Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Regina Wilson, Syaw (fish-net) , acrylic on linen 62.99" x 78.74"   "You've been looking too closely at pictures. Why don't you swap them for some long horizons?" - Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines    Recently Cassiel asked me what my richest visual memory was. It didn't take me long to answer- "Night in the Australian outback - somewhere on the way to Alice Springs from Perth on a desolate dirt road. Above the Southern Cross gleams in a lapis sky as it goes black and up ahead a fire glows in the shell of a burned out Holden automobile. Silhouetted figures flicker and bob like tongues of shadow in front of the orange glow. " "Wow", Cassiel said. "Who were they out in the middle of nowhere? But it wasn't really nowhere was it? Everywhere is somewhere." Caught in my visual reverie, I missed the profound truth my daughter expressed.  Today as I wandered through the exhibition of Australian artist Regina Wi...

Bruce Conner Burning Bright 1996, Collection SFMOMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a new art blog: Open Space . The current posts on the recently deceased Bruce Conner are thought provoking. I am intrigued by the account of Conner's fervent disagreement over a proposed retrospective with then director Henry Hopkins: "Conner’s relationship with SFMOMA was notoriously troubled. As Conner recounted in 1979 (in an interview published in Damage and reprinted in Stiles and Selz, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art), Henry Hopkins, then the museum’s director, had proposed doing a retrospective of the artist’s work to date. But they couldn’t agree on certain things. Conner wanted to take part in curating his own history, and demanded a role in the conservation of assemblages that he’d originally intended to change over time. He also wanted his show to be free – the museum wanted to charge $2 admission fee – or at least to share in a percentage of the earnings from ...

Mat Gleason , publisher of Coagula, has curated a group show in Los Angeles which opens this week. The premise was simple. Each artist was given a $2 bill in US currency and encouraged to create an artistic interaction. My approach was historical. Thomas Jefferson graces the front of the two dollar bill. On the reverse is a depiction of Jefferson and the Continental Congress presenting the Declaration of Independence. I spent part of my childhood in Charlottesville, Virginia and as a kid loved to visit Jefferson's home at Monticello as well as the Jefferson designed campus at the University of Virginia. Before moving to Virginia my family had rendezvoused with my father in Paris as he returned from the Vietnam War. Jefferson's love of Paris and his influence on the French Revolution of 1789 was presented in detail on our tours. I was entranced with this complex figure. And also perplexed. How could a lover of liberty and the author of the Declaration of Independence justify own...

Santa Monica artists Gregg Chadwick and Gerard Bourgeois will be exhibiting their artwork at the Julie Nester Gallery in Park City, Utah in the exhibition Moving Pictures . The Julie Nester Gallery, named by Salt Lake Magazine as "the best gallery in Utah", celebrates its new gallery location with a group exhibition. The inaugural show features new work from each of the gallery's 35 national artists. Gregg Chadwick The Sound of Silk (detail) 2008 Greg Marshall in the Park Record writes: "Since opening in 2004, the Julie Nester Gallery has specialized in contemporary art and represents mid-career and nationally recognized artists. 'We're focusing on bringing art that's never been seen in Utah. The size of the gallery gives art room to breathe', Nester said. The gallery departs from the mountain motif popular in many galleries in Park City. 'I would say it's a different level of sophistication. Some of the work here can be a little more di...

Rachid Taha's version of the Clash's Rock el Casbah Rachid Taha plays live in Los Angeles on July 12, 2008 as part of the free Grand Performances Series at California Plaza. The event starts at 8pm. (Rachid Taha will also play the next afternoon at Stern Grove in San Francisco) On 7/13/05 I wrote: “Unity is a universal message.” Rachid Taha Backstage at a Clash concert in the early '80's, the young French-Algerian singer Rachid Taha pressed a demo tape of his own mix of punk, rock and middle eastern music into Joe Strummer's hands. Rachid Taha didn't hear back from the Clash. But shortly after their backstage meeting, the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" made it onto vinyl. The song could have been written by Taha. “I like Joe Strummer. We have the same obsession - freedom,” says Rachid. When he heard of Strummer's recent death, Taha recorded his own version of the Clash song: "Rock el Casbah " as a tribute. Watching video clips during ...

