Robert John Cook's art show #19

I’m going to start off this week with a plug. Before I began this radio show I didn’t know what a podcast was, I barely knew what an iPod was. I had been attending an eight week art marketing program thought the wonderful Arts Foundation of CC was sponsoring, and I had planned on missing one of the eight weeks. The topic for that week was podcasting. I said to my fellow classmate how on earth could a podcast on an iPod possibly help me market my art? "You should see what it’s all about," my friend replied. I went to the seminar and was glued to my seat, the speaker, Len Edgerly was amazing as he discussed the world that podcasting can open our eyes to. Yesterday was a cool day thanks to Len Edgerly. For those of you listening from the University of Montana, I deeply enjoyed Len’s video interview of me yesterday. And welcome to my radio show. And I also want to say thanks to Karen Billard, the friend who inspired to attend Len’s lecture, and the friend who handled the technical portion of yesterday’s video interview. You guys are great.

 

The first question Len asked me was : What's the best thing that's happened as a result of your podcast? I said, the best thing that has happened to me as a result of the podcast can be boiled down into one word: Stories. A lot of stories. Like this story; how’d you ever end up being interviewed via video in Montana from Cape Cod? That’s a story. But here’s one of my favorite stories; One day I was doing an art show down on the waterfront on Hyannis harbor here on Cape Cod. There wasn’t anyone around, so I did as I usually do and practiced my guitar on one of the park benches near my art display. A husband and wife came walking down the sidewalk along the waterfront and approached my art display. She said "I like this art work. He said, "I like the guy playing the guitar. I got up, walked over, thanked them for the compliments. The husband was surprised that as an artist I could also play the guitar. He told me he was impressed. I then asked the standard two questions to break the ice; where are you from, and what kind of work do you do. I live in LA and I’m a Recording Engineer. It took a little digging, but it turned out Bil is the personal recording engineer for Jackson Browne. His job is to record Jackson’s daily sessions. Almost on a daily basis people like my hero David Crosby, Graham, Nash, David Lindley, and Bonnie Raitt come to hang out. About a month after meeting Bil I received and email from him. He said he had been listening to my podcast. I was flattered beyond belief. I couldn’t believe a guy who is hanging out with some of the most famous musicians, those that I am in awe of was listening to me, little Robert John cook of Cape Cod. Blew me away. He told me how he looked at me, a guy living in one of the most beautiful places known, an artist, a musician, an writer. I was cool he told me. Until he said it I hadn’t looked at myself that way, it shifted my perspective. Last week I mailed a commissioned paining to Bil Lane, one of the coolest people I know. The painting was from a photo he had taken while visiting Cape Cod this past summer. Bil is a genuine down to earth nice guy. The night I boxed up th emailing for mailing the next day I sat for a moment and looked at the brown wrapped box, it had Jackson Browne’s studio stamped across it for a mailing address. I was pulled into reflection for a moment, I sat down and thought -I was struggling with letting the painting go. I had spent hours and hours in my studio listening to Jackson on my iPod while painting it. The experience brought back some wonderful memories of my brother and I when we were teenagers. I thought back a million years ago to when my brother and I heard Doctor My Eyes for the first time on the AM radio. The year was 1973, my father was taking us to Washington, DC. History was being made, Watergate had just broken and thousand’s of people were descending on Washington. We were driving to Washington from Boston and stopped for breakfast somewhere in Virginia. We sat in the breakfast diner and over the AM radio came Jackson’s voice, ‘Doctor my eyes have seen..." My brother and I were impressionable teenagers. Hearing Jackson Browne’s beautiful voice and penetrating lyrics left an impression no doubt. Not to go into a sad story on you, but my brother passed away and broke my heart, I miss him dearly, but each time I paint he sits on my shoulder. So listening to those old songs from Jackson’s ‘For Everyman’ and ‘Saturate Before Using’ brought new meaning as I painting away on Bil’s painting with my brother on my shoulder watching me. After boxing the painting up, knowing I would be mailing it in the morning, I decided to sit down with my guitar and record whatever came into my head. I played for about an hour, then burned the recording onto a cd, and put the cd in the box with a thank you note to Bil. The painting would now be on it’s way to Jackson’s studio. It was a painting in which the painting has two half's, the instrumentals on the cd being the audio half, and the paint on canvas being the visual half -- combine the two and you have my art.

The painting arrived and I got an email from Bil: "Robert, the painting is amazing. it's too f***ing awesome. thanks again so much- it's too cool to see one of my photos come to life."

Now, to bring this long story back to Len’s question as to why this is the best thing, the best story, is that the podcast was the link to me being validated as an artist. The podcast in these stories become the representation of my professional efforts to justify my creative voice. The podcast is part of the validation.

I want to share something else that’s going on right now. I’m not sure how to describe it, so I apologize upfront for not being able to articulate what I’m trying to say very well, but I haven’t been in the studio for the last few days. I’ve been tormented thinking though the development of what I think is the coming of a new technique. I’m searching for something elusive. I can feel something ahead of me, a new technique, something new to my style. It’s just up ahead, right around the bend, but I can’t see it, and I can’t grasp it yet. But I’m gaining on it and I can feel I’ll soon catch up with it. I’m waiting eagerly right now, with extreme motivation. I was telling a friend the other night that I am getting excited about a show I was recently invited to, It’s called Mutual Muses. It’s an exhibit at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod where they take the art from a painter and a poem is drafted from a poet. At the same time a poem is handed to a painter and a painting is developed. Next week I will be given the poem from which I am to produce a painting. I feel for some unexplainable reason that the new technique or style, whatever it is that is luring me awaits in this new painting. I can feel I will finally catch up with whatever is up ahead around that bend on this new canvas. I am eager to read the poem and let it out. I miss not being in the studio driving myself to push work out, but I see in my mind’s eye that patience will reward an improvement to my style and technique that is keeping my desire to paint cherished and filled with excitement. I feel like I’m counting the hours til Christmas morning and when the poem arrives I’m going to run down the stairs and see what’s under the Christmas tree.

The other side of this is that I’m currently looking at my prior work with boredom, a slight feeling of embarrassment. If it weren’t for the stories, the reason and purpose behind each painting I have done I would throw them all away. But the paintings are documents of things I have thought though and I can’t let them go. I can sell my paintings and focus on the pleasure it was to put my art in the hands of a person who enjoys it, but I can’t throw away the canvas that stores the thoughts I processed while applying paint.

PLUGS

Framing by Deb Sprang, email [e-mail]

The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod 2008 Fall Grant Awards. Twenty-one local artists and cultural organizations will receive a total of $30,850 in grants at a special reception from 6:00 - 8:00 pm on Wednesday, November 19 at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth.

The meditative paintings of Anne Ierardi will be displayed at the Breakdown Lane Gallery, 26 Pearl Street, (off of Main St.) Hyannis, MA. Anne’s reception is Thursday, November 20th 4-8pm.

The last plug this week goes to a poet friend of mine, whose poems I really like . Please check out www.poetrypoem.com/jsparrow

peacelove,

Robert