Richard Lee, Magical Painter of West Tisbury

For 24 years a visit to Martha's Vineyard was not complete without both a visit to the West Tisbury home, and a pilgrimage to the Vineyard Haven gallery of my friend, reverse glass painter Richard Lee. In a magical house tucked into Indian territory, filled with totems and feathers, Buddha's and bracelets, stuffed wolves and wall to wall art, Richard and his family resided.  He was a brilliant, thoughtful and irreverent man who was generous in spirit, adored his family, tended his gardens, and obsessivly worked on his art.

A visiting reporter, Heather Curtis wrote in the Martha's Vineyard Times:

"The studio's door opens wide to reveal his reverse paintings on glass displayed in antique frames on the room's pastel walls.  They are vividly colored neon fantasies conveying a satiric humor. Vibrant green frogs wearing neon-colored boots in 'Java Jive' dance around merrily while balancing oversized cups of coffee above their heads. In 'Fashion Runway' models with human bodies and animal heads strut around in front a crowd of neon blue spectators. Richard Lee paints the details first, then adds background.Richard said that "the mixture of animal and human forms come from his observing the animal characteristics that many people have." 

Ms. Curtis added, "He says the images he paints are zoomorphic, portraying "'the realizations of the inner connectedness of all of life.'" As for the meanings of the paintings, he says that's up to the viewer to figure out. '"People don't know how they're supposed to react, as if they're supposed to,'" Mr. Lee says, taking a long sip from his iced coffee.

"An Islander since the 1970s, he discovered the art form by chance, he explains. It was a friend's birthday, and he didn't have any paper to make a card. So he made do with what he had, painting a card on a piece of glass. The accident became an instant addiction."

Richard discovered antique mirrors with hand carved frames at tag sales and scrapped off the silver backing. He then did a sketch on translucent paper and proceeded to the final painting on the back of the glass. His works were highlighted with gold and silver leaf and once, for an entire year, he painted exclusively in 23 shades of blue. One of the paintings from this period, "Miss Owl Pulls the Cord", is in my personal collection. Richard also undertook massive tasks of painting entire case pieces along with gilding their wood, and an important case piece was recently accepted into the permanent collection of  the Baltimore Museum of Art. The formal title is Sinking and Burning, but the piece is widely referred to as The 13th Cabinet.

He was a very magical man.....a man whose spirit will remain in the hearts of all who were privileged to know him. He made us open our eyes and view the world in an entirely different way. The lesson and the man will not be lost, but they will be dearly missed.

Sculpture in the Garden Show

Although I usually busy myself as a private dealer in self-taught art, one weekend a year I completely step out of the box. This weekend will be the 17th annual Sculpture in the Garden Show and tag sale on the grounds of the gallery in Woodbridge. Artists who morph recycled materials, junk yard finds, old tools, stone and wood, into objects of delight and desire, have started to pull up in their ancient trucks. Some neighbors shudder, but most are as excited as I am, and certainly the kids on the street are already buzzing. They love to see the life sized horses, six foot tall sunflowers, robots, crazy birds, and kinetic sculptures which show up. This year four new artists have been discovered and the show is always a fun visit for the entire family. As I'm part of CT Open House Day on June 9th, the first day of the show,  I will be giving away art and auction catalogues, food magazines and novels to the first 75 visitors. Prepared to be amazed!
The show opens at 9 am on Saturday morning and runs until 4 pm through the weekend.

Waits for Thunder

Today's house shaking thunder reminds me of a small piece I had published in 1993 when my mom was still alive. It was entitled "Waits for Thunder" in a book by the same name.

For some long forgotten and deeply buried reason, my mother's entire family lived in fear of thunder. As the last of her generation move into their 90's, minds clouded with age, I accept the face that the reason for this behavior will never be revealed. My mother was determined that I would not be victim to this  debilitating fear that drove her into closets, armed with a book and a chair, to wait out the storm.
When I was a child, as dark clouds approached, we set up camp in our small screened -in porch. Mother placed me on her lap, and together we would wait for thunder. She bravely spoke of cold fronts and loud noises and the beautiful lightening  that would follow. And then it came, and the force of her jump raised us both out of the chair. My mother still waits in fear for thunder.  I wait with open arms and a trembling heart.

image from 10 days of science website

In Memorium: Paul Pitt. May 5th, 2012

One of the dearest, sweetest artists I've ever represented died today in his prime. Paul Pitt was a gentle giant of a man. Quiet and soft spoken with deep family ties and an enormous talent. He was also a tender caretaker for his mother and his brother Charlie, who passed away in recent years.


