Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tom Waits - For no Man exhibition 2013

"Tom Waits has been a major inspiration for artists, musicians, poets, writers and thinkers for more than 50 years. He is considered as one of the Godfathers of grunge and poetic rock and is held in high esteem by musicians, singers and artists. I see Waits as a master of contemporary narrative who is able to weave emotion and intrigue into his stories of urban grit and rural abandonment...Waits is a master wordsmith whose ability to create disturbing narratives sets him apart from other songwriters. From his achingly beautiful love songs to his social and politically charged tales, Waits creates powerful lyrics interlaced with unusual musical arrangements and with his penchant for unusual musical instruments (or objects used as instruments), the sound is a memorable one that hooks most listeners from the very first chord...

Gordon Froud (curator), 2012

The Tom Waits For No Man travelling group exhibition, curated by Gordon Froud, was recently launched (30 March) at the KKNK in the Klein Karoo. It comprises approximately 100 LP sized (30cm), multi media works. http://www.kknk.co.za/program.phppage=visuele_kuns&item=visuele_kuns_2013

The show will be moving to Grande Provence Wine Estate for the Literary Festival in May, The University of Johannesburg Art Center in July and hopefully Oliewenhuis Gallery, Bloemfontein in August. Other venues may be explored in Natal and the Cape. Please watch this space for opening dates of this not to be missed show!


Below, find the artist statement and an image of my contribution. 




Vinyls in the flat

Formed vinyls folded, on LP players.



'the wrong lips'
Vinyl flooring, red paper and record player
400 x 150

Based on song titled ‘It’s all right with me’ the work is a playful exploration of psycho sexual behaviour in pure Tom Waits fashion. More specifically, it focusses on erotic exchanges between strangers; such as flirtation and other ephemeral encounters. The work is mounted on a record player, visually enticing viewers through the slow hypnotic rotation of two voluptuous ‘lips’ produced from folded vinyl flooring.

Its all right with me - Tom Waits