This Just Happened

 

I try to live in the moment and take in so many remarkable things. I just have to pause, once in a while and reflect. As I do so I'm kind of amazed at those things that just happen. No plan, Just part of being present.

"Great to have you in my life." Did she just say that? Or is it a random message that has no meaning. It makes me smile nevertheless. There is no denying that we enjoy each other's company. She's more cautious and careful. I have always been confident that things will work out for the best. (Mostly, that has been the truth for me in my charmed life.)  

She said she did not want to get married again. Nine years of divorced life, I guess, makes you want to embrace your independence. Clearly she has made herself indespensible to her four children and those precious grandchildren. In another conversation she said that she never wanted to be a burden in her old age, suggesting that mortality into the eighties might not be worth living. That's when I suggested we get married on her 81st birthday. That proposal has the net effect of "tabling" the agenda item but has the impact of keeping the affection real and fanning the flames a bit. Then, in a card that arrived in my mailbox she suggested she MIGHT marry me on her 81st birthday. (Still not accepting my proposal with a resounding YES but top of mind and kind of magical nevertheless.) So that's on the table for now. I suggested we try not to overthink it. 

I never expected to be a widow. My wife of 41+ years passed nearly two years ago (2/3/2022). During the holiday season there are hundreds of little things that remind me of how lucky we were. We have two remarkable grown children and they each have boys living their best lives at 7 and 7 1/2 years of age. They remind me that there is so much to be joyful about in the here and now. 

I am fortunate to havc been able to get reconnected with someone who brings me back in time. She was my prom date nearly fifty years ago! In November, we went to the theater together to see a play by Bob Dylan (Girl from the North Country, Duluth, Minn. 1934) that wrapped a story around his songs, the lyrics of one song became the message for my holiday greeting card. May you stay forever young.

Stay you. Love, me.

 

Diva Movies Bey and Taylor 2023

 

RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ accentuates the journey of RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR, from its inception, to the opening in Stockholm, Sweden, to the finale in Kansas City, Missouri. The movie opened December 2, 2023 at my AMC theater in Saint Louis. It is about Beyoncé's intention, hard work, involvement in every aspect of the production, her creative mind and purpose to create her legacy, and master her craft. Beyoncé's RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR created a sanctuary for freedom, and shared joy, for more than 2.7 million fans.

Taylor Swift’s THE ERAS TOUR concert film premiered in theaters on Oct. 13, Swift has been overwhelmed by the response. Within the first two weeks of its release, it broke records for ticket sales and grossed over $200 Million. She reflected on the success of the film as a “truly mind blowing thing”.

Well both movies are mind blowing in thier opulence and excess. I don't mean to judge but both gave me some insight into the cultural phenomenon of pop stardom. There is gold in them there there hills in the Billionaire air.

 

The Culture

 

Co-organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art, “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” examines the extraordinary impact of hip hop on contemporary art. Titled after the phrase “for the culture,” this exhibition advances a sweeping and contemporary account of the expansive influence of hip-hop culture and its myriad expressions across the globe. “The Culture” brings together poetry, music videos, fashion, painting, sculpture, photography, and film by some of the most innovative cultural producers of the last 20 years. The exhibition opened in St. Louis on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, and will continues through Jan. 1, 2024. (The exhibition was on view at the BMA from March 26 through July 9, 2023).

The exhibition is curated by Hannah Klemm, SLAM’s former associate curator of modern and contemporary art;  Andréa Purnell, SLAM’s audience development manager; Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator and Interim Co-Director; and Gamynne Guillotte, the BMA’s chief education officer; with Rikki Byrd, the BMA’s curatorial research fellow, and Carlyn Thomas, the BMA’s curatorial assistant.

I had the good fortune of catching Rikki Byrd at the onset of the SLAM exhibition that began on Saturday along with a Block Party on August 19, 2023 (shown above with her mother in front of a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting). I instantly wanted to share this extraordinary exhibit with students of Confluence  Academies’ Old North Campus where I am art teacher to middle school scholars. Rikki lead a tour of eager visitors to the museum on this fun Saturday, The following week I  was able to connect with SLAM’s learning and engagement department and get the ball rolling for a school field trip for maybe 20-25 scholars. I will be back with some students in October (but I will surely be back at the Saint Louis Art Museum before then). 

 

Credits: The Culture advertising features an image drawn from Yvonne Osei video (Born Hamburg, Germany 1990), Real Nigus Don't Die: Thug 2013 by Fahamu Pecou (b NY 1975), Street Shrine 1: A Notorious Story (Biggie) 2019 Ceramic by Roberto Lugo (b Philadelphia1981), Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, 2022 oil and acrylic on fabric by Megan Lewis (b Baltimore 1989). 

