On my recent road trip across the American West, I often listened to Springsteen's haunting Americana soaked "Western Stars". 2500 miles from where I want to be indeed. Enjoy.
Memory coats the American West like photographic silver. It only takes a bit of light to bring out the past hiding in the shadows. Driving across the vast landscape, I am conscious of the countless Native American souls that inhabit the land. Many are living and many have passed on. There is a presence in the red dust and auburn rocks that speaks beyond time. I am humbled. My painting "Ghost Rider" is inspired by these shadows of memory. In my work a modern, hat wearing person seems to nod to the ghostly apparition of a Native American rider in the middle ground. I can hear Robbie Robertson's plaintive voice in the distance:
Crow has brought the message to the children of the sun for the return of the buffalo and for a better day to come You can kill my body You can damn my soul for not believing in your god and some world down below You don't stand a chance against my prayers You don't stand a chance against my love They outlawed the Ghost Dance but we shall live again, we shall live again My sister above She has red paint She died at Wounded Knee like a later day saint You got the big drum in the distance blackbird in the sky That's the sound that you hear when the buffalo cry You don't stand a chance against my prayers You don't stand a chance against my love They outlawed the Ghost Dance but we shall live again, we shall live again Crazy Horse was a mystic He knew the secret of the trance And Sitting Bull the great apostle of the Ghost Dance Come on Comanche Come on Blackfoot Come on Shoshone Come on Cheyenne We shall live again Come on Arapaho Come on Cherokee Come on Paiute Come on Sioux We shall live again
Gregg Chadwick Einstein's Dreams 48"x36" oil on linen 2019
Good Morning! Things move at the speed of light in my studio. Getting ready for my next exhibition. Excited to let you know that I will have a booth at The Other Art Fair September 5-8, 2019 in Santa Monica at Barker Hangar. And I will be exhibiting at the inaugural The Other Art Fair in Dallas September 19-22, 2019.
My new painting “Einstein’s Dreams” shifts the focus to the nature of time itself.
“Tonight the riders on Sunset are smothered in the Santa Ana winds And the western stars are shining bright again” - Bruce Springsteen, Western Stars
My new paintings in Surf & Turf at Castelli Art Space are crafted as magic lenses that combine the past, present, and future of Los Angeles. The clear daylight of Los Angeles brought the movie studios out west. And the neon soaked nocturnal light lured writers into the shadows of L.A. As a 17 year old art student at UCLA, I embraced the flickering cinematic light of Hollywood and the poetic light of night and day in the City of Angels. I am continuously inspired by the diversity, history, and beauty of greater Los Angeles.
Gregg Chadwick Los Angeles Inspired Artwork at Castelli Art Space
Castelli Art Space 5428 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles CA, 90016
Gregg Chadwick The Space Age (LAX) 40"x30" oil on linen 2019
I am pleased to invite you to my latest art exhibition:
Surf & Turfat Castelli Fine Arts in Culver City, California - Opening July 27, 2019
Surf & Turf
Featuring New Paintings About Los Angeles by Gregg Chadwick, Brooke Harker, Gay Summer Rick, Teale Hatheway, Alex Schaefer, and John Kilduff
A new group exhibition atCastelli Art Spacein Culver City. Opening Reception - July 27, 2019 6-9 pm Castelli Art Space 5428 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles CA, 90016 RSVPdale@castelliartspace.com
“Tonight the riders on Sunset are smothered in the Santa Ana winds And the western stars are shining bright again” - Bruce Springsteen,Western Stars
My new paintings inSurf & Turfat Castelli Art Space are crafted as magic lenses that combine the past, present, and future of Los Angeles. The clear daylight of Los Angeles brought the movie studios out west. And the neon soaked nocturnal light lured writers into the shadows of L.A. As a 17 year old art student at UCLA, I embraced the flickering cinematic light of Hollywood and the poetic light of night and day in the City of Angels. I am continuously inspired by the diversity, history, and beauty of greater Los Angeles.
Gregg Chadwick Santa Monica Nocturne 24"x36" oil on linen 2019
Castelli Art Space 5428 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles CA, 90016
We encourage readers to contact their representatives and senators to demand a humane border and immigration policy that protects children, values human life, and allows unrestrained access to detention facilities by aid agencies and human service organizations. We also encourage you to visit these sites for more information and ways you can help:
Charles Leslie has spent the last 50 years showcasing and protecting queer art —and now his collection includes 30,000 pieces. Check out the latest episode of Legendary, hosted by @JMunozActor: pic.twitter.com/Hcybov7m56
“I spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody ever made me.”