His luscious, folk art paintings brought us back to a simpler time, filled with a strong sense of community and extended family. Even if we had never personally experienced his subject matter, it rang a responsive chord. A county wedding, nuns skating with their charges, a Shaker horse sale, concerts, night trains, snow scenes, a night at the opera. His talent for story telling was as charming as the man himself.

His work teemed with activity, and was populated with up to two hundred and fifty children, adults and animals from Paul's imagination. He meticulously and compulsively repainted each scene up to six times before he was willing to pronounce them completed. Within each painting, many small stories unfolded, each with their own considerable charm and humor. And always, you would find his surprise signature-- two small boys running--one black, one white, taking turns wearing the ever present red scarf.

Folk art enthusiasts loved Paul's work, and a large body of his paintings have been included in several important private and museum collections. Paul Newman used one of Pitt's "Barn Raising" paintings to illustrate an article about his communitarian projects. When folk art collectors, Baron and Ellin Gordon opened their museum in Norfolk, VA, they displayed Paul's  "Country Wedding", one of at least nine works they had purchased over time.

Everyone who knew Paul adored him and I am beyond sadden by this unexpected loss.
In Memorium: Paul Pitt
folk art, non-mainstream art, self-taught art, outsider art, artbrut art

Gift of a Century: Petullo Collection to Milwaukee Art Museum

Milwaukee collector Anthony Petullo has made a gift to the Milwaukee Art Museum of over 200 pieces of self-taught art, making this institution the holder of the largest collection of this type of art in the United States. These wondrous works are in a show entitled "Accidental Genius" and they will be punctuated with lectures, films, and parties through May 6th.
As a guest in Mr. Petullo's home, I can attest to the magnificence of his vision and his collection. He has included in his gift, masters, such as Bill Traylor, Anna Zemanokova and Adolf Wolfli, as well as works, lesser known, but equally worthy of contemplation.
On Thursday, March 22, the Museum will host a discussion concerning what the meaning of and the problems are with the terms Self-taught, Naive and Outsider. Lisa Stone (curator at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago), Jane Kallir (co-director of Galerie St. Etienne, NYC) and Margaret Andrea ( curator of the exhibition) will be the panelists.

image by Carlo Zinelli

Laura James: Praying Out Loud

With an Antiguan heritage and a love of subject matter, both secular and religious, self-taught artist Laura James has made quite a splash in the art world. In the year 2000, she completed thirty four images commissioned by the Catholic Church for their new version of The Book of Gospels. Each of these inclusive and magnificent paintings, which were first on display at the Divinity School at Yale University in New Haven, CT, have been sold. So have all her works in a series called Nannies and Other Mothers.

A new body of work featuring goddesses, such as the revered Mami Wata, and guardian angels, has just been delivered to the gallery and will be here through July. This is a rare opportunity to see an entire body of Laura James' paintings, and her elegant presentation copy of The Book of Gospels will be on display during this show.

The Baron Paints a Life Remembered

Baron Corso de Palenzuela was only 8 years old when his titled family fled Cuba to avoid Batista's corruption. The trauma of this sudden and unexpected move from their beloved homeland has remained with de Palenzuela and is clearly evident in his art. His memory paintings, depicting the family's luxurious life in Cuba, illustrate both love and loss for Corso the child, and haunting fragments of memory still carried by Corso the adult.

In his paintings, the main figures are always large and in the foreground, flat in perspective, often flanked by both armed soldiers and the lush vegetation of this tropical paradise. White deer, called Dama Dama, almost forced into extinction because of their prized flesh, white peacocks whose feathers are decorated with gold coins from the family's fortune, white dogs both prized for their hunting skills and their devotion as family pets, enormous fields filled with sunflowers, cocoa and tobacco, and mother tending to her gardens, fill de Palenzuela's colorful canvases.

There is a strong folk aesthetic to this unschooled work which has been shown at the American Visionary Art Museum, The Miami Fine Art Museum, The Jewish Museum in NY, The Havana Municipal Museum, and Vassar College. The artist's spiritual side, reflecting his Sephardic heritage, is depicted in powerful biblical paintings with illustrative text. Corso de Palenzuela says, “I’m religious, but I don’t believe in institutional religion. I’m more of a mystic.” These wonderful paintings are mystical indeed! Most of the work is painted in oil on random shaped boards, often surrounded with framing constructed to protect these vivid and cherished memories. There are fascinating stories told in each work and a goodly amount of the vintage pieces are still in the artist's personal collection.

