Curtis Cuffie, New York “street artist”

I remember Curtis Cuffie.  I probably saw him seven or eight times, while visiting New York.  Mostly, it was around Cooper Square.  He’d be building his wild constructions, often next to the chain link fence.

He made much of his art while he was homeless, living on the streets.  Sometimes he could be a little scary.  He’d seem to be angry or upset with you.  You could tell he didn’t want to talk.  Other times, he was a bit friendly.  It was as if he remembered me or saw I was some sort of “fellow artist.”

Sometimes he had a boombox playing various sorts of music including country music, Johnny Cash etc.

The last time I saw him, I gave him a few photographs I’d taken of Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project.  He seemed to enjoy that.

I saw a number of other things he made, that I didn’t get to photograph.  Some amazing work!  There are always amazing and innovative street artists around New York, but he was one of the best.  I loved his artwork.  It was great to be able to watch him work a bit or to encounter one of his pieces.

Sometimes, I’d see it a day later and it would be way different.  Eventually, a lot of his street art ended up in the dump, carted away by the sanitation department!

2001  Exhibit at Intuit in Chicago:

http://www.art.org/exhibitions/archives/2003/nittygritty-03.htm

Obituary:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/arts/curtis-cuffie-47-artist-of-life-on-the-streets.html?pagewanted=1

Here’s more good information on Curtis Cuffie. 

http://www.rovetv.net/cuffie.html

This is a photograph of him, below.  All photos were taken by me, except for this portrait.

Slim’s Bike

Restless Experimentation

There’s an idea in art that you need to throw yourself into the intensity.  If you’re going to find the magic, there’ll always be a few rough patches, a bit of trouble.  There’s a need to disrupt your life.  If you’re getting too safe or too comfortable, then maybe you’d better shake things up a bit.

I always say “forget the habitual short cuts.  They’re ok in their place, but it’s usually better to take the scenic route or the long and difficult path.”

I just started reading Ian Carr’s biography of Miles Davis.  Miles on Charlie Parker: “Bird used to play forty different styles.  He was never content to remain the same.”  Then, years later, Miles  said “That’s what I tell my musicians; I tell them to be ready to play what you  know and above what you know.  Anything might happen above what you’ve been used to playing-you’re ready to get into that, and above that, and take that out.”

Some of us live lives of restless experimentation, sometimes reckless as well.  This is true in music as well as in writing, in the visual arts and more.  Sometimes you just have to push the envelope.

the weight of thoughts and dreams

“Take your first idea and then throw it away.  Try to go against what is easy for you.  Test yourself.”  Will Marion Cook (to Duke Ellington)

I think I transcribed that off of a documentary film on television.  Thus the quote might not be totally exact.  Yet I appreciate the sentiments.

Cook was an influential early jazz musician and composer.  He was an influence on Duke Ellington.  You try to create the music you hear inside of your head (but can’t quite play).  You try to take the pictures you see in your head and make them visible.  Neither comes out quite the same as your initial vision, but it can be close to that.

You can try to turn your art inside out, upside down and backwards but sometimes you just need to let it play out as it is.  Creativity is a trip, a voyage, a journey and a quest.  It’s kind of like life itself, if you’re doing it right.

It Takes All Kinds/ Metissages

 

This is an old text I wrote that I happened upon yesterday:

metissage:  different cultures and peoples interconnecting, mingling, setting off things in each other.  Human life can be a “gumbo” of sympathetic splendor.  It takes all kinds.  Our variety keeps us strong.

If we were all the same, all duplicates of each other, then this world would be poisoned.

To those of us who hold this view we can only stand aghast at our opposites:  only one good nation, only one good religion, white supremacy, male supremacy, the rich and famous are good while the poor and struggling are looked down on, “pretty people” are good and ”ugly people” are bad etc. , etc.

September 20, 1998 (notes in the inside front cover of a small sketchbook)

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These are themes which I’ve returned to over and over again.  I did one piece a “Declaration of Interdependence.”  Let’s co-exist at least!

Breaking these barriers, is a really powerful idea.  It can make the “small-minded” very upset or angry.  Yet, it’s a key direction to explore within the struggle toward “peace on Earth.”  Vive la difference!

The more we move from recognition to acceptance to appreciation to celebration of each other, the better things can be.  Then too, we could evolve in our attitudes toward the earth itself, toward plant and animal life.

We could learn or develop better attitudes towards various “constructs” from nations to religions to economic situations.  We could improve our attitudes toward such human realities as age, gender and health.

