In Memoriam: Robert Rauschenberg


Robert Rauschenberg, a great American artist who created in many media and whose generous spirit inspired a lot of other makers, died Monday at 82. His obituary in the International Herald Tribune was sent to me by a Fluxus artist who remembered Bob's association with this ongoing movement to keep the spirit of inquiry, humor, and play alive in the increasingly money-inflected artworld. Rauschenberg's work in paint and sculpture, his signature combines that tied art and life together in the fifties, his invention of ways of transferring newsprint and photos of everyday life to canvas in the sixties, his performances and creation of mobile sculpture for dance . . . all of this was fun and refreshing and often beautiful.

Satellite, combine, 1955

I remember seeing him while we were both dashing through an airport--he was wearing a fantastic wolfskin coat. My friend said "Hi Bob!", he stopped and grinned, and he was off again.

Can't think of any artist with his spirit nowadays--can you? Please note here if so: nominations for the Bob Rauschenberg Joyful Artist Award now being accepted . . .


Pelican, 1963, with Carolyn Brown and Alex Hay, a dance on rollerskates.

Posted by: ann klefstad on 5/13/2008 at 3:52 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

art fairs?

I am trying to put together some information on art fairs and those who love them. If you are:
1. an artist who sells his or her work at art fairs, or
2. someone who loves to shop art fairs,

Please get hold of me at aklefstad@duluthnews.com, or post a comment here, ok?

Posted by: ann klefstad on 5/09/2008 at 5:45 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Homegrown Hiatus

Is what they oughta call the couple weeks after Homegrown when everyone is resting from their labors and larks. Not as much is going on, but if you're missing all the activity, there are some things. Take a look at the Wave this week (and hey--try to find a paper copy; it's a little different from the Web one), and get out and support local artists even when it's not civically mandated!

Soon the weather will be too nice to care. We hope.

Posted by: ann klefstad on 5/09/2008 at 5:40 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

The power to make up your own life

For my generation, artistic self-expression was high on the list of things that would make life worth living. But generally most of us failed to do that. I know so many people who feel they have failed. We are a massively deluded generation. We all wanted to be pop stars, indie film-makers, poets, painters, conceptual artists. Out of 300 people I know, who I have grown up with, there are four who have managed to do that. It seems crazy that that means there are 276 people who are living a life of resentment. We have a set of unrealistic expectations about sustaining a creative life in the midst of a consumer culture.

-Scottish author Ewan Morrison, who  describes himself as very much a part of the Gen X mindset that art and culture can liberate you from the mundanity of your all too predictable life."

The critic Michael Fallon recently posted this to his very interesting blog "The Chronicle of Artistic Failure in America" (which is not about works of art that fail but about the faltering role of the arts in the life of mainstream American culture).  This quote is about the difficulty of making a go of one's creative ambitions in a world that doesn't much value what artists do.

But there are a couple of counterexamples in the newspaper this week: I've done stories on two very young men who've managed to find ways to invent their own lives, to create art. And what it took on their part was an intense focus and ability to work, as well as a strong sense of what's good in their art forms. But it took something else too. Both young men have been welcomed into a creative community that taught them skills and helped them achieve professional standards; groups of people who took them seriously and helped to launch their careers.

See the daily paper today for the story "Duluth man--ballet dancer and construction worker--will perform in China during Summer Olympics". It's the tale of Kyle Duncan, an excellent performer who's found a way to live his talents, in part because he's willing to think outside the usual assumptions. He's taken his creativity into his daily life. His generosity with his talent has meant, too, that people have been generous to him.

And in the current Wave issue, the article on another Kyle (what is it about that name?)--Kyle Geissler-- presents the story of a kid who has enough confidence in his passions to pursue their realization, without spending a lot of time worrying about whether he was up to the job. Plainly, he is; plainly, again, he's able to create a rich life for himself, and good art for other people, because he doesn't consult the usual grumpy oracles. He wants to make something, and he does.

He's helped by teachers, by the Duluth Playhouse staff and volunteers who've helped him learn his craft, by other kids in the theater program, by the Community Education people who trust him to do the play despite his youth. Without his talent and drive, the event wouldn't happen; but without people in the community who believe in the worth and value of creative guys like this, it wouldn't happen either.

So thanks to all concerned. Now we've got something to see, to talk about, to think about, besides the weather and the latest polls. That's something to live for, in my book.





Posted by: ann klefstad on 5/08/2008 at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Avishai Cohen (among many others) in Grand Marais May 9-11


Avishai Cohen is headlining the Grand Marais Jazz Festival on May 10. This is the cover of his 2007 album After The Big Rain (Anzic Records, 2007), which looks at the planet after a worldwide flood. The album is the final part of a trilogy (although Part 3 was recorded first) that explores the steps leading up to the flood, the flood itself, and its aftermath.

Avishai Cohen, from Israel by way of New York, blows a dazzling trumpet. He's a jazzman of long standing, even though he's only 30 years old. In today's interview, he recounted last night's conversation with a 24-year-old drummer at the Blue Note in New York. "He asked me how long I played, and I told him 'I've been playing since you were born, almost,' because I started playing jazz when I was 10."
Avishai and his band Triveni will headline the Grand Marais Jazz Festival, which runs May 9-11 this year. Go to GrandMaraisJazzFest.com or call 1-888-922-5000 for a full schedule and to order tickets.
I talked to him by phone from New York, where he was recovering from a cold. He anticipates being in fine form, though, when he plays on May 10 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts in Grand Marais at 7 p.m.

Q: When did you start playing jazz?
A: I was 10 years old, I joined a big band in Israel. They were short of trumpet players in Israel. My brother took me with him, most of the cats were older of course, but I started playing there, that's where I began to improvise.

Q:Playing with older people, is that where you developed your relationship to the tradition?
A: For sure jazz is all about tradition, you cannot play jazz without knowing the tradition.
I guess it's a language. You can't speak a language without any vocabulary, even if you want to. You listen to the old cats play, you start with Louis Armstrong, and you're good to go. Then you can look for your own voice, but you can't start with that.
You know pop music, you know it even if you dont want to, its everywhere . . . but swing, you cant learn it in school, you cant learn in from a book, a whole school of jazz cannot replace one recording of Armstrong. To get the feeling, that truth, you have to listen to your mentors. It's very simple.

Q: What kind of jazz traditions are there in Israel?
A: There are not so many clubs in Israel, but there's many musicians, particularly there's a lot of Israeli jazz musicians in New York. It's quite a phenomenon. Israel is the size of Rhode Island. It really makes you wonder.

Q: Do you relate to John Zorn's music, his Tzadik project?
A: His mission is very specific, avantgarde free jazz, and it's very Jewish. I don't play that music specifically. Most musicians from Israel don't think so much about being Jewish. You grow up in Israel, everyone around is Jewish and that's it. Here, it jumps more, it's more a factor, maybe it makes you deal with it more.
For me, it's not something I think about. My roots, my tradition, is jazz. I do many other things, I do world music, I have a lot of focus on West African music, funk , hiphop . . . But my background is in jazz, and luckily that's a good place to come from if you want to be an all-around musician.

Q: What will you be playing in Minnesota?
A: The project I'm bringing to Grand Marais is based more on swing. It's a trio, Triveni, a kind of returning to my roots as a musician. "Triveni" is a Sanskrit word, a place where three sacred rivers meet. It's Joe Martin on bass, Jeff Ballard on drums. Me on trumpet.

Posted by: ann klefstad on 5/07/2008 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink