As the year comes to a close I would like to take a moment to remember two great artists who passed away this year: Oscar Peterson (age 82, died on December 23rd, kidney failure) and Sol LeWitt (age 79, died on April 8th, cancer).
What can be said about Oscar Peterson that hasn’t already been said? He was a master jazz musician, and everyone knew it. He was fast, precise, and played with passion. I love listening to his live recordings, where you can hear him singing “scat” to his improvisations. When you hear Oscar play, you are immediately aware that he is doing just that–playing. And you can’t help but feel good yourself. Oscar was the kind of pianist that makes me want to learn to play the piano, even though I know I’d never be able to play the way he did. If you don’t have any Oscar in your music collection, do yourself a favor and go get some tomorrow.
Sol LeWitt was a master of conceptualism and minimalism. Like Oscar (and unlike most of the minimalist avant guard), Sol made art that was full of joy. My first encounter with LeWitt was at the Carillon, an office building/ modern art space in my hometown of Charlotte, NC. I was a freshman in college, and I had no idea I was heading for a life in art (although I knew I enjoyed art). When I walked into the Carillon, I was met by a giant Tinguely sculpture and a 30′ tall LeWitt cube drawing. I had no idea what art could be. Those works totally blew my mind, and I was instantly in love with them.
This is from a letter Sol wrote to Eva Hesse when she had artist block: ““Stop it and just DO,” “Try and tickle something inside you, your ‘weird humor.’ You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool.” “You are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work, so do it. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be.”
Is that great advice or what?? I later read LeWitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art, which is also pretty ground-breaking.
So here’s to two great artists, both of which have had an impact on my development and thinking as an artist. I will miss their presence in this world.
Filed under: Art Stuff
Wow, I’m almost brought to tears by that quotation about just doing one’s own work, and not being responsible for the world. What a blessing. What a new year’s inspiration. Happy New Year to you! I had this great dream last night, too, about art. In it there were these two brothers, one older and younger, and I had a recorder, a special one, with five holes for my fourth finger, and four holes for my third finger. And I played them this amazing, full-bodied, fully-breathed song, and it was healing to them, who had been so hurt, who had been surviving on irony for too long.
Glad you find that quote inspiring. It was something I needed to hear, too. I’m still trying to find a way to let go of expectations––mine for the work, and my expectation of the world’s expectations for the work. Such a bottomless pit.
Say, do you remember what you said at lunch when we were talking about where artwork has to “start” (for lack of a better word)? I nodded my head as if to say, “oh, yeah, I knew that,” but, really, I was in a daze trying to unpack it for the rest of the day. Now I can’t remember the precise word (and the word was, I think, wonderfully precise). Had to do with intuition vs. concept. It was in the context of trying to do something creative for the F&L project. I wish I could remember it better.
In any case, I would like to add it to the discussion.
Oh, Teacake, I did not mean to ignore that great dream you posted. Lovely, and delightfully embodied! It makes me think of Maira Kalman illustrations. Check out this blog she did for the NY Times online
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/index.php