What would this world be like if the barriers between nations, faiths and peoples were reduced or “broken down”?  What if more people (and “tribes” of peoples) interacted with nature and the earth more naturally?  We could live together far more truly than we are now, November 6, 2009.

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PS

Looking around for relevant sites on the web I’ve found metissage often (but not always) refers to “mixed marriages” or relationships, inter-racial (and other?)

There are other references toward metissage in art and music.  I recall a reference toward this in Surrealism, but I can’t recall exactly where.

What I’m getting at is not really “globalization.”  In this, too often, money “trickles up” to the rich instead of spreading in other directions.  Yet I am an internationalist and consider myself some sort of citizen of the world.

Nor is it just multiculturalism or simple “brotherhood.”  I’m trying to explore something more complex, mysterious and poetic.  Then eventually, I hope to go into just how all this relates to art and artists.

http://www.zeleza.com/events/african-events/m-tissages-cultural-exchanges

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/french_to_english/other/13400-m%C3%A9tissage.html

http://www.mumi.org/metissages/en/artificiel/vignette.html

ALSO:

Recently I noticed a similarity (with these ideas) in the plant kingdom.  It’s often better to let the species grow wild and intermingle naturally rather than try to have their evolution controlled or directed.

Political Art/ Politics Within Art (take one)

Malcontents

The following statement was written a few years ago as a statement for State of the Union, an exhibit at the Gallery Project in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  It is one of many I’ve written on these topics.  I present it here as a recent example and (as such) fairly concise. :

Only a small portion of my visual art responds directly to current events.  Most of it that does is more subtly political.

To me, making “political art” is like making collages or wire sculptures.  It’s fine when I’m inspired.  I don’t want to force myself to do so or to have any “quotas.”

The works that I entered into this exhibit are most of my more successful political art work.  Ranging from 1991 to 2007, I spoke through various means of “flat art.”

Just because it’s on paper or canvas doesn’t mean that it can’t touch people, move them or even help wake them up.  Art can be a powerful thing.  Authentic art can “political” without trying to be.

Through Surrealism, I learned the difference between “mere artistic propaganda” and authentic works of art informed by politics.

Artistic propaganda has a hard time matching (or keeping up with) the real propaganda which all of us face every day.

To be informed by politics is to seek out, to become aware of and maybe somehow to know the hard truths of this country, of this world.  To be aware is to beware.

It’s a struggle these days, to seek out truth and to see the lies and disguises for what they are.  Art Galleries, theatres, coffee houses, museums and other venues can play an important part in this.

In 2004, I helped organize a huge “political art exhibit” at the Zeitgeist in Detroit.  Working with Eric Mesko, Jim Puntigam and others, a sprawling collection was installed.  Part One (“Reviving the Tree of Liberty”) was before the presidential election.  Part Two (“Restoring the Tree of Liberty”) took place after the election and tried to respond to its outcome.

There was a huge bunker.  There were “mock voting booths” (a cynical voting booth, a Surrealist voting booth etc.).  There were works by many artists as well as collaborations.

To me, it was in part a sort of “laboratory” wherein some of us experimented to get a more complex sense of the relation of politics to art and between the artist and their “duty to reality.”

This exhibit gave me a sense of a part that art should be playing in this world yet, largely, is not.  I’ve long had a strong sense that (both here in the U.S. and totally worldwide) that art and artists are not being allowed to play the part they should be playing.  In fact, one of the many reasons why things are so bad, why trouble is epidemic, is precisely that.

If there was a massive and sustained Renaissance of true art everywhere it would be a strong force for positive change.  The deep artists, the true artists have long been ignored, silenced and marginalized.

There’s even evidence that the devoted artist is one of the last “minority groups” which has scarcely begun to fight for their rights, to make their voices heard.

The reasons for this are many.  We’re spread over so many mediums: visual arts, cinema, music, poetry, theatre, dance, writing and more.  We’re often put upon or exploited by those who should be our friends and allies.  Some art forms are more expensive to make and some less so but they’re all difficult to display, in ways.  Sometimes people can’t tell what’s good and what’s bad, what works and what doesn’t.  True art and “entertainment” are often involved in an unhealthy relationship.  When art speaks deeper truths about what it means to be alive, to be human in this world today, this can inspire fear or disdain.  Power protects its lies.      This list is only the “tip of the iceberg.” 

I believe that this artist’s Renaissance could easily start here, in the Detroit area.  If we can get things going here, it could take off and spread to other places.  Ironically, it was Detroit calling itself the “Renaissance Center” and playing up the city’s coming Renaissance, which got me to believe this.

