Prints for sale at r6xx
TagTrippy Pictures
I first came across Witkin’s work years ago via the Process mailing list. I was just reminded of his work today while discussing NIN’s “Closer” video. Amazing stuff.
I just got off the phone with S. Clay Wilson’s longtime ol’ lady Lorraine Chamberlain and she graciously gave me the latest update on his recovery. The good news is that Wilson was transferred from San Francisco General Hospital to a rehabilitation center last week and at this point he’s feeding himself and chatting periodically. The bad news is that he has significant brain injury and can’t recall what year it is or where he is or even his own name. He suffers from aphasia, which is an inability to comprehend language or recall correct vocabulary. The frustrating part is that he knows what he’s trying to say and understands that he’s saying the wrong words. Lorraine said it’s like talking to someone on LSD because he speaks in random stream-of-consciousness babble. I like to think the old beatnik in Wilson will appreciate his new “poetic” abilities someday. The most amazing news is that Lorraine brought a sketch pad to his bedside and after refusing to draw in it all week he finally opened it and signed his old signature exactly like he has signed his drawings for more than 40 years! Remember, last week he couldn’t even pronounce his own name so this is a huge improvement! He also walked past an easel today and drew a crude face of a woman. This is the first post-coma doodle that he’s produced! Just a few weeks ago it was uncertain if he would live, much less ever hold a pencil again. At this point Lorraine is bracing for life after the hospital and they are facing rapidly mounting medical bills. Wilson has medicaid, which covers about 80% of his bills, but Lorraine estimates that their debt is quickly approaching a quarter of a million dollars! She’s set up a PO BOX in case people feel inclined to send donations. Checks and money orders can be made out to Lorraine Chamberlain or S. Clay Wilson. Send ’em to the address below:
S. Clay Wilson
po box 14854
San Francisco, CA
94114
(via OVO)
Alex Grey has posted a series of behind the scenes images from the making of his portrait of Barack Obama.
Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader
(via VisionThing)
See also: Is Barack Obama the Messiah?
he Battle for Art is the struggle against complacency, stagnancy, and laziness. It is the battle against false pretense and weakness in art. Despite all my swaggering hyperbole, this has nothing to do with bonehead machismo and it doesn’t necessarily refer to “hard” or “extreme” imagery. Beautiful and subtle art can be very powerful and more subversive than many self-proclaimed “brutal” artists. I also want to be clear that I don’t necessarily have a problem with commercial art. In fact, many of my own influences from childhood came directly from commercial “trash culture” debris. Everything from Count Chocula cereal boxes and KISS trading cards to album covers and Wacky Packages. Commercial book cover illustrators like James Bama and Frank Frazetta also made a big impact on me as a very young kid. I also really love all the old EC horror comic artists from the 50’s. Those EC covers were some of the most amazing mass produced stuff of the mid-20th century. The economical linework and stark composition just seemed to say so much. And those guys were cranking out stuff at a pace I could never imagine. They had a real solid work ethic and considered themselves blue-collar entertainers and not some precious “artistes”. I identify with that spirit very much. Those EC guys also had a sense of comradery that somehow embodies an important aspect of the best underground art. They posed for each other’s drawings, inked each other’s pencils, helped each other get jobs and generally promoted the development of each other’s individual styles and specialties. Today so many artists seem shallow and self-serving and competitive. And the lines between underground and mainstream commercial art have blurred more than ever. I guess it’s difficult these days to articulate precisely what makes great underground art and what makes wimp art. But you know it when you see it!
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