… a sound that made his eyes dampen. He pressed his palms against his cheeks, surprised. The tears were his own. The emotions were his own. Where was the crying child in Little Tokyo, anyway? Where could you find the frowning adult? He sunk into the comforts of his home and drifted into sleep, his ears filled with the sounds of music and doves. The man was at peace at last.
Linda Toch is a writer and a 2015 Winner of the Los Angeles CA USA Little Tokyo Story Contest.
Images Related to this Bureau Article : Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Herb Ritts
© Herb Ritts Foundation Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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THE BUREAU SUMMER EDITION 2015 EDITED by JOSHUA TRILIEGI
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We Thank: Da Capo Press, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Pace/MacGill Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Georgia O'Keefe Museum of Art, Fine Arts Center Colorado Springs, Duke University, Andy Warhol Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Crystal Bridges, United Artists, Spot Photo Works, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art Huston Texas, Gallerie Urbane, Mary Boone Gallery, Pace Gallery, Asian Art Museum, Magnum Photo, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Fahey/Klein, Tobey C. Moss, Sandra Gehring, George Billis, Martin - Gropius - Bau Berlin, San Jose Museum of Art, First Run Features, Downtown Records, Koplin Del Rio, Robert Berman, Indie Printing, American Film Institute, SFMOMA, Palm Beverly Hills, KM Fine Arts, LA Art Show, Photo LA, Jewish Contemporary Museum, Cultural Affairs, Yale Collection of Rare Books & Manuscript and Richard Levy.
Contributing Photographers: Norman Seef, Herb Ritts, Jack English, Alex Harris, Gered Mankowitz, Bohnchang Koo, Natsumi Hayashi, Raymond Depardon, T. Enami, Dennis Stock, Dina Litovsky, Guillermo Cervera, Moises Saman, Cathleen Naundorf, Terry Richardson, Phil Stern, Dennis Morris, Henry Diltz, Steve Schapiro, Yousuf Karsh, Ellen Von Unwerth, William Claxton, Robin Holland, Andrew Moore, James Gabbard, Mary Ellen Mark, John Robert Rowlands, Brian Duffy, Robert Frank, Jon Lewis, Sven Hans, David Levinthal, Joshua White, Brian Forrest, Lorna Stovall, Elliott Erwitt, Rene Burri, Susan Wright, David Leventhal, Peter Van Agtmael & The Bureau Editor Joshua Triliegi.
Contributing Guest Artists: Irby Pace, Jon Swihart, F. Scott Hess, Ho Ryon Lee, Andy Moses, Kahn & Selesnick, Jules Engel, Patrick Lee, David Palumbo, Tom Gregg, Tony Fitzpatrick, Gary Lang, Fabrizio Casetta, DJ Hall, David FeBland, Eric Zener, Seeroon Yeretzian, Dawn Jackson, Charles Dickson, Ernesto DeLaLoza, Diana Wong, Gustavo Godoy, John Weston, Kris Kuksi, Bomonster, Hiroshi Ariyama, Linda Stark, Kota Ezawa, Russell Nachman, Katsushika Hokusai and Xuan Chen
Contributing Writers: Robin Holland, Jamar Mar(s) Tucker, Linda Toch, Maria (Mom) Triliegi
Georgia O’Keeffe Black Patio Door, 1955 Oil on canvas, 40 1/8x30 in. Amon Carter
Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. (O’Keeffe 1283) © Copyright 2015 Amon
Carter Museum of American Art Special Thanks to Crystal Springs Fine Arts Center
INTERVIEW: BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE MAGAZINE EDITOR: JOSHUA TRILIEGI
Writer Joshua Triliegi discusses his most recent Fiction Project, "They Call It The City of ANGELS," creating beliEvable characters and the challenges therein. Season One & Season Two are available on line at most of the 10 various BUREAU of Arts and Culture Websites & translatable around the world.
Discuss the process of writing your recent fiction project, " They Call It The City of Angels ."
