Three paintings per week

Brigitta Hauser-Schaublin/Ocarina player (Abelam)

 

The image of the Abelam ocarina played I used last year to illustrate the song Nggwal mindsha. That same song was also part of the Top 100 2019 and was already illustrated for this year's top 100 as well. I commented last year that the ocarina wasn't heard on the recording but the image did come from the same album as Nggwal mindsha: Music of Oceania: The Abelam of Papua Niugini. [Musicaphone, 1983, Germany] The song the ocarina represents now is the actual song the image illustrates: Ocarinas and Bamboo Flutes. The song was recorded by Hauser in 1979 and the photograph was taken that year by Jorg Hauser. Ocarinas and Bamboo Flutes is in spirit much closer to the Abelam Warning, a recording that was my first introduction to the Abelam about ten years ago and at the time qualified as the most outlandish recording I've ever heard. Re-listening to the warning it no longer qualifies as being so outlandish at all. Familiarity will do that to you. I must disagree with the attitude of John Cage, who hated all sound recordings (he thought of sound as alive, recordings as dead). I find that hearing the same performance multiple times increases empathy (I admit that it wouldn't compare to witnessing the original performance, but it would be impossible to witness any of these ethnomusicology performances—it is still better to hear the recording than not hear this music at all.)

Martin Rev/M.I.A.

Born Free by M.I.A. has been in the Top 100 nearly every year since it was released in 2010. Her live performance of the song that same year on David Letterman's Late Show elevated the song to the status of 'one of my favorite songs ever.' On the Letterman performance she is joined by Martin Rev who, as one half of the band Suicide, was responsible for creating the riff M.I.A. sampled on Born Free 20 years earlier. The drummer on the session is Butchy Fuego, who also played with the Boredoms at the time. Because of Rev's presence I thought it was appropriate to share one of my favorite performances ever with the facebook group "No Wave." This was a mistake. (The first comment was "Well that's a crock of shit that pisses all over suicide.")

Meg White/Jack White (The White Stripes)

 

I don't think the No Wave group would have much positive to say about the White Stripes either. Yet, I love the both the the White Stripes and the No Wave group and follow their posts religiously. The No Wave group has been a great influence in this year's top 100. 7 Nation Army by the White Stripes doesn't need any special groups to become exposed to it. The song is all over the place. Much like Queen's We Will Rock You, 7 Nation Army has become sort of a rock 'n' roll anthem that you hear at football stadiums and commercials alike.

Mathangi and Kala

 Mathangi Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) with her mother Kala Pragasam

11x14 inches, pencil, spray paint, watercolor on paper, 2020

 

 

In 2019 M.I.A. received an MBE for her services to music. Prince William was the one who handed it to her during a ceremony which her mother was one of the guests of honor. Her mother had stitched the actual award medal to the ribbon M.I.A. was given. As a refugee she had found work sowing for the royal family and had created similar award ribbons for 33 years. In the photo she took with her mom at the ceremony M.I.A. proudly poses with her mom now wearing the MBE award the had stitched herself. The M.I.A. song in the Top 100 2019 is again Born Free as she performed it live at Letterman's Late Show in 2010. A memorable performance featuring Marin Rev, who in 1977 created the beat heard sampled behind the studio version of Born Free (Maya, 2010) together with Alan Vega. The song is at a solid #2 in my list of counting awarded points kept updated since 1983.

M.I.A.

M.I.A.
Stencil on paper, 10 x 8 inches, 2018

New year, new M.I.A. stencil. Made for the occasion of a new semester at FSW. Made to trade with students. My intention was to have an edition of 38 (the number of students) but I had to stop at 18 because the matrix fell apart.

Full Moon (The Green M.I.A. Portrait)

M.I.A.
16 x 12 inches, oil on canvas paper, 2017

Ever since Born Free hit the markets in 2010 I've been a fan of M.I.A. I first heard the the song in Believer: 2010 Music Issue magazine. It was brand new then, recorded in 2009. Later I bought the 2LP set Maya and later yet I came across my favorite version of the song when she performed it at Letterman's Late Show. It's been in the Top 100 every year since 2010 and at #1 from 2012-2016. The performance of Born Free at Letterman's features the keyboards of Martin Rev, co author (with Alan Vega) of the song Ghost Rider, that prominently features behind M.I.A.'s text and vocals. M.I.A. was "born free" in England but her parents were not so free as they went in exile being hunted by the Sri Lankan Army. The date of her birth was July 18, 1975, precisely 11 years after my own.

