Musicians - and others - who are bi-artal

[David Ayers]

Just for fun, the topic of a musician with a second art (painting) came up in Clifford's Ivo Perlman thread, and the question came up whether an artist could practice a second art to any kind of significant level. So I started to think about musicians who paint and other people who were or are bi-artal. So, names and comments please! Since we are talking about Schoenberg in another thread I'll nominate Schoenberg first up - his paintings are interesting - but do they ever go on display as anything other than the paintings of the composer (maybe they do, that's a question). I thought of how some musicians come out of visual arts then self-teach music but keep up visual arts in some way - Brotzmann, Eno came to mind. But does their stuff count much beyond the fact that they are the ones who did it? Shifting arts I thought of D H Lawrence, who did paint a lot...and then I came to Wyndham Lewis who I guess really is one of the few who is both artist and author - endlessly exhibited as a painter, but still in Penguin Classics and with a scholarly edition of his entire written works about to get under way.

Other examples of bi-artalism?

Edited July 1, 2013 by David Ayers

[robertoart]

Good topic. Wyndham Lewis is definitely a 'tick'.

I will be interested if there are many really significant practitioners in two creative fields.

You have the Woody Allen kind of thing, ie major film maker who is proficient(ish) in trad jazz, so hardly a serious bi-artal.

Then you have maybe the 'Pop-Rock crowd, who without wanting to be condescending aren't quite in the musical hemisphere of Coltrane or even Brotzmann.

So you have Cpt. Beefheart who was a very very good painter, and recognised as such.

Ronnie Wood Tony Bennett Anthony Quinn Tony Curtiss Paul McCartney etc etc.

On a serious note, there was an Australian Trad player/painter called Dave Dalliwitz(sp?), who I have read mentioned on here.

I know of plenty of well known Visual Artists/Indie musicians, ie, Mick Turner of The Dirty Three, and the connection between Rock and Art School has always been significant.

But on a more advanced music - Visual Art spectrum?

PS, I don't count Miles Davis' African doodles as 'significant' either.

Edited July 1, 2013 by freelancer

[BillF]

Larry Rivers, New York jazz saxophonist who was known as the "Grandfather of Pop Art".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Rivers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp3OGZM9Rm8

Edited July 1, 2013 by BillF

[brownie]

Drummer Daniel Humair is also a well-known painter (he poses in front of one his work):

Edited July 1, 2013 by brownie

[robertoart]

My Painting lecturer was always trying to turn me on to Larry Rivers. But at the height of the Neo-Expressionist return to painting in the late Eighties, his work seemed so anal.

Interestingly, my Painting lecturer who was born around 1940, was an ex-Jazz saxophone player as well, and knew I played Jazz guitar. So he probably thought I would relate to the bi-artal aspect. I remember one day asking him if he had any old Jazz records he didn't have any use for (seen as he'd given up playing ), and he said he had plenty of old Blue Note records but had already given them away .

He did give me a copy of OMNI magazine though, that had an expansive interview with Anthony Braxton - waxing lyrical about his latest 'piece' that could only be correctly performed on Mars - if Alpha-centauri was correctly aligned with the fifth moon of Jupiter (or something like that ).

Here is his website for all you old colour-field nostalgists

http://www.craiggough.com.au/current_works.html

ps. could Rivers really play?

Drummer Daniel Humair is also a well-known painter

That definitely looks like a 'real' painting there!

[Big Beat Steve]

Criteria may change over time but if contemporary writeups are to be used as a yardstick, the paintings of George Wettling weren't THAT bad.

Would Boris Vian's musical efforts on (downsized) trumpet count? Surviving records are fairly listenable, given the context of the times. And who knows where he might have progressed to if his doctors hadn't urged him to give up trumpet playing.

[king ubu]

Yep, Humair seems to be for real, indeed!

He's a great gourmet, too - not sure that's among arts that count here, though

Edited July 1, 2013 by king ubu

[king ubu]

Milt Hinton, photographer

http://www.milthinton.com/milton_photo.html

[uli]

Yep, Humair seems to be for real, indeed!

He's a great gourmet, too - not sure that's among arts that count here, though

sure let's hear it for some gumbo.

I think Sam Rivers did some painting too. Miles. Ornette and Oliver Lake.

[uli]

Criteria may change over time but if contemporary writeups are to be used as a yardstick, the paintings of George Wettling weren't THAT bad.

Would Boris Vian's musical efforts on (downsized) trumpet count? Surviving records are fairly listenable, given the context of the times. And who knows where he might have progressed to if his doctors hadn't urged him to give up trumpet playing.

yes, poet and musician

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WfbRzfuoIBs

Edited July 1, 2013 by uli

[brownie]

How about bass player John Heard, also a painter and a sculptor?

https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/jazz/modern-era/john-heard

[Alexander Hawkins]

Hans Reichl's work as a font designer was pretty fantastic...this website is well worth a look.