Joshua Triliegi: I had lived through the riots of 1992, actually had a home not far from the epicenter and experienced the event first hand, I noticed how the riot was being perceived by those outside our community, people began to call me from around the world, my friends in Paris, my relatives in the mid west, childhood pals, school mates, etc... Each person had a different take on why and what was happening, I still have those recordings, this was back in the day of home message recorders with cassettes. So, after 20 years, I began to re listen to the voices and felt like something was missing in the dialogue.
" I noticed how the riot was being perceived by those outside our community ..."
Some of my friends and fellow theater contemporaries such as Anna Deveare Smith and Roger Guenvere Smith had been making bold statements in relation to the riots with their own works and I realized that there was a version of original origin inside of me. I felt the need to represent the community in detail, but with the event in the background. Because, I can tell you from first hand experience that when these events happen, people are still people, and they deal with these types of historical emergencies differently based on their own culture, their own codes, their own needs and everyday happenstances.
You originally published each chapter on a daily basis, explain how and why ?
Joshua Triliegi: I had been editing The BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine for a few years, we printed thousands of magazines that were widely distributed throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco and had created an on-line readership.The part of me that had dabbled in fiction through the years with screenplays and short stories had been ignored for those few years. On the one hand, it was simply a challenge to create a novel without notes, improvising on a daily basis, on the other hand, it gave the project a freedom and an urgency that had some connection with the philosophy of Jack Kerouac and his Spontaneous Prose theories. One thing it did, was forced me, as a creator, to make the decisions quickly and it also, at the time, created a daily on line readership, at least with our core readers, that to this day has strengthened our community sites and followers on line. Season One was a series of introductions to each character. Season Two, which happened the following year, was a completely different experience all together.
Describe Season Two of They Call It The City of Angels and those challenges.
Joshua Triliegi: Well first of all, the opening line of Season One is, " Los Angeles is a funny place to live, but those laughing were usually from out of town, " That opener immediately set up an insiders viewpoint that expresses a certain struggle and angst as well as an outsider — looking — in — perception that may be skewed. In introducing characters throughout season one, I was simply creating a cast of characters that I knew somehow would be important to set the tone surrounding the riots of 1992 in Los Angeles. With Season Two, and an entire year of gestation, which was extremely helpful, even if it was entirely on a subconscious level, I had a very real responsibility to be true to my characters and each persons culture. I had chosen an extremely diverse group of people, but had not actually mentioned their nationality, or color in Season One. By the time season Two rolled around, I found it impossible not to mention their differences and went several steps further to actually define those differences and describe how each character was effected by the perception of the events in their life. This is a novel that happens to take place before, during and after the riot. The characters themselves all have lives that are so complete and full and challenged, as real life actually is, that the riot as a backdrop is entirely secondary to the story. I was surprised at how much backstory there actually was. I also think my background in theater, gave me a sense of character development that really kicked my characters lives into extreme detail and gave them a fully realized life.
How do you go about creating a character ?
Joshua Triliegi: Well, there is usually a combination of very real respect and curiosity involved. Sometimes, I may have seen that person somewhere in the world and something about them attracted my attention in some way. In the case of They Call It The City of Angels, I knew the people of Los Angeles had all been hurt badly by the riots of 1992, because I am one of those people and it hurt. One minute we were relating between cultures, colors, incomes, the next we were pitted up against one another because some people in power had gotten away with a clear injustice. So with season two, I personally had to delve deeper into each persons life and present a fully realized set of circumstances that would pay off the reader, in terms of entertainment and at the same time be true to the code of each character. Once they were fully realized, the characters themselves would do things that surprised me and that is when something really interesting began to happen.
Could you tell us a bit more about the characters and give us some examples of how they would surprise you as a writer ?
