“I like to think of myself
—as an artist—
as being in a nondescript swamp,
alone, up to my knees in mire,
painting the vital beauty I see there,
in my own way,
not caring a damn about tradition,
or anyone’s opinion.”
— Charles Burchfield
Gardenville, February 8th, 1938
I was at a party last night (happy birthday Sohrab!) and painter/musician Rick Froberg of The Obits mentioned the artist Charles Burchfield. I had never heard of him but found out today that Mr. Burchfield had the very first one person exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art. Scupture genius, Robert Gober, whose work I haven’t seen in quite a while worked on the recreation of the MOMA show to open at the Burchfield Penny Art Center (March 7 – May 23, 2010) in Buffalo, NY. Definitely worth a road trip!
It is great to know that there is so much amazing work in the world I have yet to find out about. Here’s a video showing some of Mr. Burchfield work. (I’m not sure how appropriate Miles Davis is to looking at this work… I know very little about early/mid 20th century music from Ohio, so I can’t imagine what would be appropriate. When I think Ohio, I think My Dad is Dead, Pere Ubu, Rocket From the Tombs, and Devo… not so appropriate either.)