Neri Near and Far

My Kind of Pokémon Go – Manuel Neri Figurative Sculpture

I’ve have been a docent at Laumeier Sculpture Park for a few years now. The volunteer job involves introducing visitors to the permanent collection and various more temporary installations. It is a natural thing to do for lifelong art junkie like me. One point I frequently like to suggest to people I meet on tours at Laumeier is to study art they admire, look the artist up online, read about their work and become familiar. If you are fortunate enough to travel and make it your business to seek out art you will surely encounter them again.

Here’s an example of what I mean. I was in Tampa visiting my new grandson. My daughter, son-in-law and barely 3-week old newborn grandson found ourselves in the award winning  architectural edifice known as the Rivergate Tower. On the ground floor stood proudly an imposing figurative sculpture called Espana by Manuel Neri. Neri also created a sculpture, of which I have become fond. Aurelia Roma is on display seasonally at Laumeier Sculpture Park facing south from the estate house. 

Manuel Neri (b. 1930) is an American artist best known for his uniquely painterly figurative sculpture. A member of the “second generation” of Bay Area Figurative Movement, Neri was a prominent figure in the San Francisco art scene. He went on to marry another member of the second generation of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, the painter Joan Brown. Neri was honored by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1984, and was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the International Sculpture Center in 2006. His work is included in numerous public collections, such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Seattle Art Museum.(Source: artnet)

Photos: Espana by Manuel Neri at Riverwalk Tower in Tampa and Aurelia Roma by Manuel Neri at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis in 2016. 

Tampa Time

Lawton, with cooperation from his mom (Lindsey) facilitated a technique of the week art project – footprints of his perfect little feet (acrylic paint on index stock paper). His mom is my daughter. Seeing her in the role of mother to a newborn baby fills me with joy. The Republican National Committee (RNC) convention on CNN provides a backdrop for this meeting of my first grandchild --- a beautiful boy. Donald Trump is bombastic and selling platitudes about making America Great Again all this week from Cleveland. Lindsey and her husband Chris (Lawton’s Dad) practice the logistics of feeding and changing.

Uncle Greg (my brother) is a commercial real estate expert and Uber driver. He is an asset to visiting new grandparents, Lynn and Wes. Our all too brief visit to Tampa is all about the next generation. Lindsey and Chris show Lawton that he doesn’t have to cry long before action is taken. Grandmother Lynn is quick on the draw at Buy Buy Baby, the big box retailer with all the essentials for new parents.

Meanwhile, I have the luxury of this Florida get-away to indulge my passion for fine art. The Tampa Museum of Art is featuring an exhibition of iconic pop artist Peter Max (50 years of cosmic dreaming). The Museum of Fine Art in nearby St. Petersburg has a stunning permanent collection and is currently hosting an exhibition of work by video artist Shana Moulton. Her low tech green screen masking story telling is about her obsessions with health and beauty. She stars as alter ego persona Cynthia. (One of her videos shows Cynthia taking an Avon foot massage bath bowl to the Antiques Road Show in hopes that it is of comparable value to a Zuni pot she sees on television, only to learn that her item is only worth maybe $20.) The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) is showing a retrospective of photos of surrealist photographer Jerry Uelsmann and digital concrete abstract creations by Shai Kremer. Kremer composed with layers of images and textures (2001-2014) from the World Trade Center post 9-11.