Edward Gomez wrote of de Palenzuela in Raw Vision magazine, these paintings go “…far beyond the Cuban-American dominated zones of Miami and South Florida reflecting both increasing and broader popular interest in Latin-American culture in general, and the ever-widening scope of the Outsider Art world, where interest in styles, techniques or themes associated with particular peoples or places has significantly enriched appreciation of the genre.” De Palenzuela's work has also received glowing write-ups in the New York Times on four occasions.

Vintage and current works by Corso de Palenzuela are now available at the Beverly Kaye Gallery in Woodbridge, CT tel: 203 387 5700

Building Upon Building.....

Eric Rosner's art work has captured New York's architecture in it's earliest days, when no detail was left to chance and buildings were embellished like wedding cakes. He has preserved this elegant past for the last 20 years in both ink drawings and canvas prints, so the history of this beloved city will live on beyond the crumbling facades of today. In Rosner's own words, "I find myself thinking of all the people who have graced this grand Metropolis and these buildings have housed them all. Whether it was epic business transactions, stunning scientific discoveries or grand entertainment showcasing, the city of New York has a unique tale of histories. With my artwork, I hope you can imagine a stunning time period over a century ago when the imagination ran wild and magnificent structures soared to the sky. "

Sometimes, Rosner's work can be seen executed on the outside of the buildings as well as inside them. His work has been shown at the Affordable Art Fair, the Tribeca Lounge and the Argos Tea House in NY and recently at the Chelsea Hotel. This self-taught artist recently decided to sell his original artworks. Pieces range from 6" x 6" to 60" x 60". I cannot imagine living in a New York apartment without one of these very prepossessing works on the wall. Any one of these drawings would have been the perfect cover for Joseph Mitchell's "Up In The Old Hotel", one of my favorite books.

Self-taught Photographer, Redux

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented a photography show, one of Daniel Farber's reflection photographs was used as the banner advertisement. This self-taught photographer, in the leather business with his brothers, started making his art later in his life. The results of this hobby, turned obsession, are held in over 123 museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Museum, and so on.

He also had his images used in the movie "Tommy", as well as on the covers of multiple classical music albums. Farber was named one of the top ten photographers in the decade from the 1960's through 70's, and his nature photographs are in many private collections. Since he utilized the process called color separation, these vintage images are as brilliant today as they were when they were first printed.

A book of his images called "Reflections on a Trail Taken", published in 1991, is a stunning record of his photography with very interesting text. Farber generously revealed all his camera, film and exposure information and gave very helpful pointers on how to create similar images.

Silhouettes of winter trees, starkly portrayed in black and white, were among his favorite subjects and photo-silkscreens were made of several of these striking images. A small portfolio of them (image size 16" x 16", printed on Arches paper) are now available, each of which is published, and several of which are held in permanent museum collections. Contact the Beverly Kaye Gallery for more information.

Anyone Can Dine With the Queen

Therese James has a zest for life paired with a sense of humor, which is evident in each of her paintings. Her work would be considered Naive, and since 1993 she has given in to a compulsion to paint full time. She records scenes of everyday life with an unbounded joy which makes the viewer feel like jumping in to join the fun. Therese gets much of her inspiration from the places and literature of her native Wales and the West Country.

According to her bio, "Relying purely on an instinctive approach to her art she has developed her own style with representative characters who inhabit the world of her paintings." A simple seashore scene, double decker red busses in traffic, or even a family sharing their Christmas dinner with the Queen (on TV of course), become fodder for a new painting. Her subjects move at angles and dance across the canvas in a dizzying tango. Her work can be seen in galleries throughout the UK and she is represented in the Affordable Art Fairs by Wren Fine Art, and was selected for the prestigious "Artist of the Year" award.

Perry Morgan lives, loves, and paints New Orleans

Savannah, Ga. born artist, Perry Morgan 111, has an MA in psychology and is a winner of the Absolute Vodka Art Search. He has successfully owned an art gallery on Magazine Street, a very well known New Orleans haunt, and he's employed as an artist by the House of Blues, which boasts the largest folk and self-taught collection in the US. Quite a varied resume!