"Did you hear the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do..." "Back in the day when I was a fixture on the Asbury Park boardwalk, I'd often stop and talk to Madam Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge. I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach, and watched as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good - she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is - we need our fortunetellers. We send our condolences out to her family who've carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her." --Bruce Springsteen More at: Madam Marie Daniel Wolff's Excellent Book: 4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land

Gregg Chadwick The Sound of Silk 40"x90" (Triptych) oil on linen 2008

We were at Kepler's Bookstore this weekend and had a good laugh while reading Erich Origen and Gan Golan's politically inspired parody of the children's classic Goodnight Bush . “Goodnight earth? Goodnight heir? Goodnight failures everywhere.” In this month of graduation speeches and thoughts of the road ahead, one future date stands out: 1/20/09. On his recent tour Bruce Springsteen has been playing the haunting title track off his new album Magic . The song is like a nightmare - the nightmare of the last eight years. Good news is at hand though, " the coming end of the worst presidency ever." I got a coin in my palm I can make it disappear I got a card up my sleeve Name it and I'll pull it out your ear I got a rabbit in my hat If you want to come and see This is what will be, this is what will be I got shackles on my wrist Soon I'll slip 'em and be gone Chain me in a box in the river And I'll rise singin' this song Trust none of what you hear...

Politics and art are in my blood. I went to High School in Northern Virginia where the human side of government is as much a part of daily existence as a morning coffee (espresso in my case). Meet the Press on Sunday mornings was a topic of discussion throughout the week. My dad did his best to stay out of the press while others embraced the glare. I stood on the sidelines watching and making images - much as I do now. On television it seemed that Tim Russert was happiest when he was in the thick of it. And Tim was happiest when he honored his father and his fatherhood. On this father's day my son Cassiel is here with me as I write. And my father is in the thick of it in Africa. We send our best to Bob Chadwick, my brother Kent Chadwick, my father in law Ralph Heilemann, my brothers in law Paul Heilemann and Tom Bavlnka as well as my artistic comrades in arms Alan Caudillo, Sergio Arau, Gerard Bourgeois, Phil Cousineau, RB Morris, Sheldon Greenberg, Mikkel Aaland, Grady Harp, Rob ...

- wall art by Banksy “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.” - Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, United States Supreme Court Foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba have constitutional rights to challenge their detention by seeking appeal in United States courts, the Supreme Court ruled today. Guantánamo Bay photo by Todd Heisler/The New York Times The New York Times reports: "Anthony Coley, a spokesman for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said: “When Congress passed the Military Commissions Act in 2006, Senator Kennedy called the act ‘fatally flawed’ and said ‘its evisceration of the writ of habeas corpus for all noncitizens is almost surely unconstitutional.’ Today, the Supreme Court agreed, and rejected the Bush administration’s blatant attempt to create a legal black hole beyond the reach of the rule of law.” Complete text of the Supreme Court decision on Guantánamo at: BOUMEDIENE ET...

a documentary by Kevin R. Wright USMC "Approximately 20,000 African American recruits received training at Montford Point Camp (less than 10% of the Marine Corps end strength) during World War II. The initial intent of the Marine Corps hierarchy was to discharge these African American Marines after the War, returning them to civilian life - leaving the Marine Corps an all-white organization. Attitudes changed and reality took hold as the war progressed. Once given the chance to prove themselves, it became impossible to deny the fact that this new breed of Marine was just as capable as all other Marines regardless of race, color, creed or National origin."

