Darkness on the Edge of Town - 44 Years Down the Road

 by Gregg Chadwick

44 years ago today, Bruce Springsteen's fourth album Darkness on the Edge of Town was released. The wide open romanticism of Born to Run was missing from this new album. Instead we were greeted with a powerful mix of Steinbeck, Hopper, Woody Guthrie, and Springsteen's unleashed guitar. Bruce's new guitar sound was both lyrical and powerful. I put that sound into my artistic toolbox and pull it out when I need to. In the opening track Badlands, Springsteen howls that "It ain't no sin to be glad your alive." I've held on to that line as a call to action ever since. 

Gregg Chadwick
Love In Vain (Castro - San Francisco)
16"x20"oil on linen 2016

I had just finished my freshman year at UCLA and  this was my first summer on the Monterey Bay in central California. The pace of life was so much slower than Los Angeles or Washington DC and I found time for study and reflection in the hours after my temp job finished. I would go for a run through Point Lobos after work to clear my head and then would sit with East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath until the sun went down. I would paint late into the night trying to get these new inspirations onto canvas. I had a lot to learn but I was dogged and I let my failures lead me onto new paths. 

Gregg Chadwick
This Machine Kills Fascists - Woody Guthrie
14"x11"oil on linen 2012
Peter Himmelman Collection, Los Angeles

The highways around Monterey were wide open in the late 1970's. Like a character in a Springsteen song I would drive to find out where I was going. Images that still need to be painted flooded in:

Early morning light on farm workers in the fields outside Salinas.

The crumbling docks of Cannery Row seemingly melting in the sea air.

Rows of US soldiers waiting their turn on the target line at Fort Ord.

The seaside chimera of Santa Cruz glowing in the morning fog.

Gregg Chadwick
The Opal's Rim (Point Lobos)
72"x48"oil on linen 1997
Private Collection, Los Angeles

On July 1, 1978, I took Highway 101 up from the Monterey Bay to Berkeley. I met my brother and his future wife Cathy at the edge of the UC campus and we wandered until we found the Berkeley Community Theater. Throughout my high school years in the suburbs of DC, my older brother Kent was studying at UC Davis and I cherished the moments we had together. Each time we reunited seemed like an epiphany. We talked and argued about life, art, politics, poetry, spirituality and music. We had seen a few concerts together on the east coast starting with a J Geils gig in Asbury Park. But neither one of us had seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play live. Until that night in Berkeley. 

The concert was a revelation, almost a rock n' roll revival. But there was also an undercurrent of pain and empathy like the Darkness album itself. Springsteen's 1978 guitar improvisation opening to Prove It All Night got us all out of our seats. 

Two songs stood out for me that night. The first was Springsteen's haunting, solo piano version of The Promise which became a sound that I tried to get into my paintings from that day forward. 

The second was Bruce and the E Street Band's electrifying version of Because the Night. 

I knew that Springsteen had penned Because the Night and then given the not quite finished work to Patti Smith to complete and record. I took that song on as my romantic talisman. Somewhere down the line I knew I would find a partner who would feel the passion from those haunting lines and that searing music just as I did. My wife, MarySue, and I found each other in 2003 and  our friend, the singer/songwriter Kelly Colbert performed a scorchingly hot version of Because the Night at our wedding on 7/7/07.

MarySue and Gregg at Their Wedding  7/7/07
photo by Sabine Pearlman

My artistic landscape was growing in the Summer of 1978 and Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town provided a soundtrack for the film of my life. And most importantly Darkness inspired me to find the stories that I wanted to tell in my art and life. 

Happy Birthday Walt Whitman

 by Gregg Chadwick

Gregg Chadwick
The Wound-Dresser
(Walt Whitman, Washington D.C., US Civil War, 1865)
30” X 24” oil on linen 2011

"The eyes transcend the medium."-R.B. Morris (Poet, Musician, Songwriter)   

Walt Whitman's poetry is a continual source of inspiration for me. Whitman's life story is also deeply moving. In December 1862 Walt Whitman saw the name of his brother George, a Union soldier in the 51st New York Infantry, listed among the wounded from the battle of Fredericksburg. Whitman rushed from Brooklyn to the Washington D.C. area to search the hospitals and encampments for his brother. During this time Walt Whitman gave witness to the wounds of warfare by listening gently to the injured soldiers as they told their tales of battle.  Whitman often spent time with soldiers recovering from their injuries in the Patent Office Building (now home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum), which had been converted into a hospital for much of the Civil War. Walt Whitman's experiences in Washington deeply affected his life and work and informed the core of his writing. 