Mr. Morgan has worked in clay, assemblage, painted silk, canvas, and wood. He paints his own frames and has a friend construct them. His works clearly reflect the melting pot that is New Orleans, and the joyfulness of his immersion in the music, art and architecture there is apparent. I will let these very appealing works speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Beauty from The Earth

Of all Pueblo pottery, the thin walled storage jugs, medicine bowls, seed jars and canteens from Acoma, have reigned supreme. For over 600 years the residents of this pueblo, also known as Sky City, in the western desert of New Mexico, have gathered local clay from secret areas, and shards from old pottery. After traditional and tedious methods, they have turned this gift from Mother Earth into pottery which holds it's head high in the field of hand made art. Special stones are ground with native vegetation to create a paint which is then applied with brushes made from local plants, chewed down to a few long strands. After air drying, the pots are dung fired and with a prayer are pronounced complete.

The earth tone color at the bottom of many of these pots and the thin black and white lines denoting rain and thunderclouds are familiar iconography used by the artisans here. Each Pueblo has their own symbols. Some of the contemporary makers have included designs from their ancestors after having been introduced to these Mimbres symbols at local museums. Both men and woman create pots here on top of and in the three small towns at the foot of Sky City, and they are among the finest in the world. More examples can be seen by clicking on the title.

Ronald Sloan's Situation.........

Ronald Sloan has been obsessively painting his private world for over forty years. An examination of this almost intact, and vast body of work, exposes an alternate reality painted in a masterful and unique style. The human figure, deconstructed and then reconstructed into skeletal form, often exists in a world of fear, pain, trauma and sexual abuse. Geometric figures, grids, boxes, far off center lines, and numbers appear hand in hand with quasi human figures struggling to make sense of an unsettling world. The disturbing themes share the canvas with recurring symbols of comfort. The mathematical elements, along with tropical vegetation, and an extraordinary talent for laying down paint in a seductive manner give you a reprieve, allowing you to catch your breath, and gather courage to look once more.

Each painting is a mini drama, audience not required. Ronald Sloan paints his world to survive yet one more day in it. On the canvas, survival often depends upon being both mute and deaf. Mother is portrayed with her mouth covered, unable to speak out about the untenable life she leads. In one painting, words warn, "Do not HEAR the Forest Burning." The inclusion of explanatory text offers precious access to this curious reality. In response to questions about the nature or purpose of his work, Ronald simply states, "I paint."

Iranian Woman Artist, despite all odds......

When a sixty year old Iranian woman, named Akram Sarkhti, illiterate, traditional, and in an arranged marriage, finds a way to create art, we all must applaud. She started painting ten years ago and poignantly portrays her hard life, her remembered childhood and all her dreams of a better future. Fortunately she has a benefactor in the name of Rokhsareh Ghaema, who is making a documentary film about Akram and trying to find a European venue in which to have an exhibition of this remarkable body of work. The film maker can be reached at the following e-mail address if any of you can help to facilitate this process. "Roxareh@yahoo.ca"

Akram was married to a 30 year old man when she was 9 years old, and her husband did not allow her to go to school. She painted to calm herself and when her son found the paintings he was astonished. Some of the work has been sold to the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, but need to be seen by a wider audience.

The three images I have chosen to post are called My Engagement Day, My Wedding Day, and Conversation. How easily we take for granted our freedoms, and how painful to hear of our sisters in foreign lands living a feudal life in the 21st century. Two of my next door neighbors, who are women from Iran, are both highly educated and are medical doctors. A flip of the penny.......

Sculpture in The Garden show 2010

Despite the bleak economy, the oil spill and the troubles in the Middle East, I am forging ahead and planning the 17th annual Sculpture in The Garden show. People need art, they need to see it, touch it, and experience it in a garden on a lovely day. So I have invited ten outstanding self-taught artists who use recycled materials to participate in this show. Out of junk yard finds, old car and truck parts, ancient tools, wire and stone, they have forged objects of desire and delight. There will be life sized horses standing side by side with musicians, rare birds, stone heads, robots, slate garden signs, and so much more. Prepare to be astonished, and bring the whole family.

Eddie Wood's Clay Creations....