Greg treats me to an insider’s tour of the Tampa Bay area between cultural stops. A hockey fan, of course, will point out the Amalie Arena and the residential home of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Vinik. (Go Bolts! JeffreyVinik’s home in the Golfview neighborhood was converted from three houses and looks to be big enough to house the entire team.) The home of Yankee baseball star Derick Jetter in the Davis Islands neighborhood looks to have room for teammates at his place as well. The tour includes Palma Ceia and the well manicured and landscaped neighborhood in which he lives too. Intermittent conversations with Greg draw on shared experiences growing up on Edgewater Drive in Lakewood, Ohio (a west side suburb of Cleveland) and on being Morgan. Time is marked as I get updates about his adult kids (Wes and Matt) and his blended family stepchildren working through colleges in New Orleans (Loyola) and Northern Florida. Ellen (Greg’s wife) and Lynn catch up as only women can – with a shorthand conversation that covers our parents (their in-laws, now deceased), sex, politics, religion, nutrition, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Greg hooks me up with Rocky Patel EDGE cigars at the Arturo Fuente shop in Ybor City before the Columbia Restaurant welcomes us at the bar. (I am thinking about finding a place to light a cigar but the draft Estrella cerveza from Barcelona is not a bad way to kill some time as Greg enjoys a Cuban sandwich.) Greg selects a strategic location to enjoy that cigar near the Tampa Convention Center. He marvels at another picaresque formation of cumulonimbus clouds as millenials in costume mill about Metro-Con and others are busy on their mobile devices in search of Pokémon,

  

By the end of the week, the Republicans are solidly behind Trump as their nominee and the focus shifts to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The political rhetoric is further reminder of the quickly evaporating six day visit to Tampa and the bigger vision of a better and brighter future for our children (and our children’s children). Of course, I can’t help but reflect on Lawton, who I know will grow up with hopes and dreams of his own. He is lucky. He is loved. When you meet him you will love him too. I sure do.

  

Robert Lawton Dewey was born on July 5, 2016 and our Tampa visit was from July 20-26, 2016

A new LAW in town!

A new LAW in town (b. 7-5-2016)

Oh sure, I knew since Christmas that I was gonna be a grandpa. I thought I was ready for it. As the due date got closer and the fireworks of Independence Day celebrations filled the skies in St. Louis, I figured it to be the natural course of things – the circle of life. My baby girl can make me cry at the drop of a hat. (She knows that.) So I should have known that I would be unable to contain my joy at the birth of my new grandson.

Robert Lawton Dewey is a beauty. He is perfect. He was born on the fifth of July (2016) in Tampa, Florida. He carries with him the name Robert – a name that has been part of his dad’s family for generations. I am certain he will grow to know how lucky he is. His dad Robert Christopher (Chris) Dewey and his mom – my own baby girl Lindsey Morgan Dewey have made me so very happy. I know grandma is pretty happy too. We are overflowing with joy. So there is a new LAW in town. He will be going by his middle name. Lawton is his maternal great grandmother’s maiden name. This too brings me great joy. It honors the importance of my mom (baby Dewey’s great grandmother), and moms everywhere.

Remember this little man: The world, it seems may revolve around you, and that is appropriate. But for now, the law of the land for you will be Lindsey law. Listen and learn. Your mom will care for you every step of the way. She will go to bat for you like no-body’s business. Look out teachers, coaches, potential bullys! She knows how to be a mom because she learned from the best. Look out world!

G-d Bless Lawton, Law, RLD, Baby Dewey. Welcome. We love you.     

Greg is Great

Not because he is a captain of industry;

Or because he lives in a time of infamy;

Maybe you should consider another measure;

It is in the subtle things you have to treasure.

He is first to question conventional wisdom;

His home is a castle and family a kingdom.

He is unsure of the path he’ll take;

He is careful to avoid a mistake.

Seeing value in human capital;

He sees good in one and all.  

He  finds a way to put things in check;

More than once walked away from a wreck.

Alive and grateful he says a prayer;

Some of us remember --- because we were there.

Commercial success is only part of the plan;

Today he is profound and a more emotional man.

He makes others see the possibilities in life.

In his way,  he steers people away from strife.

It is a spiritual nature --- and it shows.

Heaven, hell, hereafter --- who knows?   

Sit down for coffee with my brother, the cosmic wheel;

Will turn  you around and you will quickly feel.

The world is a wonderful place;

And there is enough love in it for the whole human race.

Ali Bomaye!

Muhammad Ali faced George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle (1974). The Congolese audience members cheered Ali shouting - Ali Bomaye! The boxer and civil rights champion famously proclaimed himself The Greatest. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion spent a lifetime living up to that billing.

