Sunday, March 2, 2014

You Will Soon Be Like Us

Detail of Blue and Yeller, oil on canvas

Back in the gentrification of the late '80s and '90s, I was aware of all of the beautiful living spaces that did  not have art.  Dramatic lighting of blank or exposed brick walls ruled the day and probably still does.

In  response, I started adding the works of artists in the windows of my buildings.  Some were  local artists and some were national and global artists.  I enjoyed it, because it allowed me to explore painting in another artist's style while incorporating my own heavy-handedness and thick paint. I also often incorporated silhouettes of people admiring the art, inspired by Roger Brown.

I always liked putting this simple evidence of life in my, otherwise quiet and empty streets.  Since I was a kid, whenever walking the streets at night, I always tried to get a peek at what was going on inside the apartments and houses I would pass and still do.

I remember one such walk with my Dad back in '68 or '69.  He pointed out a red glow emanating from the windows of an apartment on our street and said, through his usual gnashed teeth, "See that red light? That means its a whore house."  It was a while before I knew what that meant and even longer before I knew why he appeared to be agitated, but it made an impression on me.

Fast-forward to last fall.  I was working on a painting from my new series and wanted to put something in the window, so I added some simple skulls.  After doing it, I found it was a connection to my earlier work that I thought may have been lost.  I didn't know what they meant and have been unable to figure out what they meant, but I did know that they belonged there.  Steve Jobs once said that "You can't always connect the dots looking forward, but looking back it all [makes] sense."

Well tonight, I connected the dots.

I used to have a photo, clipped from the newspaper in my studio.  It was a picture of a skull and bone installation created by monks in Italy.  Above the doorway, written in bones, was the phrase "Once we were like you. Soon, you will be like us."

It was a reminder to chart one's own course, despite living in a world that wants to make one into something else, to have one kneel at the crotch of power and despite those around one to drag one into their misery.

It's not easy, but it is a fight in which we all need to engage.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing this story Bill. I'm sure it was quite a revelation when you "connected your dots." I love the skulls that are making an appearance in some of your recent paintings!