Thursday, May 08, 2014

President Obama Speaks From the Heart About the Holocaust

by Gregg Chadwick

“Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.”
-Elie Wiesel


 

Last night in Los Angeles, President Obama gave a beautiful and powerful speech after accepting the Shoah Foundation’s Ambassador of Humanity Award from Steven Spielberg during a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

I want to thank the President, Steven Spielberg and all those involved with the Shoah Foundation for recognizing the importance of remembering. The Shoah Foundation gathers and preserves the stories of those who experienced the Holocaust and other atrocities across the globe. Over the past two decades, the Shoah Foundation has recorded tens of thousands of interviews. Researchers and documentarians have traveled to dozens of countries, interviewing survivors of the  Holocaust, and documenting historical evidence of the Armenian Genocide, and other atrocities. The first person accounts that have been gathered are an invaluable resource for future students and scholars.

I remember vividly the moment I first stepped foot in one of the holocaust death camps. That day at Dachau, I was struck by the emptiness and silence of that cruel space. I could feel the absence and longed for humanity instead of barbarism. The Shoah Foundation, through its tireless efforts, gives voice to those whose voices were stolen.

 Full Transcript of President Obama's Remarks Below:

Thank you, Steven, for your incredibly generous words, for this great honor, for your friendship, and most importantly, for the extraordinary work which brings us here all tonight. To Robert Katz and all the members of the board and staff of the Shoah Foundation; to President Max Nikias and everybody at USC; to all the distinguished guests and to all the friends that I see in this audience — it is an incredible honor to be with you as we pay tribute to a remarkable institution and one that makes claim on our moral imagination.

Being here with you tonight, I’m taken back to the visit to Buchenwald that I took in the very first months of my presidency. And I was there with my dear friend, Elie Wiesel. As most of you know, he who had endured that camp as a teenager. And we walked among the guard towers and the barbed wire. We saw the ovens and the crematorium. We saw the memorial to the prisoners, a steel plate heated to the temperature of the human body, as a reminder of our common humanity. And at the end of our visit, as we stood outside the place where his father and so many other souls had perished, Elie spoke these words — he said: “Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.” Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.
Gregg Chadwick
Dachau
60"x49" oil and encaustic on linen 1987