Matangi

M.I.A.
oil on canvas paper, 16 x 12 inches, 2017

Spring break...a painting a day...they're not getting any more adventurous though. It's a bit kitschy this one I guess, I don't usually do a lot of blending and wiping. Yesterday's painting set the stage and I couldn't help myself continuing that process today. There's always naturalism as to resort to when innovation doesn't appear naturally. They say paintings choose their own path and the painter is a mediator. M.I.A. is yet another musician who had roots in the art education. M.I.A. is however not part of my lecture on art and music that I've been preparing in the last week. The first of M.I.A.'s songs in this years 100 is Matangi from the album with the same title of 2013.

M.I.A. Stencil

M.I.A.
stencil on paper, 2016

A stencil per semester to trade with students, this will make it six. The second of M.I.A.

Bun Bun

M.I.A.
oil on canvas board, 9" x 12", 2015

David Letterman calls it quits on May 20th. His late show included guests like Captain Beefheart and M.I.A. The M.I.A. performance of Born Free from her Maya album at Letterman's Late Show in 2010 ranks among the most exciting live performances I've ever seen. It's not often I would consider a musical performance as art but this one sure is. M.I.A. is seen performing with two musicians and a dozen dancers, clones of herself, in what seems an unrehearsed, not choreographed rendition of Born Free that borders on anarchy. Alan Vega and Martin Rev composed the riff the song samples (Ghost Rider, 1977), and should be proud of what became of it. The name of the Bunny in the painting is Bun Bun, I found her (the painting) in a thrift store.

note: just after I wrote the above text I watched a youtube video of suicide performing ghost rider in 1977 and i thought that martin rev looked a lot like the keyboard player on letterman's late show 33 years later it didn't take me long to figure out that it actually was martin rev performing with m.i.a.

A Hobby

M.I.A.
oil on wood,
24" x 12", 2014

The Top 100 is a hobby. That statement starts this site that thus far yielded over 400 paintings and drawings of my favorite musicians. There are about 2,500 of such images altogether. The opening statement then continues: the project has left the boys room and entered the realm of art. It is in that part of the statement where the trouble begins: The project doesn't work in the realm of professional entrepreneurship. The project works by virtue of the fan, the admirer, the amateur, the hobbyist. To maintain this project as an entrepreneur doesn't work, I have come to realize, but in stead of adjusting the business plan I've adjusted my expectancy level (adjusting to zero that is.) I have been able to this because of two reasons, the first of which is my new found career as an art history teacher. I have also been showing paintings that are nice and big—have nothing to do with the Top 100, that have an aura of professionalism. On top of it all I have gained, thanks mostly to an article on Lady Clementina Hawarden by Carol Armstrong, a new appreciation for amateurism. That in amateurism lies the attainment of the discipline (that this medium is photography in the article is a mere footnote.)

“In the classical sense the amateur is the antonym of the professional, and refers to those who pursue a problem for love rather than for the rewards the world may have to offer. In this sense the word often identifies the most sophisticated practitioners in a field. The other and more popular meaning (of amateur) identifies one who plays at his work: one not only less than competent, but less than fully serious...." (John Szarkozy, Looking at Photographs, 1975)

Psycho(self)analysis 101 teaches me that I thrive in amateur settings. There are no expectancy patterns, I'm free (a lot more came out of these 101 sessions but I keep that to myself:) As I celebration to my new freedom I took my paints to this open studio at a local arts center. (My own studio reminds me too often of a failed professional career.) There I picked up the joy of painting again. M.I.A., being this star with a global mass appeal, I considered an appropriate new start. Recently I bought (full price, I only do that about twice a year) M.I.A.'s Maya. I needed to do this because her song Born Free (currently residing at no. 1 in my 13/14 list) entered into the top 10 of my all time favorites. (These need to be owned in vinyl format in crisp condition.) The "Run for Your Life" source photo of M.I.A. has been a long time favorite, and I have attempted painting this several times.

