This is a photograph of Salvador Dali & Walt Disney taken in the 1940s. I am guessing that it is in California.
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Art Game II
This is a water colour painting by my cousin, Martha Outt Harns, done in 1987. She is now 87 years old & sadly, lives in a residential facility for Alzheimer’s Disease patients. I wanted to post this as part of the Art Game series as a tribute to the body of work that she left us. This painting shows some degree of Thai dance culture, in terms of the hand & finger positions, but the costume design, as I understand it, is her interpretation or composite of similar costumes from South East Asia.
Art Game III
This is a result of my point & click camera. The Art Game series has inspired me to record the art I see around me in San Francisco on a daily basis. Not all art has to be within the walls of a museum or a palace. It can be part of your daily life, if you let it. I call this one Kitty Cat Sidewalk, not knowing who created it, nor what (if any) name was given to it. It was taken not very far from where I work.
CODA: I had a funny, sweet, naughty, smartest-cat-in-the-world. Her name was Marnie, after the Alfred Hitchcock movie. To the best of my ability to know, the only thing she ever shoplifted was my heart. She was in my life for 15 years, before she died. I miss her very much. To Marnie, my little meow-face!
Art Game IV
Atlas Stands Unnoticed Before The Holy Wisdom
I started this painting in 2007. It was rejected. I repainted it, after years of pain, in 2010, understanding it was growth which caused both the pain & the release of the cause of that pain. Now, the painting is free & in so being, it has released me from much sadness.
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Art Game V Jay Defeo/The Rose
This monumental painting by artist Jay Defeo is one of the most astonishing & spiritually moving works of art I have ever experienced in my life. I first became aware of it several years ago by taking a class called Women In Art History, City College, San Francisco. It's history of having to be removed from an apartment here in San Francisco, due to the eviction of the artist & the story of having the bay window that was it's original backdrop setting removed & a crane used to hoist it to the street-level moving van added to my intrigue of the work. I was impressed by the photographs I had seen & by what I had read about the struggles of the artist. But NOTHING, NOTHING at all could have prepared me for the emotional & spiritual experience of seeing it in real life, real time, minus the bay window that was it's original backdrop. Much has been written about this work. The only thing I can add, with a tone of urgency is: Please, take the time to see this for yourself while it is back in San Francisco, at the Museum of Modern Art. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Photography can certainly show you what it looks like, but you need to experience this in person, as an active viewer, in order to be fully overwhelmed. My paltry words do not do it justice, not at all!
Art Game VI
Art Game VI: Andy Warhol-Knockoff
This is a painting of Andy Warhol @ a cafe entrance on Divisadero Street, San Francisco. I liked the idea of it being more or less street art, not in a museum & not costing several millions of dollars. It's not signed. Post Mortem would make that a bit of a challenge, even freaky. Calling it a knockoff is a tip of the hat to Jean-Claude Van Damme & to Warhol, since they both did the same thing over & over & over. One was a genre artist, the other is an genre actor. Duplication must be in the wrist & the timing. Makes the term monetize seem rather quaint. Enjoy!
Art Game VI
No Smoking Sign. This is the international standard glyph for "No Smoking." It is simple & well designed, making it's simple message obvious to all who can see. Why is it still being ignored by people? This is a question for which there is no simple answer. I hope that by posting this work of functional art, the message can be repeated: You deserve to have a full life that does not include destroying your lungs or harming the environment. Think: if every tobacco field were turned into a forest, how good that would be for the planet! That, alone, is a very exciting concept. Help make it a reality!
Last night, there were very few surprises @ the 87th Academy Awards. Then, Lady Gaga, sang a tribute to the Sound of Music. It was utterly thrilling to witness her vocal virtuosity & versatility. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an intact You Tube version, so the abbreviated version shared here will have to suffice. It seems that there was one, but it got pulled. Her tribute to Julie Andrews was a triumph for both women & proof of the timelessness of well written songs beautifully performed. And, never forget Mary Martin, who originated the role on Broadway!