And that’s what brings us here tonight. That’s the duty that Steven and all of you embrace — the sacred duty of memory.
Now, just a few decades ago, many survivors of the Shoah were reluctant to share their stories. But one survivor living here in Los Angeles, a leather goods merchant named Poldek Pfefferberg insisted on telling anybody who would listen about the man who had saved his life — a man named Oskar Schindler. And thanks to Poldek’s persistence, Schindler’s story was published as a novel, and the world eventually came to see and understand the Holocaust like never before — in Steven’s remarkable film, Schindler’s List, brought to life in a masterful way by Liam Neeson. And we were reminded that the Holocaust was not a matter of distant history or abstract horror. The voices — the memories — of survivors became immediate, and intimate, became a part of all of us.
I loved what the teacher said in the video about how it entered into our DNA. That’s what stories do. We’re story-telling animals. That’s what Steven does. That’s what Bruce Springsteen does — tells a story that stitches up our fates with the fates of others. And that film gave us each a stake in that terrible history, and a stake in ensuring such atrocities never happen again.
Now, if the story had ended there, it would have been enough — Dayenu. But Steven didn’t stop with Schindler’s List, because there were too many other stories to tell. So he created this foundation to undertake what he called “a rescue mission” — preserving the memories that would otherwise be lost to time.
Over the past two decades, you’ve recorded tens of thousands of interviews in dozens of countries and languages; documented the experience not only of the Holocaust, but of atrocities before and since. As you heard tonight with Celina’s incredible eloquence, you freed voices that could tell their own story in their own way. And as Michelle Clark described so powerfully this evening, you’ve turned that testimony into tools that can be used by scholars and students all around the world.
Now, Steven, I know that for you — like so many here — this is deeply personal. You lost distant relatives in the Holocaust, and heard your mother pass on stories told by survivors. And as you said just a few days ago, the story of the Shoah is the story that you were put on this Earth to tell. So, to you, to everybody at the Shoah Foundation — and for all that you’ve done, for setting alight an eternal flame of testimony that can’t be extinguished and cannot be denied, we express our deepest gratitude. (Applause.)
Of course, none of these stories could be preserved without the men and women with the courage to tell them. And I think sometimes how hard it must be to return to those moments, to remember those darkest of days, to recount how loved ones — husbands, wives, sons, daughters — were taken away. And as Steven mentioned, my great-uncle was a soldier in the 89th Infantry Division, helping to liberate Ohrdruf, a part of Buchenwald. And what he saw during the war left him so shaken that, upon his return to the States, he could not speak of his memories for years to come. We didn’t have a word for it back then, but he returned and closed himself off for months, so shaken was he just to witness what had happened, much less experience it.
So I want to say a special word to the survivors who are with us this evening — not just to the Holocaust, but as Steve noted, survivors of other unimaginable crimes. Every day that you have lived, every child and grandchild that your families have brought into this world has served as the ultimate rebuke to evil, and the ultimate expression of love and hope. And you are an inspiration to every single one of us. And on behalf of all of us, thank you for the example of your lives, and sharing your stories with us and the world. Thank you. (Applause.) We are grateful to you.
Now, let me add that, as Americans, we’re proud to be a country that welcomed so many Holocaust survivors in the wake of World War II. As President, I’m proud that we’re doing more, as Steven noted, to stand with Holocaust survivors in America. We announced Aviva Sufian as our first-ever special envoy to help support Holocaust survivors living in the United States. I’m pleased that Aviva is here tonight. (Applause.) We’ve proposed a new Survivor Assistance Fund to help Holocaust survivors in our country live in dignity and free from poverty. We’re already working with members of Congress and many of your organizations on this project, and tonight I invite more of you to join us. We need to keep faith with these survivors who already have given so much.
The work of this foundation, the testimonies of survivors like those with us tonight, also remind us that the purpose of memory is not simply to preserve the past; it is to protect the future. (Applause.) We tell stories — we’re compelled to tell stories — they’re stories that bring out the best of us, and they’re stories that bring out the worst. The voices of those recorded and unrecorded, those who survived and those who perished, call upon us — implore us and challenge us — to turn “Never Forget” into “Never Again.”
We only need to look at today’s headlines — the devastation of Syria, the murders and kidnappings in Nigeria, sectarian conflict, the tribal conflicts — to see that we have not yet extinguished man’s darkest impulses. There are some bad stories out there that are being told to children, and they’re learning to hate early. They’re learning to fear those who are not like them early.
And none of the tragedies that we see today may rise to the full horror of the Holocaust — the individuals who are the victims of such unspeakable cruelty, they make a claim on our conscience. They demand our attention, that we not turn away, that we choose empathy over indifference and that our empathy leads to action. And that’s not always easy. One of the powerful things about Schindler’s story was recognizing that we have to act even where there is sometimes ambiguity; even when the path is not always clearly lit, we have to try.
Gregg Chadwick
Sins of Our Fathers
72"x72" oil on linen 1990