The demo

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
oil on canvas board
8" x 10", 2013

Hello again, it's been awhile since a brand new painting was posted here. I've been quit busy with my 7 class assignment this semester. It's not that I haven't been painting, but the paintings I did were all demos for the studio classes. Lots of landscapes (that surely will turn into top 100 paintings), lots of portraits (that I gave to the respective sitters), and also lots of dirty palettes (that will also turn into paintings). This portrait of Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolonnikova was the first to go on top of a palette. I painted it the very day the news came out that she disappeared, moved by Russian authorities to an unknown location. I sure hope all of us will hear her story when she gets out of jail, if she ever gets out alive. Putin Light Up the Fires was Riot's last single before their infamous Orthodox Church performance that was the cause of a jail sentence for two members of the Pussy Riot group. It was in last year's 100, and will be in this year's again. The music is simply where it's at in term of punk rock. Ms. Tolokonnikova, a political activist, and conceptual artist, is the voice of Pussy Riot. She wrote the manifesto to protect the integrity of the group, and was described as "the evil genius behind the group." I suspect she also wrote most of the lyrics for the group. 

Demo painting is an art in itself; you're not supposed to screw up being the instructor. But I also need to keep up the integrity of my own painting practice. Practice what I preach. I preach that creativity is more important than technique, that the unconscious knows more than the conscious mind does, and that a successful painting requires the letting go of that consciousness so that the other part can take over. The trouble is with those demos that you're expected to talk your way through, that while you let your unconsciousness make the decisions on the canvas, your voice immediately translates it to the conscious side of the brain. That, and the need for a good result, creates a lot of pressure, and it requires the utmost form of focus and concentration. Sometimes I mess up. 

The M.I.A. portrait of the stencil print below was done in the context of my art appreciation class to non-art majors. As a homework assignment I had (all 53) students make a stencil in an edition of 10. They would keep one to submit with their portfolio for review, and trade eight with class members and the last one with me. The M.I.A. below was their reward. Not every student did the work so I still have about 10 prints left. Let me know if you want one. You can have one for $50. I've already painted M.I.A. for this year's 100, as her Born Free song makes the list for the fifth(!) time, and now this print then is dedicated to her second best song (in my opinion) Paper Planes. Even for Paper Planes it's already the third time in the list. (No other song of hers ever made the list.)

M.I.A.
stencil print on paper, 45/53
6.5" x 6", 2013

M.I.A. at Letterman

M.I.A.
4" x 4"
watercolor, 2013

I know, it's been awhile. Life's been taken me places. But then the top 100 is kind of my life, so it will continue, in one form or another. The only painting I've able to churn these last two months is this tiny M.I.A. portrait done with watercolors. It took me a whole week to do it (to illustrate where my mind is at right now.) But it's M.I.A.! so I will take this opportunity to butter you up to her art (which is performance art.) I had already been mesmerized by her song Born Free since the day it was issued. It's been ranking high in my lists ever since its release in 2010, and it's steadily moving up the ranks of my all time favorites list ever since. There are three versions of the song now contributing to this rapid ascend up the list: First there's the album version on her CD Maya (that also appeared on The Believer 2010 Music Issue), then there is the 9 minute official video which is one of the most horrific I've ever seen (http://vimeo.com/11219730). It's a piece of art that video, but what I consider the real piece of art capital "A" is her performance of the song on Letterman. The keyboard player plays with his fists, creating a soundscape as punk as punk gets but the real treat is M.I.A. with her many clones. The video ranks with best music performances I've ever seen. I should not fail to mention that the song is based on the classic Suicide tune Ghost Rider, in itself a top 100 veteran.

