Niki de Saint Phalle

It was on a bright, beautiful, balmy Saturday morning down town in the North Carolina City of Charlotte that my daughter; Gail and I chanced upon something incredible and very interesting. We were just outside the newly opened Bechtler Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.  A large (fifty three foot) flat- bed trailer truck was being unloading by workers and museum staff members. They were in the process of installing a mammoth sculpture. As my daughter and I witnessed the piece was being stacked to a magnificent height right there in the museum’s plaza. The structure was an extravagant, mosaic-like work with a reflective silver surface. What was becoming a fantastic creature of gigantic scale (granted slowly and methodically) was the Niki de Saint Phalle original; “Firebird.” Just how fortunate were my daughter and I to be privy to this amazing and fantastical event?

Miss de Saint Phalle came to the world’s notice first as a model for Vogue and Harpers in the late fifties. Her intelligence, beauty and sophistication radiated with undeniable elegance and style. Her artistic and creative skills would develop after a nervous break-down.

Painting was therapy and a way of coping with the troubles of her early life. Niki would take her pain, resilience, imagination along with every part of her being and use them in the creation of pieces that continue to resonate and thrill. The paintings evolved into mixed-medium expressions that would lead her into the “Shooting Paintings.” These paintings were literally created by Niki attaching polythene bags of paint to a designed surface and bursting them by firing a loaded shotgun. The making of the paintings would become performance pieces and through them Niki became the only female member of the elusive and respected “Nouveau Realists.”

The works that were most identified with Niki de Saint Phalle; her signatures, her alter egos, her “Nanas.” The sculptural statements of the “Nanas” were representations of robust colorful women; the “every-woman.”   As magnificent in their glory as they were playful in style and execution. Her crowning and most celebrated Nana was a work entitled: “Hon-en- Katedral.”  It was a large scale dwelling like work that visitors entered through what Gustav Courbet would have refer to as “The Origin of the World.” It was credited with a jump in Sweden’s birth rate the year it was exhibited. It seemed the work was enjoyed on a truly unpresented, inspirational level by the many.   

“Life … is never the way one imagis it. It surprises you, it amazes you, and it makes you laugh or cry when you don’t expect it” 

                                                       Niki de Saint Phalle

“The Tarot Garden” in Tuscany, the “Miles Davis” sculpture outside the Hotel Le Negresco in Nice and on a smaller scale (but no less monumental) her impressively unique Niki de Saint Phalle” perfume bottle were among the great and truly wonderful achievements of Niki’s vastly creative life. Her career and out-put continually expanded especially during her marriage to sculptor Jean Tinguely who she also collaborated with on multiple projects including film and video.  The personal price of Niki’s creativity was ultimately the highest. The polyester fibers in her favorite medium would cost her life. Her lungs were scare by breathing in the destructive, fine particles of the material.  Within her time and continuously through our own Niki de Saint Phalle towers and sustains. We are left with the brightness, the beauty, the spirit of adventure that was Niki de Saint Phalle.

FIVE PHOTOGRAPHS Gordon Parks

The release of the sound track to the motion picture “Shaft” starring Richard Roundtree was to be a major event. It featured the music of Maestro; Isaac Hayes for which he would win the much coveted Oscar and sold in the multiple millions. The album was released a few weeks earlier than the film and I had become engrossed in the music. The cover too, was itself an achievement of advertising art featuring the action hero/detective in a pulp fiction moment of triumphant motion with grim expression and guns blazing..  The bold, original concept “Shaft” logo most prominent! The liner notes spoke of many things including the film’s remarkable director; Gordon Parks. There was also a photo of Isaac Hayes with Parks and the creator of Shaft; Ernest Tidyman standing on the MGM studios film lot. All distinguished and excited about their collaboration. This was my introduction to Gordon Parks; an illustrious and variously talented man; one most gifted and accomplished. 

 From the starting point of film director I would discover that Mr. Parks had earlier directed the celebrated account of his own autobiographical novel “The Learning Tree.” He had even scored that film himself as well as having written the screen play. Parks had another major star point in his universe of expression. He was a photo-journalist of the highest order. He had been a staff member of the most lauded photography magazine in history.  The legendary magazine; “LIFE” was his home for a number of brilliant years. His contributions to the magazine included essays and photos on fashion, sports, Broadway and racial segregation. Parks remains a standard bearer for the ages; he is one among the greatest generation of photographers.