And that includes confronting a rising tide of anti-Semitism around the world. We’ve seen attacks on Jews in the streets of major Western cities, public places marred by swastikas. From some foreign governments we hear the worst kinds of anti-Semitic scapegoating. In Ukraine, as Steven mentioned, we saw those disgusting pamphlets from masked men calling on Jews to register. And tragically, we saw a shooting here at home, in Overland Park in Kansas.
And it would be tempting to dismiss these as isolated incidents, but if the memories of the Shoah survivors teach us anything, it is that silence is evil’s greatest co-conspirator. And it’s up to us — each of us, every one of us — to forcefully condemn any denial of the Holocaust. It’s up to us to combat not only anti-Semitism, but racism and bigotry and intolerance in all their forms, here and around the world. It’s up to us to speak out against rhetoric that threatens the existence of a Jewish homeland and to sustain America’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security. (Applause.) And it is up to us to search our own hearts — to search ourselves — for those stories that have no place in this world. Because it’s easy sometimes to project out and worry about others and their hatreds and their bigotries and their blind spots. It’s not always as easy for us to examine ourselves.
Standing up to anti-Semitism is not simply about protecting one community or one religious group. There is no such thing as “targeted” hatred. In Overland Park, a man went to a Jewish Community Center and a nursing home named “Village Shalom” and started shooting — and none of the people he murdered were Jewish. Two were Methodist. One was Catholic. All were innocent.
We cannot eliminate evil from every heart, or hatred from every mind. But what we can do, and what we must do, is make sure our children and their children learn their history so that they might not repeat it. (Applause.) We can teach our children the hazards of tribalism. We can teach our children to speak out against the casual slur. We can teach them there is no “them,” there’s only “us.” And here in America, we can celebrate a nation in which Christians and Muslims go to Jewish community centers, and where Jews go to Church vigils — a nation where, through fits and starts, through sacrifice and individual courage, we have struggled to hear the truth and live out the truth that Dr. King described — that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, that we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
By keeping the memories alive, by telling stories, by hearing those stories, we can do our part to fulfill the mitzvah, the commandment of saving a life. I think of Pinchas Gutter, a man who lived through the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and survived the Majdanek death camp. Today he serves as a volunteer educator at the Shoah Foundation. “I tell my story,” he says, “for the purpose of improving humanity, drop by drop by drop. Like a drop of water falls on a stone and erodes it, so, hopefully, by telling my story over and over again I will achieve the purpose of making the world a better place to live in.”
Those are the words of one survivor — performing that “sacred duty” of memory — that will echo throughout eternity. Those are good words for all of us to live by.
I have this remarkable title right now — President of the United States — and yet every day when I wake up, and I think about young girls in Nigeria or children caught up in the conflict in Syria — when there are times in which I want to reach out and save those kids — and having to think through what levers, what power do we have at any given moment, I think, “drop by drop by drop,” that we can erode and wear down these forces that are so destructive; that we can tell a different story.
And because of your work — because of your work, Steven, and the work of all who supported you — our children, and their children, and their children’s children will hear from the survivors, but they’ll also hear from the liberators, the Righteous Among the Nations. And because of your work, their stories, years and decades from now, will still be wearing down bigotry, and eroding apathy, and opening hearts, drop by drop by drop.
And as those hearts open, that empowers those of us in positions of power — because even the President can’t do these things alone. Drop by drop by drop. That’s the power of stories. And as a consequence, the world will be a better place and the souls will be bound up in the bonds of eternal life. Their memories will be a blessing and they will help us make real our solemn vow: Never Forget. Never Again.
So thank you, Steven, for your incredible work. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

Monday, May 05, 2014

Mulholland Blue in the 50th Anniversary Pasadena Showcase House of Design


Gregg Chadwick
Mulholland Blue
24"x30" oil on linen 2014 


Currently, my painting Mulholland Blue is hanging in the 50th Anniversary Pasadena Showcase House of Design in a wonderful room designed by Ederra Design Studio's Cynthia Lambakis and Samantha Williams. Standing on Mulholland above Los Angeles, a blurred trio contemplates the mystery of existence. Does the woman in the green dress meet her double and the memory of her lover? Or has time allowed past, present and future to coalesce?


The Pasadena Showcase runs from April 13– May 11, 2014


Great seeing this original work by one of our artists, Gregg Chadwick, at the Pasadena !

It's a beauty!

More at:
Eleanor Schapa On Ederra Design

Thanks to MaryLinda Moss for making all this possible!

Saturday, May 03, 2014

Oracle of Milan

by Gregg Chadwick 

Oracle of Milan
40"x30" oil on linen 2014

 Oracle of Milan is the first in an upcoming series of time lapse videos that document the stages and alterations inherit in my painting process. The first impression is key in the formation of an artwork and the opening frames of the video show that something dynamic is present in this new painting. I allow the painting to speak to me with visual clues that lead to new paths. Oracle of Milan was begun in June 2013. Over the past year, I have added and subtracted figures, colors, and elements to arrive at the last frames of the video which show the painting today. Is it finished? Is anything ever finished? Only time will tell. 

 The video is backed by The National's haunting song England, which has been on a National heavy playlist that has played throughout my painting sessions for Oracle of Milan.


 




Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter Light

by Gregg Chadwick



Gregg Chadwick
Joshua Tree
24"x24" oil on linen 2014


My recent paintings are taking me to times and places that have deep resonance. This newest body of work is marked by time and memory and  explores our present reality in the context of the sometimes hauntingly real shadows that come and go in our daily existence. 
At times spiritual echoes find their way into my art. Sometimes this sense of something bigger or deeper than ourselves is found in the images and locations created within the paintings. At other times this numinous quality is carried by the light within the work.

Recently in the studio, I have been thinking about the works of Caspar David Friedrich in  the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Many of Friedrich's paintings depict what I see as an Easter light - a light of promise and redemption. 