They’re having a “Renaissance” yet the artists are often treated badly.  Yet Detroit (and neighboring cities) have vast stores of talent, energy and heart.  It’s often tempting to give up but many of us plunge ahead.  Let’s get something going.  Much is possible if we only try. 

An Artist’s Statement from Maurice Greenia, Jr.     (June 16, 2007)

This gallery includes several of my works including “WW3?” a violent, panoramic drawing done in the early 1990’s (for “Gulf war One”) and “Anti-Human Rays From Outer Space..” a fairly large oil painting:

http://www.thegalleryproject.com/exhibitarchive/state/state.html

a review:

http://www.thegalleryproject.com/review_archive/archive/021_stateunion.html

Os Gemeos Mural, New York City 2009

Os Gemeos Mural, August 2009

This is my photo of the Houston Street mural by 35-year old twin brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandalfo.  They’re from Brazil and call their art group Os Gemeos.  I sense a lot of Brazilian flavor in their work.

They designed the mural and did a good part of the painting.  They did have some help with the actual painting, forming a sort of “art team.”

I ran across their mural when I was in New York.  I really like it a lot.  I just got around to searching for pictures and writing about it on “the web.”  I found a lot of really good stuff.

This includes a history of the mural space from Martha Cooper.  She’s a well known photographer of New York graffiti. 

I remember seeing other good murals there too.  This space has always had interesting work.  Layers of good art are painted over other good art.

There are also photos of it being created, photos of the Pandolfo brothers, a New York Times slide show and much more.  I took other photos as well and may post those, eventually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/arts/design/04mural.html

good photos:

http://hypebeast.com/2009/07/os-gemeos-mural-nyc-completed/

includes images of the mural being painted:

http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/2009/07/13/os-gemeos-mural-in-new-york-city/

the history of the space from  Martha Cooper:

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2009/07/martha_cooper_o.php

dedications (R.I.P. Dash Snow, etc.):

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/07/os_gemeos_dedicate_their_new_m.html

http://blog.theartcollectors.com/2009/07/16/os-gemos-finish-nyc-mural-with-dedication-to-dash-snow/

Other work:

http://deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=30

Belle Isle September 12, 1998

On September 12, 1998, there was an odd and mysterious protest on Belle Isle in Detroit.  I was part of it and share these photos I took for the first time.  There’s one more photo which I’ll try to add later.

I determined that it must have been 1998 due to several clues.   My huge street art project on the Hudson’s building in downtown Detroit was nearing the end.  It was imploded the next month in October.

Some say the newspaper strike was “settled” in 1997 but aspects of it carried into 1998 including Judge O’Meara’s decision.

This was a sort of “Wheel of Misfortune.”  Note “No News or Free Press Wanted Here” sign (below, left).

Also, the Wise Fool puppet group was involved.  They started in 1998 so this would have been one of their earlier actions/performances.  The medusa-headed puppet in this photo appears on the “zeitgeist.net” website below.

I believe that this is the late, great Gerald Hairston (left in yellow shirt).  He was a “master gardener” involved in his own sort of green activism.

It was the day after Detroit’s Dally in the Alley party.  We marched across the Belle Isle Bridge onto the island.  As we marched, we played music, made noise and sang.   I played kazoo.

Belle Isle is sort of Detroit’s “Central Park.”  I love it.  It’s great.  I used to take the bus there when I was young, but I get there rarely now.  If it was more “central” I’d get there more often.

Other issues (besides the newspaper strike) included Detroit Casinos, environmentalism, problems with capitalism and being in favor of a sort of “general humanism.”  I remember it as a wild and magical thing.

If anyone was there and has any information, comments or corrections, I’d be glad to hear from you.

Judge O’Meara rules against striking newspaper workers:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/07/us/national-news-briefs-newspaper-strikers-lose-detroit-rehiring-appeal.html

More information on that newspaper strike:

http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7975

The Wise Fool Puppet Group:

http://www.zeitgeist.net/wfca/wfpi.htm

http://www.wisefoolnewmexico.org/history.html

On Gerald Hairston and Grace Lee Boggs:

http://www.kuidaosumi.com/JKwriting/obondetroit.html

Distant Relatives

When that which seems to be related suddenly disconnects, we fall away, disoriented.  What makes us uneasy can sometimes be good for us.  We get a taste of the jarring embrace of opposites.  This can be frightening, or it can be beautiful, even delicious.

Resolving contraries, neither “this” nor “that” can be a program in itself.

The so-called impossible can hold many strange attractions.

Day and night, joy and despair, life and death, nature and technology are all distant relatives, branches of the same family tree.

Perhaps not all contraries are related.  Or if they are, they’re related in strange ways, which many of us cannot imagine.