The serpent never looked so beguiling, nor the apple so appealing. The figures of Christ in the tomb and on the cross elicit an immediate response. These are works beyond the ordinary. The artist, Eddie Wood, age 43, is a very talented man, yet he only started making his sculptures in Louisiana, a year ago. He loves patina so after the clay base is completed and hardened, he adds many layers of paint and touches of gold leaf to his work. Besides these exciting mixed media creations, he also paints seascapes with a very sophisticated eye. This is an artist to watch!

A Mother's story

Please read this Mother's story about a son whose school suggested he work in a sheltered workshop making nylon pot scrubbers. Hat's off to all Mother's who hold on to a dream for their children and have the fortitude to never let go.

"Michael Jurogue Johnson is entirely self taught. When he graduated from a special education

public school at the age of 21 he didn't want anyone telling him what to do! He learned how to

paint and in 1999 a young couple wanted him to paint portraits of their dogs. They kept sending photographs of their dogs laying around in the garden. Finally Michael did an oil painting of their dogs playing on the beach. He could get a pretty good likeness as long as he could paint his own ideas. Since 2000 he has painted more than 500 portraits of pets, children, houses, a few older people and racehorses. The portraits and the illustration jobs have expanded his subject matter and have challenged him to develop new techniques.

Michael works in oils, acrylics and watercolors. He has no fear of a blank paper or canvas, he just starts painting. He uses bright colors freely and naturally. The colors don't clash, they harmonize. He paints from a cheerful and innocent point of view. He has a limited grasp of perspective but a great eye for detail. Forget washes! Michael wants to paint every blade of grass, every leaf on the tree and every pebble on the beach. He likes to paint all day long and listen to music.

Painting is his job, not his hobby. He sells from his website and has been painting for 17 years.

You can see his current work at: http://www.artistmichaeljohnson.com"

Blood Horse gave Michael many magazines so he could study the physicality of the horses and when he picked up his brush to paint, the work was amazing. The Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan auctioned off the paintings and raised a large amount of money with Michael's art. So much for the school which wanted him to go into a sheltered workshop and make nylon pot scrubbers the rest of his life! Happy Mother's Day to his mom, Robin from an art dealer who was also blessed with a Mother who understood her love of art.

Purvis Young, RIP

Years ago, as many private dealers are wont to do, I participated in a folk art tour, which included a dealer's row. Translation, all dealers registered at the show were placed on the same floor and were allowed to set up their rooms as booths. It was a bustling and affluent crowd and many paintings and sculpture were sold. Across the hall from my room was dealer Jimmy Hedges, Rising Fawn Folk Art from Tennessee, who brought with him an artist from Miami who he had great faith in, rightly so. Late one of the nights, the artist slipped out for a bit of fresh air. He had been painting and speaking with collectors all day. When he tried to return into the hotel, he was stopped by the staff. Refused reentry. He was a poor, black man, and didn't seem "a fit" with the guards. Eventually the artist, Purvis Young, was allowed access to his room.

He died yesterday of a heart attack after a kidney transplant, dialysis, and a long fight against diabetes. He died as a world renown and deeply loved artist. He was a genius, a loving soul, and a keen reporter of life in Overtown, a slum neighborhood in Miami where he lived his life and created masterpieces from recycled materials and paint. His access into museums was a much easier ride than his access back into that hotel. For all who had the pleasure of knowing Purvis, either personally or through his art, I share your pain, and am brokenhearted.

Sculpture in the Garden Show, 2010

It's almost time! Kids are getting restless, their parents are eyeing their gardens, searching for an empty, but deserving spot. Childless collectors practice their best "I've just come to look" faces, and the fun begins! The annual Sculpture in the Garden Show featuring works of art made from recycled materials and junk yard finds, is almost upon us. Here's a sneak peek at the ad which will be published in the stunning and delightful international art magazine called Raw Vision. The issue will be out in May, the dates to hold are Saturday and Sunday, June 12th and 13th. Collectors with flashlights who show up Friday night, please try to wait your turn! You know who you are!

Clyde Angel, answers at last....

For years the art community has debated the existence of Clyde Angel, "highway wanderer". His works captured the hearts and fascination of collectors at the Outsider Art Fair in New York, when veteran dealer Sherry Pardee first showed his works. When the work was banned from the show, as questions about the veracity of the person and the sculpture were brought into question, some dealers, myself included, stood by the work. Judy Saslow and her Chicago gallery was a top advocate for Angel's work, and I personally thank her for her steadfastness.

Finally we have some of our questions answered. Clyde Angel's son, Skip Willits has written this moving account of his father's life and art. History will make the final judgments. I will just sit back and enjoy the art. The images I've included were grabbed from the net. My own personal collection will be published at a later date.