Caspar David Friedrich
Village Landscape In Morning Light
21 5/8"x28" oil on canvas 1822
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
photo by Gregg Chadwick
 

This morning I have been playing a video of Bruce Springsteen playing his moving ballad, Jesus Was an Only Son. Almost ten years ago I wrote - Bruce Springsteen is not afraid to create music with deep spiritual roots. “I was brought up Catholic -"Jesus is my home boy", Springsteen exclaimed to the audience at the Pantages - then gently moved into Jesus Was an Only Son.

The great religious historian, Huston Smith said something similar to me when he professed his deep admiration for the wisdom traditions of the East yet described his spiritual practice as rooted in his childhood upbringing as the son of a Protestant missionary family in pre WWII China. Springsteen seems to echo Huston Smith's thought that spirituality can quickly become mush if time has not been given to one's own history. Only by knowing who we are and where we come from can we understand that the beauty of religion, and life, is found in inclusion not exclusion. 



Bruce Springsteen - Jesus Was An Only Son - live on Storytellers 

Sunday, April 06, 2014

The Hush of Stars: Pianist Giuseppina Torre at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica



Gregg Chadwick
Sea and Shadow (Mare e Ombra)
30"x20" oil on linen 2014
Courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco

Last night Italian pianist Giuseppina Torre gazed attentively at my painting  Sea and Shadow (Mare e Ombra) and said to me,"La luce a Venezia è magica." I agreed, the light in Venice is magic. And there is light in Giuseppina Torre's music as well. Earlier that evening in the Arena 1 Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios she gave us a taste of her haunting piano compositions at the opening of an  Italian cultural event entitled All Roads Lead to LA, presented in conjunction with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Los Angeles.

The celebration continues tonight with  poetry, music, fashion and the visual arts.
The evening will begin with a poetry reading at 5 pm to be followed by an hour-long performance by Giuseppina Torre. A presentation of contemporary Italian fashion will round out the evening.
Watch a performance of Torre's The Hush of Stars below and join us tonight at the Santa Monica Art Studios ~ Sunday, April 6, 2014 ~ for a magical evening of music and light. My studio will again be open.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy Saint Patrick's Day


I was struck by this poignant video posted today on the New York Times site and thought how perfectly the Okinawan duo 
Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara's song captures a longing for a distant home. Sung to the tune of "Danny Boy" their song reinterprets and reframes  Frederic Weatherly's classic and makes it both more personal and more global. Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara's lyrics are below:


Beloved child of mine,

From beyond the skies is heard the voice of the flute calling to you.

Summer has passed, the flowers of the season have fallen.

You are preparing for the journey to distant lands.

Through the summer when the grasses and flowers bloom and peak,

Through the winter when the north winds bluster and blow, here on this island I’m always waiting for you.

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!

I’m watching and waiting for you to return, gentle and brave.

As the seasons turn and you finally come home to the island of your birth, 

Though you may no longer see my form, 

my love for you is true through eternity.

With your gentle voice, call to me!

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!



Translation, by Sharon Nakazato.



Thursday, March 13, 2014

Gregg Chadwick's "Trains and Stations" at Santa Monica Airport Artwalk 2014

Gregg Chadwick
The Emperor's Train 68"x144" oil on Japanese screen 2014
and Empire State (Grand Central) 72"x36" oil on linen 2013 

Courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery

As part of the Santa Monica Airport Artwalk 2014, my installation "Trains and Stations" will be on view in the Hangar West Gallery at the Santa Monica Art Studios. My studio #15, directly across from the screen, will also be open and will include new paintings on this theme.

Opening reception - Saturday, March 15, 2014 from 12 - 5pm

"Trains and Stations" was inspired by the powerful music of Michael McDermott and his band The Westies and the memory of my Grandfather Arthur Desch who made his living as a train engineer on the Jersey Central Line.


SANTA MONICA AIRPORT ARTWALK 2014
SANTA MONICA ART STUDIOS 
3026 Airport Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90405 | 310-397-7449



Monday, February 24, 2014

News and Events: Winter 2014


Gregg Chadwick
Pennsylvania 4901
54”x54” oil on linen 2014
                                                
Recent Events: Winter 2014

1. My paintings were featured in the Sandra Lee Gallery booth at the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair-an international art fair held Feb 13-16, 2014 at the Convention Center in Palm Springs, California.

