Homage To Jocko

34 1/2 Inches Tall
Bronze and Stainless Steel on Green Marble
Artists Proof Edition Of Nine
2009

This sculpture started out as the model for a major public art competition.The female figure represented an immigrant bride from the 19th century.Along with her long dress she was holding a suitcase and a hat box.I made her in such a way that she could evolve into something else if I did not win the competition.Said competition eventually became null and void.The politics in the art world are something to behold.It's a better idea to avoid them than to get involved.
          For 2 years she refused to develop into anything acceptable to me.I started to wonder if she ever would.Then "Jocko",an old friend of mine since the 4th grade,died.He was a painter and a few days later a bunch of us were sorting out his apartment.The walls were covered with his paintings.One kept catching my eye,it was influenced by Paul Klee.I got the attention of his brother,"Robbie",who had been in my class in grade 4.I pointed at the painting and then at my self."OK",he said , I got the painting.
          I'm self educated when it comes to art,so when something catches my interest I'll investigate it.Early 20th century modern art had never caught my interest so I was quite ignorant of what it was all about.But now I had this painting and I was fascinated by it,so I looked up Paul Klee.On the facing page was a picture of a Kandinsky painting and it was just wild,with lines and colours going all over the place,not representing any object,and this was created before the First World War.The author said this was a painting about music in colour.Not music that you hear or play or read,but music in colour.I could see it! This was a revelation to me.I showed Webster,"Look Webster".He opened one eye,sniffed the page,then closed his eye again.I had to resign myself to the fact that my cat is a philistine.
          The night before this revelation I'd been looking at pictures of a violinist,so I had violins on my mind.I thought,"I could have the bride figure playing a violin and have all the music coming out in abstract shapes".This bronze is the result of that idea.I rented a violin and took pictures of a model holding it.It took awhile to get the music to work.I tried various things.One night at 1am I was standing in my unheated studio,[which is the other side of the basement from my suite],in my slippers and dressing gown drawing out the music that is now there.As you can see,it works.Jocko's painting was the catalyst that made this happen.He would be pleased.