[jlhoots]

Terry Allen - Lubbock singer / songwriter / multi - media artist. BTW, now lives in Santa Fe. Very cool guy.

http://www.terryallenartmusic.com/

Joni Mitchell

Edited July 1, 2013 by jlhoots

[Steve Reynolds]

Don Van Vliet

Keith Rowe

Paul Dunmall

Peter Broztzmann

all are (or were in the case of the late Captain) visual artists as well as being prominent in their musical idioms

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Michael Ayrton - poet, painter, sculptor, cartoonist, novellist, art historian (good bio of Berlioz), humorist, illustrator (Wyndham Lewis requested that Ayrton illustrate his fantasy novels), creator of serious artefacts - eg a honeycomb in gold

MG

[alankin]

Both George and Ira Gershwin produced some skilled paintings.

Self portrait.

Edited July 1, 2013 by alankin

[BillF]

My Painting lecturer was always trying to turn me on to Larry Rivers. But at the height of the Neo-Expressionist return to painting in the late Eighties, his work seemed so anal.

Interestingly, my Painting lecturer who was born around 1940, was an ex-Jazz saxophone player as well, and knew I played Jazz guitar. So he probably thought I would relate to the bi-artal aspect. I remember one day asking him if he had any old Jazz records he didn't have any use for (seen as he'd given up playing ), and he said he had plenty of old Blue Note records but had already given them away .

He did give me a copy of OMNI magazine though, that had an expansive interview with Anthony Braxton - waxing lyrical about his latest 'piece' that could only be correctly performed on Mars - if Alpha-centauri was correctly aligned with the fifth moon of Jupiter (or something like that ).

Here is his website for all you old colour-field nostalgists

http://www.craiggough.com.au/current_works.html

ps. could Rivers really play?

Drummer Daniel Humair is also a well-known painter

That definitely looks like a 'real' painting there!

You ask, "Could Rivers really play?" Well, try the YouTube clip I've posted in #3. If you can get past the ear-damaging singer (who seems more like a performance artist than a vocalist) you'll hear entirely competent, Ben Webster influenced tenor from Rivers. And he was educated at Juilliard.

[clifford_thornton]

Bill Dixon

Cel Overberghe

Richard (Dickie) Landry

Masahiko Togashi

Robert Wyatt

[JSngry]

Pee Wee Russell

[danasgoodstuff]

Terry Allen - Lubbock singer / songwriter / multi - media artist. BTW, now lives in Santa Fe. Very cool guy.

http://www.terryallenartmusic.com/

Joni Mitchell

I've probably told this story before, but here goes - when I happended to be in Saskatoon visiting family, they had a Joni exhibit at the local art gallery/museum but nobosy i know who lived there would go "Oh it's only Joni, she can't really paint"!

[cih]

Paul Klee was a talented violinist, but chose painting, (also his art writings are among the most important..)

[paul secor]

Archie Shepp

[robertoart]

There's also Charlie Chaplin who scored his own films. Smile tugs at the heartstrings. A bit saccharin but still beautiful.

What about Hans Bennink. Surely he was bi-artal at something?

My Painting lecturer was always trying to turn me on to Larry Rivers. But at the height of the Neo-Expressionist return to painting in the late Eighties, his work seemed so anal.

Interestingly, my Painting lecturer who was born around 1940, was an ex-Jazz saxophone player as well, and knew I played Jazz guitar. So he probably thought I would relate to the bi-artal aspect. I remember one day asking him if he had any old Jazz records he didn't have any use for (seen as he'd given up playing ), and he said he had plenty of old Blue Note records but had already given them away .

He did give me a copy of OMNI magazine though, that had an expansive interview with Anthony Braxton - waxing lyrical about his latest 'piece' that could only be correctly performed on Mars - if Alpha-centauri was correctly aligned with the fifth moon of Jupiter (or something like that ).

Here is his website for all you old colour-field nostalgists

http://www.craiggough.com.au/current_works.html

ps. could Rivers really play?

Drummer Daniel Humair is also a well-known painter

That definitely looks like a 'real' painting there!

You ask, "Could Rivers really play?" Well, try the YouTube clip I've posted in #3. If you can get past the ear-damaging singer (who seems more like a performance artist than a vocalist) you'll hear entirely competent, Ben Webster influenced tenor from Rivers. And he was educated at Juilliard.

Yep. Rivers is an anomoly. Educated and practicing to proficiency in two distinct disciplines. Very impressive. And a bit of an old Lothario if that wiki page is anything to go by.

BTW. Is that a representation of a red brassier behind Humair?

Edited July 2, 2013 by freelancer

[clifford_thornton]

Han Bennink - yeah, forgot to mention him earlier. Interesting collages.

Though I don't think of Misha Mengelberg as a visual artist, he (along with Brötzmann) did participate in some fluxus events and happenings in Holland during the '60s. Fluxus was more trans-media before the composers and improvisers got kind of pushed out by the latter half of the '60s.

[StarThrower]

Oscar Brown, jr vocalist, lyricist, playwright, and one of the sharpest wits! RIP

Bassist Rick Laird is a noted photographer.