Barbieheimer

 

Barbenheimer the simultaneous theatrical realease of Barbie and Oppenheimer on July 21, 2023 was too good to resist (for me) on Tuesday July 25, 2023. The dramatic difference between Barbie—a fantasy comedy by Greta Gerwig and Oppenheimer—an epic biographical drama by Christoper Nolan about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

Barbie is fun, well designed and full of unexpected thought-provoking ideas that celebrate the evolution of the Mattel success with the iconic doll.

Oppenheimer is an intense biopic that gives insight into global politics and dangers of the arms race.

The back-to-back movie experience was rewarding and well worth the time and effort. The five hours in the comfy AMC seats at Creve Coeur 12 in theater 1 and theater 8 gave me a lot to think about. I don’t think I would recommend seeing them back-to-back, however, since they both deserve a lot of post viewing reflection.

Parker On at Off Broaday 2023

We're back at Off Broadway in the Cherokee-Lemp historic district of Saint Louis for Parker Millsap's return on June 2, 2023. I'm with Dave and Linda Shogren and Tom (filling in for Smoking Joe). 

Parker is amazing. He takes the stage and plays with an intensity that touches me as I reflect on this venue, The Rock House, The Pageant, Delmar Hall and Parker's continuing evolution as a performing artist. This time he's with a new configuration of bandmates on drums, keyboards and base. Parker teases the audience with hints of tunes from a new album but delivers a retrospective of Parker Millsap favorites as well. It was a full show, Parker never stopped, Even as he invited his band mates to take a break, Parker went solo so the audience was never left wanting. 

Put Your Hands Up, Pining, Heaven Sent, The Very Last Day, and more, Electric Strato-caster, soft and loud, tender, sweet and powerful. Curtain Call is a new song that served as an encore that wrapped up a remarkable performance that left the standing room crowd with smiles and good feelings as they ambled out into this warm nearly full moonlit Saint Louis night.

Back stage, I managed to get past security assuring them that the guy dressed in all black like Johnny Cash (me) is, in fact, Parker's uncle (and Parker's wife Meg's "favorite" uncle). We laughed about Meg's contention that all of Parker's songs about relationships are about her after all. Thank You Parker. I left inspired and envigorated. You are amazing.

Art Fair 2023

Laumeier again hosted its annual Art Fair on Mothers’ Day weekend May12-14, 2023. 150 artists were selected to show and sell their work. Friday night, judges got a jump on the show and deliberated into the -night to determine the best and most prize-worthy. By Saturday morning winners proudly displayed their achievement in their booth space.

Artist Judges Vaughn Davis Jr., and Artist Gary Passanise, Jennifer Scanlan of the Craft Alliance were impressed by the quality and variety of the participating artists.

Sarah Lorenz painting

Sarah Lorentz landscape painting received an award for excellence saying that she found the Saint Louis region full of unique and wonderful settings for her plein air painting style. Wendy Franklin from Indianapolis was recognized for her more abstract canvases and Indianapolis artist Angie Theiszen’s unique printmaking impressed the judges as well as did Mays Mayhew of Aurora, Illinois. Also notable was the precision painting and almost digital precision Chesterfield, MO arists Sadoth Gonzalez and paintings of Shane Anderson, amazing stitchery of YanFang of Alameda, CA, Jeff Hornung works in wood, and ceramics, leather, jewelry and more.

The Main Stage featured a robust schedule of performances by Beth Bombera, Starwolf, The Kevin Bilchik Band, Boxcar, Western States and more from Friday night through Sunday evening with a stirring finale featuring the Funky Butt Brass Band. Concessions were plentiful and maybe a dozen commercial venders greeted the visitors as they entered the park. There was also a creation station area that invited children and the child at heart to channel some of their creative energy to make a collage or perhaps a self-portrait.

The Annual Art Fair is a major fundraiser for Laumeier and proceeds support the mission of engaging the community through art and nature.

The fair had only a minor interruption with rain on Saturday afternoon – a downpour that lasted perhaps 30-40 minutes. The rain resumed Sunday evening after 6:00p.m. Overall a pretty positive weather weekend at Lauemeier.  

       

 

   

Shane Anderson, MN Painter

Woodworking star from Florissant, MO

The Funky Butt Brass Band performs with finesse on Sunday afternoon.

  

Ask Your Doctor

The pharma industry in the United States has advertising spending well over $6.5 Billion a year (since 2018). Pharma is the fourth-largest spender on TV ads in the country, after retail, financial & real estate and technology.

Maybe I’m watching too much television at home this week. I might overdose on detective Monk, Dateline secrets, Jeopardy or whatever is on. Having invested a chunk of my career lifetime in the advertising business I’m scratching my head though. How can big pharma believe that the billions of dollars invested in prescription drugs is worth the money. (I can only assume that they are raking in so much cash that they have no choice but to throw it at the heavily legislated mass media channels that used to be dominated by packaged goods.)

