Primary Colors

Suicide (Alan Vega, Martin Rev)
10" x 16", oil on canvas paper, 2015

The image of the women in the center comes from a 1920 photograph by an anonymous photographer and is part of the Uwe Scheid Collection. It's getting a little ridiculous, these series of musicians flanked by anonymous (nude) women from that collection (the photos by Gerhard Riebecke that were used last month also belong to the collection) and it will stop soon (there is one more on its way). Why these women appeared in the paintings in the first place has to do with the Buzzcocks painting that was part of the previous series of paintings (with the musicians superimposed on found paintings). A very objective reason indeed. (There are more subjective aspects to it too. The mind wanders places and the unconscious is being well taken care of.) Anyway, here's Suicide, the two-man band consisting of Alan Vega and Martin Rev. The song, no surprise, is Ghost Rider, the track used by M.I.A. in her song Born Free, the number one in consecutive years. As noted in Bun Bun, Martin Rev (who co-written the song with Vega), appears on my favorite version of it. Ghost Rider appeared on Suicide's self titled debut of 1977, in which format it appeared in this top 100. The current version listed is however a live recording found on YouTube filmed at CBGS's in 1977 or 1978. The audience boos and Vega anticipates.