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The fanciful & inspired art of Deloss McGraw, drawing on the poetry of W. D. Snodgrass
Seldom does an interest in poetry spawn the long-term working relationship between artist and poet as that firm bond found between kindred spirits Deloss McGraw and William Dewitt (W. D.) Snodgrass. Yet, since 1981, McGraw has continued to draw inspiration from Snodgrass' poetry, resulting in thousands of paintings, drawings, lithographs, collages and "furniture". Most recently, to Snodgrass' professed astonishment, McGraw produced an illustration for each of the 200 poems in Snodgrass' collection, "Not For Specialists" (BOA Editions, 2006), which were exhibited at the YMCA gallery in Syracuse, New York, during Snodgrass' last public reading in 2008. (See POETRY Page) McGraw, poet as well as artist, has been called a "pioneer in the art and poetry collaborative movement since the 1980s." He has illustrated the writings of Richard Brautigan, Lewis Carroll, James Joyce and Joseph Cornell, among others. His illustrated version of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland won the Illustrator’s Society Book of the Year Award for 2002.
From "Not For Specialists" Series
McGraw was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1945. He studied art the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, served in the Army in Europe from '69 to '71, studied at East Central State College, Oklahoma; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; Art Institute of San Miguel del Allende, MexicoHe lives and works in Southern California and Okemah, Oklahoma.
Program from
the exhibit and reading
McGraw traveled from Oklahoma to be on hand for the opening of his show in Syracuse, and for his friend-and-collaborator's reading. During the reception, in response to a compliment on his work, the artist replied modestly , "I just play a supporting role." A quick look at their 2004 illustrated book, "Make-Believes: Verses and Visions" (Eatonbrook Editions, 2004), and you will see it's more a partnership of equals, each in his own best way. Recently I asked McGraw for a comment on his long friendship with the poet. He said he would drop me a line or two when he got back from a business trip, and true to his word, he did. His remembrance was of a man ready to share a great and wry sense of humor: "On numerous occasions De Snodgrass phoned me late in the evening. During our wandering conversations we talked, on many topics, salt and peppered with lots of fun. I remember one evening - De become silent and then said , as an artist, I am going to give you some important information. Kockosca [Austrian artist and poet] said, that if you live long enough you and your career will be discovered at least three times and each time the young girls will be there -- and you know what? He was correct ... and then De laughed and laughed."
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McGraw's work is held in collections throughout the United States and internationally, including Oxford, Syracuse, Temple and Cornell Universities, the Whitney Museum of American Art Library Collection, The Library of Congress, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is represented by the Ellis Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, California. -- MRF Links: http://www.artnet.com/artist/11517/deloss-mcgraw.html
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Alex Grey's COsM How things work: Artist combines art, industry and religion
Former CoSM Sanctuary,
Chelsea. Alex Grey has come and gone a very long way since his early days in Columbus, where his unusual billboards caught the eyes of passers-by -- and hooked them. His artistic-celestial journey began, it seems, almost at birth, and is growing like moss on the steppes. His move to Manhattan from Ohio was as auspicious as moves get, with New York proving to be an inspired artist's ideal landing plane then, as now.
Billboard,
Columbus, Ohio A closer look at many of Grey's pieces reveals his intimate knowledge of human physical and spiritual anatomy. The artist -- whose work has been called psychedelic by some, transcendental and mystical by others -- has for decades painted what his mind's eye sees, a vision that seems finally to have reached critical mass. I don't know whether or not that means Grey has grasped the inner meanings of the universe and is sharing them through his art, but the images, repetitive and complex, are intricately self-sustaining, enabling him to synch well with others. Grey's artistic and lifestyle insights, along with his ability and willingness to share them with the world, have paved the way for him and artist wife, Allyson, to assume their place at the forefront of a spiritual movement taking on its own 21st Century form. The Greys have begun an ambitious fund-raising effort to underwrite an even more extraordinary growth plan as they establish an art and meditation center on 40 acres of prime Hudson Valley real estate in the Town of Wappinger, just 65 miles north of New York City.
Alex Grey's vision of the permanent Chapel
of Sacred Mirrors.
Credit: CoSM.org website A special e-mail message from Alex and Allyson tells of their daily affirmations seeking fulfillment of the wish to sell 5,000 copies of Alex's book, Art Psalms -- a day. If their simple affirmations were to be realized, calculate the Greys, the 501(c)3 CoSM organization would in 100 days reap the reward of $12,500,000 -- "more than enough to build the actual chapel and own the land on which it stands." A recent newsletter reports on a positive twist in the transitional experience upstate from Manhattan that has resulted in the Greys being able to "leave behind" some of their work for it to remain on exhibit in the city. Over the past year, we have become great friends with Jan Mathews, CEO of East West Living in Manhattan. East West has hosted numerous CoSM related presentations, including the recent official unveiling of Alex's portrait of Barack Obama. ... As CoSM was closing its doors in Chelsea, Jan realized a mutual opportunity to transform the beautiful East West Yoga Studio into a magnificent gallery to include some of the most important works of art from the Chapel collection. Thanks to her generosity, the beautiful second floor studios at East West Living are now transforming into CoSM @ East West Gallery. Though the 21 piece Sacred Mirrors series will remain off view, in their "chrysalis" as CoSM Art Sanctuary in upstate New York undergoes its metamorphosis, many other popular works such as "Theologue", "Cosmic Christ", "Net of Being", and Allyson's "Jewel Net of Indra" will be exhibited on the second floor at 78 Fifth Avenue @ 14th Street, a refuge for contemplation and renewal in the middle of New York City. I guess the next question is, "Is it art, or is it industry?" Whatever you think, it's CoSM, and for the 5,000 people a day who visit the site, and then some, it's here to stay.
* * * Labors of love can be fatuous or iconic. The child poet dashes off a few lines of heartfelt verse; Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. One strikes a high note that connects with a mother or the girl who sits at the next desk in English class, while the other plays a symphony that connects with millions down through generations. Philosophical annotations aside, what one sees and what one does with that vision are among the cornerstones of "the way," how we live our lives. Some choose to live it directly, others vicariously, riding on the backs of those whose lust for life carries them forward into new dimensions that can only be opened by keys to the inner self. We all explore these caverns, and we all come up with different ways of knowing and exposing them, some through religion, others through family, work, art or meditation. Grey's work appears to be both. Infatuated with an idiom whose roots go back to the beginning of recorded time, incorporating images used by the earliest civilizations from Egypt to India, Africa to Latin America, it is influenced by all that's gone on over the past 40 years in the United States. And, it's Iconic in the persistent effect the work has on viewers striving to achieve -- or revisit -- an altered, if not elevated, state of consciousness that connects the felt, perceived, imagined and unimaginable. Grey's Sacred Mirrors reflecting various states of mind and body already are to some what images of the crucifixion are to others. Orthodox
iconographers paint Biblical scenes not altogether inspired by what
they've read or been told. The inspiration comes from a deeper place that
cannot be penetrated by words and deeds alone. Poets might find the same
force in watching the sun rise in the morning, a son fall in battle, a
butterfly emerge from its cocoon. While Grey becomes something of a cult
figure, the dangers of CoSM becoming a cult loom large. As the world of
art and CoSM merge, as the Greys' shared daily affirmations seeking
donations to reach a multi-million dollar goal in 100 days move slowly
forward, as the financial pitch rises higher, one must ask whether this is
cult or catechism. Visit
the site: www.cosm.org
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