Ali was confident and colorful before the fight in 1974. He told interviewer David Frost, If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait 'til I whup Foreman's behind!  He told the press, I've done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.  Ali was wildly popular in Zaire, with crowds chanting "Ali, bomaye" ("Ali, kill him") wherever he went.

Ali burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War. He became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. He was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight. He turned professional shortly afterward. His knack for talking up his own talents — often in verse. He backed up his talk with action. He relocated to Miami to work with top trainer Angelo Dundee and built a case for getting a shot at the heavyweight title.

Muhammed Ali - January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016

Thanks Mom --- You're the Bomb

Thanks Mom.

No big deal.

You’re the bomb.

That’s for real.

She never leaves.

She’s always there.

She believes.

Can she be everywhere?

Hear her prayer;

As she cuts the crust;

Always fair;

In God we trust.

On the move,

On the phone,

In the groove;

You’re never alone.

At your practice

On your game

From a distance - you hear your name

Win or Lose, it’s the same

Again and again

Thanks Mom

Again and again;

You’re the Bomb

Did I

Thank You?

Did I

Thank You?

You were gracious in line

Did I thank you enough?

Looking back in time

I wanted to be so tough

I  remember it all

In the back of my mind

Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall

Always so very kind

Did I Thank You?

With the passage of time

Did I Thank You?

Of all moms in the world, I’m glad you were mine.

In Memory of Mary Lawton Morgan  - February 26, 1922- May 31, 2011

Gallery Talk and Lunch with Gigi Scaria

Artist Gigi Scaria was center stage at an opening in the new Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center on Saturday 4/16/16. He was at home in spite of the fact that he would be flying to New York City before returning to his home in New Delhi, India in the next 10 days. The exhibition opening event featured a selection of Indian teas and sweets.

The latest of the Laumeier Conversation Series provides an informal setting for discussion about art. Participants are encouraged in this forum to share ideas and ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere. Laumeier Sculpture Park Curator of Exhibitions Dana Turkovic shared a bit about this installment, the latest in this a new series of commissions, collaborations and programs under the theme of New Territories: BRICS, a twist on the economic acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa calls attention to market forces driving the global economy. Gigi Scaria is a follow-up to the exhibition opened in October 2015 by the Raqs Media Collective from New Delhi where  three artists - Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta explored the concepts of fairness in our world. (Raqs outdoor tree installation can still be viewed along trails at Laumeier.)

Gigi Scaria’s towering piece influenced by the woodhenge at Cahokia mounds in neighboring Illinois creates an intriguing gathering place in the gallery.  He visited Cahokia more than two years ago in the context of meetings with Laumeier curatorial staff. Today a work outside is in progress is placed adjacent to the estate house and visible as you make your way into the heart of the park toward the south lawn. Gigi Scaria is interested in symbols and the impact of time on cities around the world.
   

Scaria’s installation for the Kochi Biennale in 2014 – Chronicle of the Shores Foretold is represented along with two other photos in the gallery. Three video presentations are also a part of the gallery exhibition and give a sense of scale in which Gigi works. Chronicle of the Shores Foretold, demonstrates the artist’s ability to integrate location and legend into large scale public works. A 2.5 ton steel bell lifted into place at a small dock serves as a sort of fountain of Arabian sea water spilling through drilled holes.

Over lunch at Vietnamese Restaurant Pho Grand, the artist gracefully responded to questions about his life and art. He smiles for a group shot with Laumeier’s programs manager, docent co-chairs, and registrar/collections manager. Next week Gigi will be aboard a 15 hour flight to New Dehli and we’ll be richer for having shared tea, conversation and a meal. Small world. 

The Kochi Biennal is an international exhibition of contemporary art held in Kochi, Kerala. It is the first Biennale being held in India an initiative of the Kochi-Biennale Foundation with support from the goverment of Kerala. The exhibition was set in spaces across Kochi, Miziris and surrounding islands. The shows were held in existing galleries and halls, and site-specific installations in public spaces, heritage buildings and disused structures.