Joshua Triliegi: Well, Jordan, who is an African American bus driver and happens to be a Muslim, began to find himself in extremely humorous situations where he is somehow judged by events and circumstances beyond his control. I thought that was interesting because the average person most likely perceives the people of that particular faith as very serious. Jordan has a girlfriend who is not Muslim and when he is confronted by temptation, he is equally as human as any of my readers and so, he gets himself into situations that complicate his experience and a certain amount of folly ensues. Fred, who is an asian shop owner and a Buddhist, has overcome a series of tragedies, yet has somehow retained his dignity with a stoicism that is practically heroic. At one point, in the middle of a living nightmare, he simply goes golfing, alone and gets a hole in one. Junior, who is a Mexican American young man recently released from prison really drives the story as much of his backstory connects us to Fred and his tragedies as well as legal decisions such as the one that caused the city to erupt as it does in the riot.
You talk a lot about Responsibility to Character, what do you mean and how do you conduct research ?
Joshua Triliegi: Well, if I make a decision that a character is a Muslim or Asian or Mexican or what have you, if I want the respect of my readers and of those who may actually be Muslim, Asian or Mexican, it behooves me to learn something about that character. As a middle aged man who lives in Los Angeles and has done an extensive amount of travel throughout my life, there is a certain amount of familiarity with certain people. But for instance, with Fred, I watched films on the history of the Korean War and had already respected the Korean Community here in Los Angeles for standing up for themselves the way they did. I witnessed full on attacks and gun fights between some of the toughest gangsters in LA and I think even they gained respect for this community in that regard. Fred is simply one of those shop owners, he is a very humble and unassuming man, in season two, he finds himself entering a whole new life and for me as a writer, that is very gratifying and to be totally honest, writing for Fred was the most bitter sweet experience ever. Here is a man who has lost a daughter, a wife, a business partner and he is about to lose all he has, his shop. Regarding Junior and Jordan, I grew up with these guys, I have met them again and again, on buses, in neighborhoods at school. Jordan has a resilience and a casual humor that has been passed down from generations, a survival skill that includes an ironic outlook at life. He also has that accidental Buster Keaton sort of ability to walk through traffic and come out unscathed. Junior on the other hand is a real heavy, like any number of classic characters in familiar cinema history confronted with the challenges of poverty and tragedy. He is the character that paid the biggest price and in return, we feel that experience. There is a certain amount of mystery and even a pent up sexuality and sometimes a violence that erupts due to his circumstances. In season two, within a single episode, Junior takes his father, who is a busboy at a cafe and repositions him as the Don or boss of their original ranch in Mexico.
There seems to be a lot of religion in They Call it the City of Angels, how did that occur and do you attend church or prescribe to any particular faith ?
I never intended for there to be so much religion in this book. But, if you know Los Angeles like I do, you will realize how important faith is to a good many people and particularly to the characters I chose to represent. With Jordan being Muslim, it allowed me to delve into the challenges a person might have pertaining to that particular faith. Fred's life is so full of tragedy that even a devout buddhist would have trouble accepting and letting go of the events that occur in his life. Junior found god in prison as many people do, upon his release back into the real world, he is forced to make decisions which challenge that belief system and sometimes go against his faith, at the same time, he finds himself physically closer to real life events and objects of religious historical significance than the average believer which brings us into a heightened reality and raises questions in a new way. As for my own belief system, I dabble in a series of exercises and rituals that spring from a wide variety of faiths and practices.
You discussed Jordan, Fred and Junior. Tell us about Cliff and Charles and Chuck.
Joshua Triliegi: I don't really believe in secondary characters, but in writing fiction, certain characters simply emerge more pronounced than others. As this project was a daily serial for the magazine, I did try my best to keep a balance, giving each character a fully realized set of circumstances and history. That said, some characters were related to another through family, incident or history and later, I felt compelled to know more about them and see how they would emerge.
Charles is one of those legendary rock and roll guys who was on tour with music royalty and simply disappeared. He's the missing father we all hear about and wonder what would happen if he were to suddenly return into our lives ? His son Mickey, his wife Maggie, his daughter Cally have all gone on with their lives, when Jordan, accidentally runs him over while driving his bus, Charles returns home and a new chapter in their lives begins again.