Robert Roper's Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers in the Civil War is an indispensible account of Whitman's time in Washington during the war.  Roper's book examines the Civil War through the experiences of Walt Whitman and provides new findings on the care of wounded soldiers both on the battlefield and in large hospitals in the capital and its environs. Roper also focuses on Whitman's emotional relationships with the  wounded troops he nursed. Walt Whitman journeyed from New York to find his wounded brother George and in the process Walt became a brother to thousands of wounded comrades. Whitman's volunteer work as a nurse during the Civil War is a story that needs to be told in all mediums.

Video by Kenneth Chadwick

The Wound Dresser
by Walt Whitman

An old man bending I come among new faces,
Years looking backward resuming in answer to children,
Come tell us old man, as from young men and maidens that love me,
(Arous’d and angry, I’d thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war,
But soon my fingers fail’d me, my face droop’d and I resign’d myself,
To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead;)
Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions, these chances,
Of unsurpass’d heroes (was one side so brave? the other was equally brave;)
Now be witness again, paint the mightiest armies of earth,
Of those armies so rapid so wondrous what saw you to tell us?
What stays with you latest and deepest? of curious panics,
Of hard-fought engagements or sieges tremendous what deepest remains?

O maidens and young men I love and that love me,
What you ask of my days those the strangest and sudden your talking recalls,
Soldier alert I arrive after a long march cover’d with sweat and dust,
In the nick of time I come, plunge in the fight, loudly shout in the rush of successful charge,
Enter the captur’d works—yet lo, like a swift-running river they fade,
Pass and are gone they fade—I dwell not on soldiers’ perils or soldiers’ joys
(Both I remember well—many the hardships, few the joys, yet I was content).

But in silence, in dreams’ projections,
While the world of gain and appearance and mirth goes on,
So soon what is over forgotten, and waves wash the imprints off the sand,
With hinged knees returning I enter the doors (while for you up there,
Whoever you are, follow without noise and be of strong heart).

Bearing the bandages, water and sponge,
Straight and swift to my wounded I go,
Where they lie on the ground after the battle brought in,
Where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground,
Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or under the roof’d hospital,
To the long rows of cots up and down each side I return,
To each and all one after another I draw near, not one do I miss,
An attendant follows holding a tray, he carries a refuse pail,
Soon to be fill’d with clotted rags and blood, emptied, and fill’d again.

I onward go, I stop,
With hinged knees and steady hand to dress wounds,
I am firm with each, the pangs are sharp yet unavoidable,
One turns to me his appealing eyes—poor boy! I never knew you,
Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you.

On, on I go, (open doors of time! open hospital doors!)
The crush’d head I dress (poor crazed hand tear not the bandage away),
The neck of the cavalry-man with the bullet through and through I examine,
Hard the breathing rattles, quite glazed already the eye, yet life struggles hard
(Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death!
In mercy come quickly).

From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand,
I undo the clotted lint, remove the slough, wash off the matter and blood,
Back on his pillow the soldier bends with curv’d neck and side-falling head,
His eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look on the bloody stump,
And has not yet look’d on it.

I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep,
But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted and sinking,
And the yellow-blue countenance see.
I dress the perforated shoulder, the foot with the bullet-wound,
Cleanse the one with a gnawing and putrid gangrene, so sickening, so offensive,
While the attendant stands behind aside me holding the tray and pail.

I am faithful, I do not give out,
The fractur’d thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen,
These and more I dress with impassive hand (yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame).

Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad,
(Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d and rested,
Many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips).

Below is a rich description from Walt Whitman's Diaries that captures his experience as a nurse:

"DURING those three years in hospital, camp or field, I made over six hundred visits or tours, and went, as I estimate, counting all, among from eighty thousand to a hundred thousand of the wounded and sick, as sustainer of spirit and body in some degree, in time of need. These visits varied from an hour or two, to all day or night; for with dear or critical cases I generally watch’d all night. Sometimes I took up my quarters in the hospital, and slept or watch’d there several nights in succession. Those three years I consider the greatest privilege and satisfaction, (with all their feverish excitements and physical deprivations and lamentable sights) and, of course, the most profound lesson of my life. I can say that in my ministerings I comprehended all, whoever came in my way, northern or southern, and slighted none. It arous’d and brought out and decided undream’d-of depths of emotion. It has given me my most fervent views of the true ensemble and extent of the States. While I was with wounded and sick in thousands of cases from the New England States, and from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and all the Western States, I was with more or less from all the States, North and South, without exception. I was with many from the border States, especially from Maryland and Virginia, and found, during those lurid years 1862–63, far more Union southerners, especially Tennesseans, than is supposed. I was with many rebel officers and men among our wounded, and gave them always what I had, and tried to cheer them the same as any. I was among the army teamsters considerably, and, indeed, always found myself drawn to them. Among the black soldiers, wounded or sick, and in the contraband camps, I also took my way whenever in their neighborhood, and did what I could for them."

More on Walt Whitman during the Civil War at:
Whitman's Drum Taps and
Washington's Civil War Hospitals


More on RB Morris at:
RB Morris.com

Note: Post is a lightly updated version of my May 31, 2012 essay on Walt Whitman. 

On Memorial Day The Past Is Present | Carrie Mae Weems and the 54th Regiment

In honor of #MemorialDay, artist Carrie Mae Weems (

@WEEMSCarrie

) and Carl J. Cruz, descendant of the first Black soldier to win the Medal of Honor, reflect on the connections between The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and ongoing struggles today.

Battle Of The Brush: Walter Sickert Vs John Singer Sargent With Waldemar Januszczak

In this video Waldemar Januszczak presents this battle between two of the early 20th Century's best-loved painter, Walter Sickert & John Singer Sargent. The film focuses on some of the most beautiful and alarming paintings ever made in the UK; evokes the long-lost atmosphere of Edwardian London; and above all, shows that these two immigrants were waging a war over nothing less than the future soul of British art.

Jimmy Kimmel on Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas

Jimmy responds to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and talks about 89% of Americans wanting background checks, our cowardly leaders listening to the NRA instead of the people they actually represent, firearms becoming the #1 leading cause of death for American children and teens, Ted Cruz speaking at an NRA event this weekend, the 27 school shootings so far this year in America, and making sure that lawmakers do something about common-sense gun laws. If you can, please support Everytown in their fight against gun violence. https://www.everytown.org/

The front page of the paper here in Uvalde this morning. pic.twitter.com/rU5NaQ2M8Z

— Nora Neus (@noraneus) May 26, 2022

 

"Ohio" as performed by the Kent State University Chorale

In remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the events of May 4, 1970, and the release of the song, "Ohio:, the Kent State University Chorale performs a very special acapella version of "Ohio." this version was requested by, and approved by Neil Young.

Happy Birthday Robert Johnson

Favorite Robert Johnson Song - "Love In Vain"
Created a painting with the same title in honor of Johnson.
Favorite cover - Cassandra Wilson – “Come On In My Kitchen” pic.twitter.com/1Xm8GUDX47

— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) May 9, 2022

U2's Bono and the Edge give surprise concert in Kyiv metro

#SlavaUkraini! 

Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents Virtual Opening

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Join Stephanie Herdrich, Associate Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, and Sylvia Yount, Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge—both of the American Wing—for a virtual tour of "Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents." This ambitious survey reconsiders Homer’s work through the lens of conflict, a theme that crosses his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates his art—from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction that examine the effects of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and formerly enslaved to dramatic scenes of rescue and hunting as well as monumental seascapes and dazzling tropical works painted throughout the Atlantic world. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Homer’s iconic "The Gulf Stream" (The Met), a painting that reveals his lifelong engagement with charged subjects of race and the environment. Featuring 88 oils and watercolors, "Crosscurrents" represents the largest critical overview of Homer’s art and life in more than a quarter of a century. The exhibition is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation. Corporate sponsorship is provided by Bank of America. Additional support is provided by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, White & Case LLP, the Enterprise Holdings Endowment, and Ann M. Spruill and Daniel H. Cantwell. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The National Gallery, London. The catalogue is made possible by the William Cullen Bryant Fellows of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additional support is provided by the Wyeth Foundation

Invest in art AND health at the 43rd annual Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction!

 

🚨 Bidding Time!🚨 There are just hours left to bid on 200+ artworks and support @VeniceFamClinic s mission to provide vital health care services to people in need. Don't Delay—the auction closes at 6 p.m. today! ⏰
Place your bid now: http://artsy.net/veniceartwalk.

H.E.R. Celebrates Prince in Minneapolis

It’s more of Purple Rain from ⁦@HERMusicx⁩ in her debut in ⁦@prince⁩ ‘s hometown ⁦@ArmoryMn⁩ pic.twitter.com/lO08oSo6Hs

— Jon Bream (@jonbream) April 30, 2022

Jon Bream writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that "Minneapolis matters to H.E.R. The Oscar- and Grammy-winning R&B star signaled that with her purple outfit on Friday night at the Armory in Minneapolis. She expressed it in words, acknowledging that she dressed in tribute to Minneapolis' most famous musician, and spoke of how Prince was a major influence. She also nodded to him musically, playing the climactic guitar section of "Purple Rain" at the end of a brand-new song."