Nice words from Japan: 日本での個展が開かれるのを楽しみにしています "We hope that his exhibition would be held here in Japan someday, really." Me too... Thanks minestronek at lolalways.exblog.jp

Roy Lichtenstein Masterpiece Photo: Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery In the New York Times, Roberta Smith has a nice piece on the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery in New York: "This show makes especially clear how Lichtenstein’s work functions as a kind of primer in looking at and understanding the grand fiction of painting: the thought it requires, its mechanics, its final simplicity and strangeness. These great paintings convey all this in a flash of pleasure, compounded by the thrill of understanding." Roy Lichtenstein Girl at Piano Photo: Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery Coming Up: Opening at Gagosian in Beverly Hills on June 14, 2008 is Denise de la Rue's photo exhibition - Matador . More at: New York Times on Lichtenstein: Girls Lichtenstein at Gagosian

by Gregg Chadwick Update: Montford Point Marines: Make Us Proud Black Marines pose with one of the Army DUKW amphibious trucks used to bring cargo ashore and carry away the wounded for medical treatment to ships offshore. National Archives Photo 127-GW-334-114329 Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood got into a verbal dust-up at Cannes. Spike criticized Clint for not featuring any black troops in his recent World War II pictures: Flags Of Our Fathers , which weaves together the stories of the marines who raised the flag over Iwo Jima in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph, and Letters From Iwo Jima , which focuses on the Japanese soldiers who fought to the death on the bitter island. Though black Marines were not on Mount Suribachi when the flags were raised, they were caught in the thick of the battle as the official Marine Corps accounts of the assault on Iwo Jima make clear. Passages below are quoted from the USMC history of African-American marines during World War II written...

The members of the UK band James laugh as lead singer Tim Booth answers a question. The band was set up for an interview in my studio complex just outside my studio door in Santa Monica. It was an interesting day of painting with Tim Booth's quiet, lilting voice filtering into my workspace. Tim Booth expressed that James has unfinished business in the US and are hoping to tour here in the near future. James had just finished a session with Nic Harcourt at KCRW before they stopped by. The complete KCRW session below: website: wearejames.com

The New York Times has a powerful mix of words and images in Janet Maslin's article on Jim Sheeler's new book Final Salute . Jim Sheeler's book is based on a 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles that he wrote for The Rocky Mountain News . I have posted a brief selection of quotes and photos below: "When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the res...

Phil Cousineau Reading from Stoking the Creative Fires at Bird & Beckett Books , San Francisco Gregg Chadwick will be leading a weekend workshop at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California with author Phil Cousineau and poet/musician R.B. Morris on August 22-24, 2008 On the Bus: A Multimedia Performance Workshop—Mythmaking in the Movies, Music, Art, and Poetry "Together as a group, we will become modern mythmakers by creating and performing a new multimedia work over the course of the weekend. Our spark will be musician R. B. Morris's song, ‘On the Bus,' which will serve as a template for a one-act play. Writer Phil Cousineau will help to stoke the creative fire of the group by bringing the mythic dimension into the story; painter Gregg Chadwick will take the lead in helping us visualize the story and the set; and Morris will help us write and arrange the score. On Sunday morning we will stage and perform the piece together." RB Morris To reserve a space: On th...

Arlington West (Iraq Memorial) Santa Monica An old marine at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC scanned the reflective black wall for his buddy's name. "His name should be right here", he said to his wife as he pointed to a small gap between names."Check the book again." His wife calmly took his hand and said, "You have the wrong war. Your buddy died in another country at another time."

Masami Teraoka and Samuel Freeman Speaking at the Opening of Cloisters' Confessions at the Samuel Freeman Gallery on April 19, 2008. The painting behind: Masami Teraoka The Cloister/Venus and Pope's Bullfight 101"x300.5" oil on canvas with gold-leaf frame 2006-7 Masami Teraoka's powerful exhibition Cloisters' Confessions closes today at the Samuel Freeman Gallery in Santa Monica, California. During the show's run, I have slipped into the gallery frequently to witness the incredible mix of hope and horror in Masami's masterful paintings. "In Teraoka's new works, where the floating world of pleasure-seekers has been replaced by the Spanish Inquisition, sex is no longer about pleasure. Rather, it has become the theater in which political power plays are enacted before a voyeuristic populace seeking titillation from the sexual misdeeds of the mighty, and where religion and morality can become weapons against freedom. A recurring theme in these...