- Topsy from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Alison Saar's Grow’d sits majestically in L.A. Louver’s open-air Skyroom. Last night, I was privileged to chat with Ms. Saar about her life and work in front of her haunting bronze sculpture. Saar has reimagined Topsy as a strong, fully aware woman. The cotton bale that she sits on has become a throne. And the sickle in her hand has become a harbinger of justice to come. Cotton stalks tied to her hair float like a firmament of earthly stars.
Alison Saar Grow'd 2019 / cast bronze / 78 1/2 x 39 x 38 3/4 in. (199.4 x 99.1 x 98.4 cm) L.A. Louver - June 5, 2019 (photo by Gregg Chadwick)
In 2017-18, Saar created a body of artwork featured in a 2018 solo show at L.A. Louver centered around the character of Topsy. Saar's exhibition entitled Topsy Turvy dove headfirst into the legacy of slavery in America. Douglas Messerli wrote, " Topsy becomes a black heroine threatening patriarchal ideas and seriously challenging male privilege—in short setting the world, as the show’s title suggests, Topsy Turvy." Saar said to us last night at L.A. Louver that she considers Topsy Turvy an angry show. I replied - echoing Spike Lee's 1619 hat - "400 years of built up anger." In 1619 the first enslaved people stolen from Africa were brought to colonial Virginia. Saar's artwork digs into this painful American origin story and brings to light the literal skeletons buried in our soil. For Saar, her artwork summons the collected rage and frustration of our current time. Saar references poet and activist Audre Lorde:
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time… I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate all our choices.”
Saar said that she sees her latest sculpture Grow'd as a hopeful artwork that takes Topsy to a new place. The naïve enslaved girl has grown into a regal presence. She is now in control of her own destiny. Looking at Grow'd I am reminded of Tomi Adeyemi's recent novel Children of Blood and Bone. Shammara Lawrencein Teen Vogue describes Adeyemi's book as a "tale of triumph, that chronicles the journey of Zélie Adebola, a powerful young woman fighting to return magic to her people in the land of Orïsha after it was eradicated by a ruthless king, hell-bent on wiping them out completely." Both Zélie and Topsy fight back against injustice.
Alison Saar Grow'd 2019 / cast bronze / 78 1/2 x 39 x 38 3/4 in. (199.4 x 99.1 x 98.4 cm) L.A. Louver - June 5, 2019 (photo by Gregg Chadwick)
Saar in her artwork takes back forms and stories from African art that were appropriated by Picasso and his circle as they attempted to find a new path but remained trapped in their colonial history. In 2016, Saar's solo exhibit at L.A. Louver Silt, Soot and Smut struck a deep chord with art writer Christopher Knight. He wrote Saar "reminds us that European Modern art in the early 20th century is unthinkable without its profound, complex relationship to Africa. She brings artistic diaspora into play."
I agree with Christopher Knight that "Saar has been making exceptional work for quite some time. A full museum retrospective is overdue."
Alison Saar's Grow'd is on exhibit at L.A. Louver through June 8, 2019.
L.A. Louver
45 North Venice Boulevard
Venice, California 90291
T: 310.822.4955
F: 310.821.7529
info@lalouver.com
Alison Saar L.A. Louver - June 5, 2019 (photo by Gregg Chadwick)
100 years ago today: the U.S. Senate in 56-25 vote adopted what would become the 19th amendment
“The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” #19thAt100
On this day in 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Follow #19thAt100 to read on the complicated and complex history of the women's suffrage movement. #BecauseOfHerStorypic.twitter.com/Qc5FgNilh2
— National Portrait Gallery (@smithsoniannpg) June 4, 2019
On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the #19thAmendment, granting women the right to vote. African American women, however, still faced barriers exercising their right to vote. This could include waiting hours to register, facing violence, or taking new tests. #19thAt100pic.twitter.com/b3RhpehBr3
Gregg Chadwick
Love in Vain ('Frisco)
16"x20" oil on linen 2016
Tucson Train
Bruce Springsteen
I got so down and out in 'Frisco
Tired of the pills and the rain
I picked up, headed for the sunshine
I left a good thing behind
Seemed all of our love was in vain
My baby's coming in on the Tucson train
I come here looking for a new life
One I wouldn't have to explain
To that voice that keeps me awake at night
When a little peace would make everything right
If I could just turn off my brain
Now my baby's coming in on the Tucson train
We fought hard over nothing
We fought till nothing remained
I've carried that nothing for a long time
Now I carry my operator's license
And spend my days just running this crane
My baby's coming in on the Tucson train
Hard work'll clear your mind and body
The hard sun will burn out the pain
If they're looking for me, tell 'em buddy
I'm wailing down at the station
Just praying to the five-fifteen
I'll wait all God's creation
Just to show her a man can change
Now my baby's coming in on the Tucson train
On the Tucson train
On the Tucson train
Waiting on the five-fifteen
Here she comes
