the art and news of international artist mark andrew allen
GREAT ADVICE TO ALL ARTISTS....
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”
Chuck Close
Chuck Close
JOHN LENNON
This is the last one of this series and this one is special to me because John was my favorite. It was Ringo at first, then I switched to John. He spoke to my heart...
I made each of the Beatles in this series using their bodies from when they began as the group 'The Beatles', with their suits and cool boots. As I created each one of the works I added the head from a different time. (choosing from when I thought they were at their best) With this particular piece, I added the famous photo of Lennon taken on the streets of New York where he loved living. As with all pieces I try to be in the moment and see where the piece is taking me. With this series, it was great because I played the music of the artist while I created each one. At a certain point on this piece I added the piercing blow of blood to his chest. Then it came to me to add a cross. Logical to me because he was indeed crucified, just with the pull of a trigger instead of being nailed to a cross. I still needed to add his name somewhere and everywhere I tried i didn't like, then it occurred to me that his name resembled a thorn crown, so there it is. I know John said he wasn't a Christian, or a Jew, or a Buddhist, just 'John', but he also said he wasn't afraid of death and thought that dying was simply getting out of one car and into another, so enjoy your ride my friend wherever you are...we enjoyed your ride while you were here.
footnotes: 1. The 'This Is Not Here' phrase at the bottom was taken from the 'Imagine' video where it was etched on a window of the mansion. Sorta a pun that Yoko is not in this picture. 2. I was a card carrying member of The Beatles Fan Club - which means that I own three special records that were only issued to fan club members each year at Christmas. (1967, 1968, 1969) 3. The target - obvious. 4. "War Is Over,... if you want it" I always liked that campaign. He always wanted to empower people. Cool that he did something positive with his fame. The irony - he died violently yet preached peace and non violence. His life was full of ironies.
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