Chuck is a cop who just happened to marry Juniors sister and they have several daughters. When Junior returns from prison, he and Chuck clash simply because of their careers and history. I felt it was important to include authority in this story and once I decided to represent a police officer, I wanted him to be as fully realized and interesting as any other character, though, clearly Junior drives much of this section of the novel and Chuck is simply another person that complicates Juniors arrival. I should also explain that the arrival of Junior from years in prison is really the beginning of events that lead up to the basic thrust of the story and somehow almost everyone in the novel has a backstory that connects in some way.
Cliff is absolutely one of my all time favorites. He is a mentally challenged boy whose father happens to be the judge on the case that develops into the unjust legal decision and eventually the actual 1992 riots. I have always felt that challenged individuals deserve much more than the marginalized lifestyles that we as a contemporary society provide. Many ancient societies have relegated what we dismiss as something very special. Cliff is challenged, but also happens to be a very intuitively gifted human being whose drawings portend actual future events. Even though his parents are extremely pragmatic, they are forced to consider his gifts.
Cliff is a young upper middle class white boy who is entirely obsessed with the late great comedian Richard Pryor and at very inopportune times, Cliff will perform entire Richard Pryor comedic routines, including much of the original risqué language. Cliff is an innocent who pushes the societal mores to the edge. I have found through fiction the ability to discuss, develop and delve into ideas that no other medium provided me. And as you may know, I am a painter, film maker, photographer, sculptor, designer, who also edits a magazine reviewing art, film and culture.
As a man, do you find it challenging to write female characters ?
Joshua Triliegi: To some extent, yes. That said, I have spent a good many years with women and have had very close relationships with the female gender, both personally and professionally, so on average, I would say that I am not a total buffoon. In They Call It City of Angels, Jordan's girlfriend Wanda and his mom both appeared and bloomed as fully realized characters that I really enjoyed writing for. Cliffs mother Dora is also a very strong female character that I am very proud to have created. Season two presented a special challenge with dialogue between characters that was new territory for me. I have written screenplays in the past, sometimes with collaborators, once with my brother and more recently with my nephew and in Angels, I found it, for the first time, very easy to imagine the conversations and action in a way that was totally new to my process. I would most likely credit that to my own relationships and possibly to the several recent years of interviewing and writing for the magazine in general.
When will we see another season of They Call It The City of Angels ?
We have set a tradition of it being the Summer Fiction Project at the Magazine and since August is a relatively slow month for advertising and cultural events, we will most likely see a Season Three in the summer of 2015. As you may know, I do not take any written notes at all prior to the day that I actually write the chapter, so the characters simply develop on a subconscious level and then during the one month or two week process, I pretty much do nothing at all, but ponder their existence, day to day. This can sometimes be nerve racking as I do plot things out in my head and sometimes even make extreme mental notes, though even then some ideas simply don't make it on the page. During Season Two, I omitted a section of a chapter and later revealed another chapter into a different sequence of events, but besides that it has been a rather straight ahead chapter a day experience that simply pushed me to invent, develop and complete the work of fiction that might have otherwise never existed or possibly taken much more time. I am curious to see how my next project will develop.
What is your next project ?
Joshua Triliegi; I am working on a couple of things of historic importance. Though I can't say much about them. One is an actual event that I have been given permission to portray by the actual estate and I don't know yet if it will be an ' Inspired by ... ' type of Novel or if it will be creative Non Fiction. The other is a fiction piece I have been developing for sometime now.
" I have been writing consciously since I was fourteen, stories, journals, poetry, lyrics, screenplays, but as far as fiction goes, They Call It The City of Angels is probably my first successful project with a major readership and I am very thankful that it happened. Better late than never. "
After that I have a sort of family opus that is probably the most researched project I have ever undergone. I have been writing consciously since I was fourteen, stories, journals, poetry, lyrics, screenplays, but as far as fiction goes, They Call It The City of Angels is probably my first successful project with a major readership and I am very thankful that it happened. Better late than never.
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