Art
Venice and Pollock
01/10/08 09:26
We live, as the Chinese said, in interesting times, and I feel that even at 71 I am still living in interesting times in terms of my career. I have today launched three new websites: grahamcolliermusic.com which is devoted to my past work, with news of what I’m up to now; thejazzcomposer.com which is currently acting as a teaser for my new book due next year; and the site you are currently reading, which will be devoted to an occasional blog, backed up by links to some of my earlier writings, and to some recommendations of what I think worthwhile to listen to, read, or just look at.
What I recently found to look at was Venice, a long held dream, which my partner and I realised in mid-September, travelling by ferry from Patras in Greece. Not the best way to travel – the presence of televisions in almost every public space is a curse of recent times – but the best way to arrive. The boat steams along the south side of Venice and the views from that height are as beautiful as I had ever imagined. As is most of the city – once you dodge the rain, and the incredible number of tourists (and this was supposed to be the quieter part of the year). The second best thing we did was visit Torcello, a quiet island about an hour away from the city, where, forewarned, we had booked for lunch at Locanda Cipriani. Great lunch, great setting, and hang the expense. They call themselves an inn and apparently Paul Newman, Elton John and ‘the entire Royal Family of England’ have stayed there. It’s also where Ernest Hemingway wrote Across the River and Into the Trees, said by my journalist friend next door to be known as his worst book. But when we go and stay, I’ll take a copy with me!
But the best thing we did was to see two amazing paintings by Jackson Pollock in the Peggy Guggenheim museum. She collected a staggering amount of good art, supporting many painters like Pollock along the way, but for us the pride of the collection was Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy. And, nearby in a travelling exhibition, was Phosphorescence, a partner painting to Alchemy.
I’ve been a great fan of Pollock for many many years and have read much about him. I saw the wonderful 1999 exhibition at the Tate in London, marvelled at Blue Poles in Melbourne, and still have in my mind’s eye a great late painting I saw on a visit to the stunningly set Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. My last composition was memories arrested in space, six pieces for saxophone quartet inspired by Pollock paintings from 1947 – among them Alchemy and Phosphorescence! And my next record will be called directing 14 Jackson Pollocks after a comment from an artist friend of a friend who had attended the concert.
I’d like to go into ecstatic prose about Alchemy and Phosphorescence but it wasn’t that sort of experience. It was a sense of awe that this mass of what could be called chaos – but not by me - was so controlled, so deep, so spacious.
To end on a more serious note – I’ve often wondered at the propensity of Americans to keep saying they are ‘the greatest country on earth’. They’re entitled to think it, but why keep telling us?, especially at a time when they are mired in a credit crunch, and when John McCain chooses Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you haven’t seen her recent interview with Katie Couric on CBS, watch it and weep to see how ill-prepared – and ignorant – she is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WkCZV83Cp8&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_319249
Two pieces of my earlier writing have been added to the Writings page: The Churchill Report on Jazz Education in America, and The Shape of Jazz to Come?, a panel discussion about the teaching of contemporary jazz. Both will be referred to in forthcoming blogs.
See Recommendations for what I have been listening and reading lately.
Comments on any of this are welcome, although those from Republicans may get short shrift.
What I recently found to look at was Venice, a long held dream, which my partner and I realised in mid-September, travelling by ferry from Patras in Greece. Not the best way to travel – the presence of televisions in almost every public space is a curse of recent times – but the best way to arrive. The boat steams along the south side of Venice and the views from that height are as beautiful as I had ever imagined. As is most of the city – once you dodge the rain, and the incredible number of tourists (and this was supposed to be the quieter part of the year). The second best thing we did was visit Torcello, a quiet island about an hour away from the city, where, forewarned, we had booked for lunch at Locanda Cipriani. Great lunch, great setting, and hang the expense. They call themselves an inn and apparently Paul Newman, Elton John and ‘the entire Royal Family of England’ have stayed there. It’s also where Ernest Hemingway wrote Across the River and Into the Trees, said by my journalist friend next door to be known as his worst book. But when we go and stay, I’ll take a copy with me!
But the best thing we did was to see two amazing paintings by Jackson Pollock in the Peggy Guggenheim museum. She collected a staggering amount of good art, supporting many painters like Pollock along the way, but for us the pride of the collection was Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy. And, nearby in a travelling exhibition, was Phosphorescence, a partner painting to Alchemy.
I’ve been a great fan of Pollock for many many years and have read much about him. I saw the wonderful 1999 exhibition at the Tate in London, marvelled at Blue Poles in Melbourne, and still have in my mind’s eye a great late painting I saw on a visit to the stunningly set Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. My last composition was memories arrested in space, six pieces for saxophone quartet inspired by Pollock paintings from 1947 – among them Alchemy and Phosphorescence! And my next record will be called directing 14 Jackson Pollocks after a comment from an artist friend of a friend who had attended the concert.
I’d like to go into ecstatic prose about Alchemy and Phosphorescence but it wasn’t that sort of experience. It was a sense of awe that this mass of what could be called chaos – but not by me - was so controlled, so deep, so spacious.
To end on a more serious note – I’ve often wondered at the propensity of Americans to keep saying they are ‘the greatest country on earth’. They’re entitled to think it, but why keep telling us?, especially at a time when they are mired in a credit crunch, and when John McCain chooses Sarah Palin as his running mate. If you haven’t seen her recent interview with Katie Couric on CBS, watch it and weep to see how ill-prepared – and ignorant – she is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WkCZV83Cp8&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_319249
Two pieces of my earlier writing have been added to the Writings page: The Churchill Report on Jazz Education in America, and The Shape of Jazz to Come?, a panel discussion about the teaching of contemporary jazz. Both will be referred to in forthcoming blogs.
See Recommendations for what I have been listening and reading lately.
Comments on any of this are welcome, although those from Republicans may get short shrift.