In the May 22nd issue, the New York Times reports that Virginia Commonwealth University has given a sweetheart deal to Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company and a unit of Altria Group, which gives the tobacco company veto rights over publishing results of research sponsored by the company: “When universities sign contracts with these covenants, they are basically giving up their ethos, compromising their values as a university,” said Sheldon Krimsky, a professor at Tufts University who is an expert on corporate influence on medical research. “There should be no debate about having a sponsor with control over the publishing of results.” Stanton A. Glantz, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine who has lobbied for banning tobacco money on campuses, said, “University administrators who are desperate for money will basically do anything they have to for money.” More at: At VCU, Tobacco Money Is Kept Secret From four years ago in Tha...

Gregg Chadwick Whispers of the Moon 48"x36" oil on linen 2008

Francis Bacon Triptych 78"x58" oil and pastel on canvas 1976 "The picture surely treats of sexual love – that 'crime' as Baudelaire put it, in which one is fated to have an accomplice – and the suffering it frequently sets in motion...The themes of crime, guilt and punishment are all strongly represented in this magnificent work....From this stasis no outcome is possible, no purging of the turbulent passions, almost as if, in his deep seated masochism, the artist had chosen constant pain over catharsis" - Michael Peppiatt

Gary Ruddell Bocce Ball 52" x 50" oil on canvas Gary Ruddell is a great painter. His artwork continually surprises me and inspires new ideas in my own studio. If you are in Manhattan in the next few weeks make sure to stop by the Gallery Henoch to give some time to Gary's paintings. His paintings convey the mystery inherit in modern life - much like the poems and short stories of Raymond Carver. Ruddell's painted world slips in and out of focus in a silvery air. Gallery Henoch's Website

Lucian Freud Benefits Supervisor Sleeping 59" x 98.5"oil on canvas 1995 The London Evening Standard has a nice interview with Sue Tilley who posed for the painting - In the article Sue Tilley explained the genesis of the painting: "The first time the artist met her, in a Soho nightclub 20 years ago, he criticised her lipstick. "He said it had too many blue tones. The next time we met was over lunch at the River Café and I wore a different lipstick," she said. She knew she was effectively being interviewed for the role of artist's muse and was briefed on how to behave by their mutual friend, performance artist Leigh Bowery. "But I just did as I wanted as usual," said Ms Tilley, who grew up in Sussex Gardens and now lives in Mornington Crescent. "Soon after, Leigh called me up and said, 'Lucian wants you to start work next week' and he made me practise stripping off on my settee at home before I went to Lucian's house in Holland Par...

Robert Rauschenberg October 22, 1925 - May 12, 2008 As Seen by Chuck Close 140 x 112 cm color digital pigment print 1996 On the New York Times website, dancer and choreographer, Paul Taylor has written a moving farewell to Bob: "Robert Rauschenberg’s work and overall spirit as an artist and human being had an ENORMOUS impact on shaping my own direction and conviction as an artist. I am deeply indebted to his liberating approach in working with any-&-all materials including other people. The R.O.C.I. period equally demonstrated his love for mankind through our creations and showed that we ARE all in this together after all. He changed my life and blew my mind and I am a better person/artist for having been touched by him (literally even). You were the BEST sir and I say God Bless You Bob! Goodbye." Michael Kimmelman's farewell: Robert Rauschenberg, Titan of American Art, Is Dead at 82 Christopher Knight from the Los Angeles Times writes: Robert Rauschenberg, 82; influ...

Great to see that Saturday Night Live is relevant again. This clip gets my vote as the best political skit so far.

FERNAND LÉGER ÉTUDE POUR 'LA FEMME EN BLEU' 51"x38" oil on canvas 1912-13 Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 39,241,000 USD Fernand Léger's Étude pour 'La Femme en Bleu' sold this evening at Sotheby's in New York for $39,241,000. Painted shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Léger's painting is a masterful composition of blues and silvers. More at: Sotheby's Video

May the force be with you as you vote ...