M.I.A. – Paper Planes

M.I.A.
11" x 8.5"
ink on paper, 2013

M.I.A.'s biggest hit, without a doubt, is Paper Planes. The inclusion of it in the movie Slumdog Millionaire propelled M.I.A.'s status from starlet to megastar. The song too, together with Born Free (see Top 100 2013, #2), made M.I.A. now enter the list of my favorite 200 musicians counted over 30 years of Top 100 history. Besides being on the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, Paper Planes appeared on M.I.A.'s second album, Grammy winning Kala of 2007. It should not come as a surprise then, that on YouTube a score of live recordings are posted. One night I had myself a little Paper Planes marathon and watched six of these in a row. Some are fan videos recorded from within the audience, others are more official ones recorded properly on stage, and then there are still other versions that were recorded for a live TV audience, such as her appearances on Letterman and the Grammy's. And they're all different. My favorite one is labelled the "official live video". On it there are tons of people on stage dancing, another large group of kids providing the chorus, and a special guest appearance by Rye Rye. The small little ink drawing above almost didn't make it. I'm getting way to meticulous in my sketchbook. Out of frustration I almost tore out the page and threw it away (or folded it neatly to let the wind carry it away.

Run for Your Life

M.I.A.
24" x 12"
oil on wood, 2012

You may recall this very same image of M.I.A., executed with watercolors, pass the revue less than two weeks ago as #35 in the series The 100 Greatest Recordings of all times. The song Born Free was #2 in the Top 100 2010 and may well end up at number one this year. The music and text of Born Free are superimposed on a beat by the band Suicide. Written by Martin Rev and Alan Vega, the beat was the theme from the song Ghost Rider on Suicide's first LP (1977). I have that one on CD, it's a great album. I do not have 2010 M.I.A.'s Maya CD on which Born Free appears but have the song on a compilation CD issued by the Believer magazine (The 2010 Music Issue). It is now the fourth time I painted this image of M.I.A. with the long red T-shirt worn as a dress. I also used it for Paper Planes in the Top 100 2009, Born Free in 2010, and the aforementioned 100 Greatest Recordings. The inscription on that T-shirt I only used in the two recent paintings. I reads: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. An appropriate line watching the video for Born Free. It's the most horrifying and violent video I've ever seen. Directed by Romain Gavras, the 9 minute film depicts a genocide against red haired people. The video was inspired, no doubt, by M.I.A.'s own political cause, that of the Tamil liberation in Sri Lanka.

The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: 35, M.I.A.

M.I.A.

M.I.A.
24" x 16"
oil behind plexiglass, 2010

After Mia Zapata (see previous...) M.I.A. is the next singer to re-appear in the Top 100. I used the same image as I painted last year but it illustrates a different song. Born Free, built around a sample of Suicide's Ghost Rider (the original track appeared twice in previous Top 100 lists), is from her brand new CD Maya but I found it on a compilation CD tucked in the Believer: 2010 Music Issue magazine. Born Free, according to the editors of Believer, is "a way of acknowledging her growing hipster audience", of which I am apparently one. The commentary in the magazine is a political one, be it not about Tamil liberation, but about cultural identity. My head is spinning trying to convey the message. In my notes to last year's painting I commented on my inability to take a political stance and now, after reading, and listening to, so many more opinions about M.I.A. (everybody seems to have one), I'm even less opinionated. I stick to my little "I believe in her integrity" disclaimer I used last year. Being engaged in a discussion on M.I.A. recently, people questioned this integrity. I could not defend her well theoretically, but when I asked if Born Free wasn't the most exciting new music around, they had to admit it was.
The painting, reverse on glass, is an experiment. I've seen my wife Maria have wonderful results with the technique, and it seemed a good way to not have to sacrifice the original sketch, the under painting. Maria often tries to stop me from continuing to paint on certain paintings because the under painting is so lively. As it turns out she liked the back of the painting very much, one can never win...

...I can't resist to mention (again) that Maya Arulpragasam (her real name) shares July 18 as a birthday with me as well as with the Norwegian extreme right-wing politician Vidkun Quisling (for him I would like to refer you to an April entry on Varg Vikernes: Varg and Me).

One last thing: If you spotted that M.I.A.'s legs in the painting are proportionally a little short —good eyes. This time it is not because of my shortcomings as a painter but it is due to my lousy photography skills (or a shitty camera).