It's a little frightening. In the past week alone the commercial breaks in my viewing are filled with the alphabet soup of product names that, to me, feel made up. (VERZENIO,TRULICITY, DUPIXENT, KISQALI, KESIMPTA, ENTYVIO, COSENTYX, VRAYLAR, RYBELSUS, ZEPOSIA, MAVYRET, TREMFAYA, NYVGART, ULTOMIRIS, PAXLOVID, OTEZLA, CAPLYTA, REXULTI, SKYRIZI. ENTRESTO. RINVOQ, LYBALVI, JARDIANCE and on and on. These are real products yikes.)

With apologies to those people who might depend on these drugs I am sure that I am not alone in blanking out on most of the messaging except the horrible warnings of consequences of taking these products could cause. It just doesn’t seem worth it. I am a bad customer, I know, because I don’t even take over the counter (OTC) solutions. I guess I’m not a good prospect, especially when the broadcast commands me to ASK YOUR DOCTOR about Breast Cancer, RMS, releaf/remission of something, UC, Migraine, Arthritis, Hep C, Diabetes, Bipolar, Depression, Crohn’s Disease, Heart Failure, Schitzophrenia, Diarrhea, Vomitting, Nausea… I hope my doctor can answer all of those questions.

Do we really need all that medical influence peddling? I think not.  

  

The 10 and The 8

 

Lady in White 1901 by Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) at Saint Louis Art Museum

The Ten, group of 10 American painters who first exhibited together in 1898, in New York City, and continued to do so for the next 20 years. Most members of the group painted in an Impressionist style. Although their work did not differ radically in technique or subject matter from that of the artists who participated in the large annual exhibitions of the Society of American Artists and the National Academy of Design, they chose to exhibit independently, hoping to draw public attention to their paintings. The members of the Ten were Childe Hassam, John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, Thomas W. Dewing, Joseph De Camp, Frank W. Benson, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Edmund Tarbell, Robert Reid, and E.E. Simmons. When Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase replaced him as leader of the group.

10th Street Studio, 1880 by William Merritt Chase at Saint Louis Art Museum

The Eight, group of American painters who exhibited together only once, in New York City in 1908, but who established one of the main currents in 20th-century American painting. The original Eight included Robert Henri, leader of the group, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson, Maurice Prendergast, George Luks, and William J. Glackens. George Bellows later joined them. The group’s determination to bring art into closer touch with everyday life greatly influenced the course of American art.

McSorley's Bar, 1912 by John Sloan

Betalo Rubino Dramatic Dancer 1916 by Robert Henri

Quick-to-See and Ringgold

 

Image above from 4-23-23 Sunday New York Times Juane Quick-to-See Smith work at the Whitney Museum

Challenge: Compare and contrast Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Faith Ringgold

The Sunday New York Times has always been a source of inspiration and a vehicle of focus on art and artists. This week a feature of the work of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith to be exhibited at the Whitney reminded me of another artist of whom I had grown to admire, Faith Ringgold. Ringgold has also been featured in the New York Times in recent years.

The New York Times described part the process of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith current exhibitions as follows: “She started placing newspaper clippings on her canvases and painting around and over them. As the idea took hold, she made the layouts more purposeful: juxtaposing excerpts from The New York Times and the Flathead Reservation’s Char-Koosta News, as well as other printed snippets, that, when read together, became suggestive and rhythmic, creating what Smith calls her “rap.” She added found images, bits of fabric, and more expressive passages of paint, all of it simmering behind large, simply rendered icons, like a canoe. In 1992, she hung above one such canvas a series of objects featuring racist Native stereotypes, including a baseball cap from the Cleveland Indians. With a twist of dry humor, she titled her piece, which stretched 14 feet long, “Trade (Gifts for Trading Land With White People).”

Above: Tar Beach II by Faith Ringgold - image also from the New York Times a few years ago. (A quick review shows Ringgold was featured in New York Times several times since 2019).

I can not help but draw a comparison with Faith Ringgold. The New York Times describes Faith Ringgold: Born in Harlem in 1930, Ringgold was the youngest of three children of Willi Posey Jones, a fashion designer and a seamstress who stimulated her daughter’s creative streak; the little girl grew up in a household surrounded by fabrics and textiles. After graduating from college, she produced paintings and posters in the 1960s that focused on the civil rights movement and on race relations in the United States. She also mounted protests against the underrepresentation of women and African-Americans in museum collections. In 1980, she started making quilts — the first one being a collaboration with her mother — and has to date produced more than 130. They are among her best-known works.

So Ringgold (born 1930) represents the Harlem Renaissance while Quick-to-See (born in 1940) is an artist who recalls the legacy of indigineous people in this country. Both uniquely american stories.

Exploring the context of artists and their work will inevitably encompass historic realities. Those realities will always transend mere facts and dates. I cannot help thinking about the role the artist plays in communicating the impact as well as the reflection of society. Furthermore, I often think about the role museums, critical review and attention generated by artists generate thoughtful public discourse.

Studio Mosaics 2023

 

The Mosaic Art Project

Wesley Morgan

Saint Louis, MO

Each piece is made of recycled

materials and reclaimed 

cardboard and

glue (Elmer's)