It’s a shame not to be able to share this in its entirety. But you will have a sense of it, if you did not see the Awards.
Abbreviated Showing of Lady Gaga Singing Tribute to The Sound Of Music–22 February 2015.
The Sound of Julie Andrews
Mary Martin Climbs Every Mountain–Her Wonderful Acceptance Speech!
When Linda Ronstadt was interviewed here in San Francisco @ the long-hidden & splendid treasure of the Nourse Theater, as part of City Arts & Lectures, she spoke about family gatherings that revolved around making music & explaining that her career was an extension of this wonderful experience. Why Rubber Dolly, not forgotten, but not recently on my mind, popped back into place, I shall never know–but I am so glad it did. Our gatherings & music making (that’s a huge stretch of the concept) was more on the street urchin level, but family is where ever you find it, I suppose? How I EVER got away with throwing gravel at passing cars is BEYOND my wildest sensibility, considering how my mother would have beat me into a coma, had she found out how our bicycle-based music was sometimes punctuated. (Maybe it was pre-Anti-War Protest instinct?) At last, what never came out in formal any formal Confession: Confessions of a Former Car Gravel Tosser. Don’t do this, at home, or with others. But, please, do make music, without the gravel.
And the next Rubber Dolly installation is Ella Fitzgerald with some additions & fixes. The strange irony of the “out there” dutch music productions your online bootleg cyberstore pretty much confirms more of the information that Linda Ronstadt shared concerning the nature of how Internet has degraded the business of making a living as a chanteuse.
The final one in this cut (saying it this way to sound as if I am in the business) is by Woody Guthrie. The lyrics are significantly toned down, but you can experience that this is somewhat like linguistics, simply different ways of expressing the same concept. Adios & Ciao!
I was introduced to composer Robert Schumann in a rather conventional manner, via a Music Appreciation course, taught @ Butler University, Indianapolis. I loved Robert Schumann’s music from the moment I heard it. Over the years since being introduced to it, I have played various recordings thousands of times. In this brief You Tube, pianist Jonathan Biss discusses the influence of Robert Schumann on his life. He has become one of the foremost contemporary interpreters of his music. I was fortunate enough to attend his performance of the Schumann Piano Concerto inA-minor. It ranked up there with the interpretation given generations ago by Dame Myra Hess. It’s clear both of them understood the inner sanctum that Robert Schumann expressed via his music. Their gift to the world was/is being able to have the technical expertise & love of the composer & his music & share that with the world.
My father taught me how to use tools. I was not very good at learning this, but eventually, I caught on. I am still not as good at using tools as he was, but even with the small amount of retention I maintained, being able to use tools has helped me help others, and kept me from having to rely on others to accomplish simple tasks. I can trade tool & paint related jobs for computer stuff. I was lucky to have (and still have) a father who cared enough to teach me these things. The “tools” in the photograph were purchased @ Steve’s Candy in Galena, Kansas.
To all Fathers: This is your day, you deserve to enjoy it!
To all Sons & Daughters who have fathers: Thank them!
Of course the tools that my father used were not made from molded chocolate, but I thought it was cute enough to purchase @ Steve’s Candy 500 West 7th Street- Galena, Kansas & mail it back to him, a way of saying “Thank you” & sending love. Hope I can do something like this next year, when the time comes. At 84, we take it one day @ a time.
When I first remember hearing Dusty Springfield, I had no idea that she was not an American. It does not matter in the long haul, but she, more than many others, in the “British Invasion” Era, sounded more like what we grew up with–sort of more American than many Americans, the way we jokingly say more English than the Queen. I miss her. Her legacy is still with & within us, in recordings, You Tube, and the like. But, she is gone, and was taken far too soon.
I gathered a few of these, put them together, just as a way of having a sort of visit with her. I am glad she made it in this country & the interviews, a bit lengthy, perhaps, offer tribute to her from her peers in the music world. It doesn’t get better than that.
Thomas Outt 