2. From January 9, 2014 until February 28, 2014, at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, California, my paintings were included in a group exhibition along with work by Kathryn Arnold, Henry Jackson, Irena Kononova, Jeremy Morgan, Jeffrey Palladini, Hyun Su Park, Daniel Phill, George Rivera, Jungsan Senim and others. 

3. I was recently interviewed by the Los Angeles Business Journal for an article about the Saatchi Art Gallery. 

4. My painting Mulholland Blue was included in Saatchi Art's "Best of 2013" feature: http://art.saatchionline.com/bestof2013/

5. On Friday, December 13th, 2013 we chased away the demons with an inspiring book reading at Book Soup on Sunset in Hollywood with the presentation of “Burning the Midnight Oil: Illuminating Words for the Long Night's Journey into Day”, which includes my essay “Night Painting”. And at Book Passage in Corte Madera on December 18, 2013 at 7 pm we brought the house down with another inspired event. 

This marvelous book, edited by Phil Cousineau, includes an inspiring array of essays and poems: including pieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Whitman, Pico Iyer, Rabandranath Tagore, Mary Oliver, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Jorge Borges, William Blake, Mikkel Aaland, Kent Chadwick, Alexander Eliot, Jane Winslow Eliot, Li Po, Antler, Annie Dillard, Charles Bukowski, R B Morris, Willis Barnstone, Bruce Chatwin, James Norwood Pratt, Tess Harper, Stuart Balcomb, Richard Beban, Gregg Chadwick, and more.

More on “Burning the Midnight Oil: Illuminating Words for the Long Night's Journey into Day” on NPR's Weekend Edition.

6. Saatchi Art featured my painting Il Poeta di Milano at Dwell on Design, America’s largest design event, at the Los Angeles Convention Center - June 21-23, 2013. The event was curated by the editors of Dwell magazine. 

7. My paintings were showcased in the Sandra Lee Gallery booth at artMRKT San Francisco - an international art fair held May 16-19, 2013 in the Festival Pavilion - Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California. 

8. I spoke at the “Categorically Not” event on Sunday May 19, 2013 at the Santa Monica Art Studios about my painting process and “what lies beneath” the layers of paint and the layers of ideas that go into each of my works. The event was held in the Arena One Gallery. You can see more on this event at the Categorically Not website. 

9. My painting Study for the City Dreams was in the Silent Art Auction at The 34th anniversary of the Venice Art Walk & Auctions which took place on Sunday, May 19th, 2013 at Google Los Angeles in the Frank Gehry designed Binoculars Building

10. Review by Jeffrey Carlson in Fine Art Connoisseur:

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Valentine's Day



Gregg Chadwick
The Golden Hour
10"x8" oil on panel 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I would feature a new painting and Bruce Springsteen's haunting version of his song For You to honor lovers across the globe.


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Deerhead Diner

by Gregg Chadwick


Gregg Chadwick
24”x36” oil on linen 2014
Like a scene pulled from a Scorsese film or lifted from a Sopranos’ episode, my painting “Deerhead Diner” evokes an American scene of tough guys and two bit joints. Inspired by an actual diner I would visit in Queens near LaGuardia airport, “Deerhead Diner” depicts a timeless yet vanishing world.

Thursday, January 09, 2014

The Simpsons' Tribute to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

by Gregg Chadwick


Beer for Homer at Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan
photo by Gregg Chadwick

I just love this new clip from Sunday's upcoming Simpsons episode which includes a wonderful and comedic tribute to animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The magic that Miyazaki has created resonates globally. Enjoy!








Robot From Castle in the Sky at Ghibli Museum
photo by Gregg Chadwick

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

New Exhibition for the New Year

Gregg Chadwick
l'Horloge de Baudelaire (Baudelaire's Clock) 
40" x 30" oil on linen 2013
courtesy Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, California

Opening on January 9, 2014, from 5:00-7:30pm, at the Sandra Lee Gallery in San Francisco, California is a new group exhibition which includes my artwork along with work by Kathryn Arnold, Henry Jackson, Irena Kononova, Jeremy Morgan, Jeffrey Palladini, Hyun Su Park, Daniel Phill, George Rivera, Jungsan Senim and others. The exhibition runs until January 31, 2014.


The Sandra Lee Gallery is located at:
 251 Post Street, Suite 310, San Francisco, CA 94108
[t] 415.291.8000
art@sandraleegallery.com

Saturday, December 21, 2013