Dreams can sweep you up, like being borne aloft by a whirlwind.  In sleep, the fall rarely injures us.

Some of us search out these mysteries, even live for them.

Love is infinite and it replicates itself with abandon.

Franklin Rosemont Memorial in Chicago

A group Leaving the Memorial at Newberry Library

I took the Greyhound to Chicago for the memorial event for Franklin Rosemont.  It was on July 11 at the Newberry library.

It went from noon until 3pm or so.  A lot of Franklin’s friends spoke including many surrealists, historians and other friends.

I didn’t take many notes or photos.  I did draw a few pictures.  There was a large crowd.  There were many stories about and thoughts on Franklin and his life.  Don LaCoss talked about a shared affinity for the great Bugs Bunny.  John Bracey, Jr. talked of their college days studying with St. Clair Drake and forming an “anti-poetry club.”  Joseph Jablonski remembered his old friend and read a poem he’d  recently written.  Paul Garon spoke of his love for Black music and the Blues. 

All the speakers seemed to talk of Franklin from their own perspectives, to note some of the ways that he touched them, inpired them, moved them.  Some of the others were Natalia Fernandez Segarra, Noel Ignatiev, David Roediger, Paul Buhle, Peter Linebaugh, Gale Ahrens and Warren Leming.

The program pamphlet included a fine quote from Franklin on the surrealist promise (in part): “This myth, revolutionary, liberatory, exalting–and therefore fundamentally different from other myths–rises from the ashes of the old orders, to announce a new life, a surrealist life.” (yes) “…preparing for the dictatorship of the imagination and heralding the triumph of mad love…”

Afterward, some of us repaired to a local restaurant, for more stories, more visiting.  It was great to see Penelope Rosemont and everyone else.  Some, I’d met before.  Others, I’d written to and/or read their work, but was only meeting them for the first time. 

An excellent remembrance by his friend (and fellow surrealist) Joseph Jablonski:

http://www.yardbird.com/reader_franklin_rosemont.htm

Also:

http://www.surrealistmovement-usa.org/pages/rosemont.html

http://charleshkerr.com/author/1/

http://artremedy20.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/franklin-rosemont-1943-2009/

http://artremedy20.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/franklin-rosemont-and-surrealism/

For A Wilder Laughter

the laughing man in the wood

For a Wilder Laughter!!!

    From: Maurice Greenia, Jr.    June 7, 2007

Of the many serious problems facing the world today, some are rarely mentioned.  One of these is the severe shortage of humor, good jokes, the absolute comic and their glorious residue.

This residue is, of course, human laughter.

There is nothing wrong with smiling or chuckling.  A little humor is better than no humor at all (or ill humor).  Yet, throughout much of this earth, a sense of humor is merely a rumor.

It can be a serious problem for things to be taken too seriously.  Conversely, it can also cause trouble to not take things seriously enough!

Not everyone has the wisdom (and sense of balance) to know the difference.

We believe that if more people laughed more often, it would be a far better world.  Moreover, if more people laughed harder, it would also help.

The intensity and the duration of laughter must not be discounted.

Most books, movies, TV programs, songs, stage plays and jokes provide only brief bursts of laughter.  One thinks it was a “funny show” if one laughs a few times and smiles a few times.

Some of us have nostalgia for those golden days of fierce, even riotous laughter.  Picture yourself in a cinema theatre.  The lights dim and darken.  The audience is as one, in a cloak of anticipation.

The film begins.  Then, from beginning to end, the audience (and you too) just roar and scream with laughter.  The film provides a few spots where one can rest and catch one’s breath.  Yet soon enough, the waves of laughter arise again.  Many people weep.   The tears of joy run down their faces.  Some fall out of their chairs and roll on the floor, hitting it with their fists.  The ushers have to help them back into their seats.

This utopian scenario could soon become a reality.  It only needs to be given half a chance.   In every corner of the world, through every means,  the music of laughter will arise.  Some of us are more susceptible than others.  Some laugh more easily.   Some dream more easily.

Yet if the force of the comic is strong enough, fluid enough, free enough, it is not easily resisted.   Even the sternest of beings can fall under its sway.

Just as important are the targets of this laughter.  Those forces of hatred, exploitation, miserabilism, evil, stupidity, insensitivity, violence, cruelty and indifference often receive a boisterous welcome.  The emperor’s new clothes are shown up to be the nakedness that they are.

Laughter can reveal the truth and throw it back into the face of the lie!

Don’t be afraid to let go and laugh.  Be open to it.   Seek for it.

 (thanks to Dreamers Versus Dangers, Detroit Branch)