Gregg Chadwick
H.E.R.
36”x36” oil on linen 2021

 

Happy Earth Day!

 

Happy #EarthDay! Today, as we collectively celebrate our beautiful planet, we are reminded of the urgent need to #ActOnClimate NOW. We must recommit ourselves to promoting and enacting solutions that will safeguard our planet for generations to come.

From the World Wildlife Foundation :

"Polar bears rely heavily on sea ice for traveling, hunting, resting, mating and, in some areas, maternal dens. But because of ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change–the primary threat to polar bears Arctic-wide–polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the US under the Endangered Species Act in May 2008. As their sea ice habitat recedes earlier in the spring and forms later in the fall, polar bears are increasingly spending longer periods on land, where they are often attracted to areas where humans live."

Pictured:

1. Gregg Chadwick

"Ice Rider"

7"x5" oil on panel 2022

Link at https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Ice-Rider/25560/9262779/view

2. Gregg Chadwick

"The Greatest Of Wanderers"

54"x54" oil on linen 2021

Honored that Saatchi Art has featured my painting "The Greatest Of Wanderers"

in their new Earth Day Collection - "One World, One Earth"curated by Aurora Garrison.

Link at - https://www.saatchiart.com/.../One.../1088288/666643/view

#contemporaryart #SaatchiArt #ArtoftheDay #artgallery #art #emergingart #activistart #artactivism #animalart #earthday #polarbear #modernart #discoverart #wildlifepainting #animalpainting #animalartistry #artwithamessage ⁠

#socialjusticeart #artforsocialchange #artforchange #contemporarypainting #happyearthday #earthdayeveryday

Venice Family Clinic Art Walk: Benefit Auction 2022

 

Gregg Chadwick,

Tax the Rich (AOC

12”x9” oil on panel 2021

On exhibit and up for bidding in Venice Family Clinic Art Walk: Benefit Auction 2022

Excited to let you know that my oil on panel painting Tax the Rich (AOC) is up for auction at this year’s Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction You can see my artwork and more than 200 other artworks in person at the Venice Art Walk Gallery in Santa Monica Place and bid on the works at artsy.net/veniceartwalk until May 1, 2022.

Invest in art AND health at the 43rd annual Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction!

From April 15 - May 1, art lovers and supporters can bid on more than 200 artworks by established, mid-career, and emerging artists such as Chuck Arnoldi, Gary Baseman, Andrea Bowers, Bumblebee Loves You, Richard Bruland, Gregg Chadwick, Trine Churchill, Rosson Crow, Alexandra Dillon, Sam Durant, FriendsWithYou, Todd Gray, Lauren Greenfield, Channing Hansen, Deborah Lynn Irmas, KAWS, Lynne McDaniel, Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha, Analia Saban, Marc Trujillo, Zoe Walsh, Brenna Youngblood, and many more. View all of our 2022 participating artists.

Since its inception, Venice Art Walk has engaged generous artists and collectors to raise more than $23 million to provide vital health care to people in need throughout Los Angeles County. We are proud of our legacy in the art community which helps make it possible for Venice Family Clinic to provide essential health care to 45,000 people from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay—an area where more than 430,000 people still need services.

Join us in bringing health care and justice to Angelenos in need by acquiring art work here!

To receive a preview catalog on April 11, subscribe to our Venice Art Walk mailing list.

To view the art in-person, visit us at our first-ever Venice Art Walk Gallery at Santa Monica Place (395 Santa Monica Pl., Santa Monica, CA 90401). Venice Art Walk Gallery will be open to the public April 15 - May 1, every day, from 12pm–6pm PDT.

Bidding will be open exclusively on Artsy and will close at 6:00pm PDT (9:00pm EDT) on Sunday, May 1, 2022.

All works will ship from Los Angeles, California. Shipping costs are the responsibility of the buyer. Sales tax may apply. Please contact specialist@artsy.net for any inquiries.

#VeniceFamilyClinic #venice #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #contemporaryfineart #artcollection #modernart #GreggChadwick #VeniceArtWalk #VeniceArtWalkGallery #InvestInArt #InvestInHealth

Excited that my painting "Tax the Rich (AOC)" is up for auction at this year’s #VeniceFamilyClinicArtWalk & Auction. On exhibit with 200+ artworks at the Venice Art Walk Gallery in Santa Monica Place. Bid online at https://t.co/hlfFe2rXr4 until May 1, 2022 @VeniceFamClinic pic.twitter.com/IFopZpJoEL

— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) April 21, 2022