The films, writings, music and teachings of Gordon Parks have served as testaments to his journey to understanding, self-expression and the enrichment of the human experience. The catalogue of Gordon Parks’ efforts is eclectic, extensive and extraordinary. I have selected five pieces to illustrate his photography. They are his voice and speak to our pleasure.  

The Art, Fashion & Style of Kanye West

For all his blusterous bad-behavior and ballistic bile, Kanye West possess a certain sense of style, refinement and knowledgeable taste in regards to fashion and the arts.  Kanye is a man/child blessed with talent; the ability to compose intricate Raps as he dresses well and completes drawings that are much better than good. West is also able to solicit the great artists of his time and collaborates frequently with those peers. Talents to note and include are Takashi Murakami, George Condo and Rapper/Mogul Jay-Z.   

West is a champion of the art of media manipulation as is evident in the attention given his recent wedding; while orchestrating and including the Vogue Magazine cover featuring himself and his then bride to be Kim Kardashian. Another important recent artistic feat for West was the February Interview Magazine cover story and immensely innovative and provocative photo spread (many of the photos included here) highlighting the radical artist. He continues to release new music and videos while developing a fashion line conforming to his unique sensibilities and ideals. This month’s issue for the fashion conscience male; GQ displays West at his best and highlights his monochromatic flair for originality and compositional matches and pairings. An arresting interview explaining his inner dinosaur and blowfish are found inside it pages too.  

One of Kanye’s best and most interesting art pieces is his “Heartless” video. West produced and essentially directed this tribute to the inspired animation of Ralph Bakshi. The classic Bakshi film release “American Pop” is the background and driving force of the West video. Scenes are recreated directly from  Bakshi’s superb animated Historical Fiction. It tells the story through several generations of an immigrant family’s journey and escape from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution to the United States.   They eventually achieve both political and musical freedom as they find their place in life and the world. I’m certain West sees a comparison to his personal life and struggles in the narrative. Within the video West includes a nod to Warhol and the American classic Hanna-Barbara studios. 

"Heartless"

In the course of his career West is often infuriating and polarizing but he is never short of surprise, invention and “the shock of the new.” Kanye West remains among the seminal artists and fashion mavericks of this; his times.

Annie Leibovitz: The Wizard of OZ Portfolio

John Currin dressed in a silver suit, raised axe in hand stands over a startled Keira Knightly.  White evening gown and tiara adorned Kara Walker backed by the Penn State Marching Band face a humbled Keira Knightly. A horrified, fearful Keira Knightly is whisked away by a winged, furry Jeff Koons as another winged furry Jeff Koons follows. “The Lion in Winter” Jasper Johns perches, stately above an awed Keira Knightly. The Annie Leibovitz treatment of the L. Frank Baum novel turned film has never been so in vogue as when it appeared in the December 2005 issue of “Vogue.” This portfolio rocked the world and especially the “Art World.” Leibovitz is famous for her photo spreads and celebrity portraits but it is rare to almost non-existent for “A-List” artistic luminaries to be featured as stars in such a mass media venue. All the stops were pulled out for this one as Annie; such a prolific and passionate professional scores big.  She rarely misses. She is on target and in her best form with her OZ fantasy photographs.

Leibovitz began he career in the early Seventies. Rolling Stone magazine was her first home. Her photos chronicled the celebrities and events of our times like no other. She is among the select few to be both an artistic and commercial success. Her timely portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The nude/ pregnant Demi Moore, the milk bath Whoopi Goldberg and the “Blue” Blues Brothers are classics. Leibovitz always goes to the next level and even a little farther with her works that are often theatrical vignettes. She is able to get to the hearts of her subjects and they reveal much of themselves to Annie as with no other photographer. Leibovitz’s work graced and defined “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” for years. She was to move on to Vanity Fair, Vogue, the Disney Corporation and other clients. Her body of work is unmatched or surpassed. Leibovitz is embraced by generations and she continues to work and grow touching all forms of photography with her unique vision.

Her massive book; “Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005” is a major success for her. It is the best selling photography book of all time. It features both professional and personal works. Her relationship with Susan Sontag is a main feature of the book and much is reveled about Annie in the pictures and minimal amount of text. She draws no distinction between her life and vocation. I was able to see her exhibition following the release of her book at the Corcoran in Washington DC. As expected it was a treasure and a great joy. 

The Wizard of OZ portfolio; complete and impressive as a standalone piece is in many ways a small sample of this woman’s greatness.  There is much more to her body of work that is still growing. Leibovitz continually amazes as she informs and entertains. Her captured moments are precise and decisive. Everything a world class talent should be; is she.