Clyde Angel, 1920 - 2006

By Skip Willits

My father was Clyde Angel, an artist who made a name for himself by producing a powerful body of work while fiercely protecting his identity and privacy from the art world until the day he died. I didn’t say this while he was alive because he asked me not to. I knew him as Vernon Clyde Willits for most of my life. He was a welder in a small factory called Climax Engines in Clinton Iowa for 40 years. He was a family man, an avid swimmer, a traveler, a very curious soul always up for an adventure. In his retirement he took up cross country skiing. He loved books. The local library used to get rid of their old books in a dumpster that sat behind his house. He couldn’t stand to see these books thrown away, so nightly he would sneak over to pull them out. His studio and house were filled with these old discarded library books.

My dad was a product of the great depression, a World War ll vet and, like many of his generation, a man of tools and reality. He lived a factory life, usually working 10 hour days, 6 days a week, paid his bills on time. Whenever he found a little time for himself he was content in making crafty, clever works which often took the form of visual jokes; nut and bolt figures that appeared to be chasing each other, a depiction of a snow skier’s trail going through a pine tree, or flowers made out of metal pipe. He also busied himself making utilitarian constructions; stainless steel house boats, spiral staircases, porch railings. Family and friends would continually request all sorts of repair jobs and welding projects, all of which he enthusiastically took on. These craft objects and welding projects continued to give him great pride through out his life, even after his success as Clyde Angel.

In the early 1990’s, several years after his retirement he began to make uniquely strange and powerful artworks out of steel found objects and other media. He was very prolific but secretive and at times ritualistic in this new form of art making. I first discovered his new direction when I found 3 pieces of his “secret artwork” hidden under a pile of scrap steel I was getting ready to discard. These objects were startling to me and the way in which he made them bizarre, compared to his normal craft. This new artwork was out of context with his usual daily life. Through drawings, writings, wall reliefs and sculpture objects he referenced his past, present and where he thought he was going in a most unusual way. The people he knew, pets he’d had, traumas experienced were all part of his subject matter. While talking to him about this work it became clear to me that it was an essential part of his life and he could no more have stopped this new type of image making than stop his breathing.

The new artwork gave him great satisfaction but at the same time made him uncomfortable. He felt that he would be ridiculed or perhaps considered an eccentric if he showed it to anyone who was used to his ‘normal’ work. Also, he was personally unsure of where this new inspiration came from; this feeling of obligation to “make these things” puzzled him. In a peculiar way I think he was almost embarrassed by what he was making. He knew the questions would come; Why such a compulsion to create, why did he go in such a strange direction at this point in his life, why such wild outlandish figures and writings. Perhaps he didn’t want to know the answers.

Though he intuited that this new work wouldn’t be accepted in his local world he still had a desire to “get it out there.” I convinced him to let me show his work to some people who could help do this, but he insisted on anonymity. And so he created his new name, Clyde Angel. Clyde because it was his middle name, but more importantly because Clyde was the name of his father whom he loved dearly and admired greatly. The Angel part I’m not so sure of.

Though I tried to convince my dad many times to let me introduce him to the people who admired his work, he refused. This stand that he took didn’t make things easy for those who admired his artwork or represented him. The art world demanded the proper credentials and a face to go with the art. When he refused the uproar it created sometimes over shadowed his artwork. Some, like gallerist Judy Saslow understood his request to let the artwork speak for itself, “If you want to know me, know me by my art.”

The idea that all artists, through their art, aspire to leave something behind that will let future generations know they were here, to make a statement about themselves, their experiences, who they loved, who they were – that’s all he wanted to do. In his stubbornness and wisdom he accomplished all of this.

In his lifetime I stayed quiet; I honored my father’s wishes. Now things have changed. When he was alive we talked with each other everyday, often times about art. I don’t have that luxury anymore. In the three years since his death I’ve done a lot of thinking about the meaning of his life and art, where things should go from here. What to do with what I know and what was left to me.

Two weeks before he died I took him to the circus. He always loved a good circus. His favorites were the acrobats on the flying trapeze. Once he created a sculpture depicting the Great Wallendas. During this part of the show I leaned over and told him I thought the acrobats looked like his artwork. He just smiled and kept watching the show.

“I remember flying down the deep inside the wind.” – Clyde Angel

Skip Willits