“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”
~ Vincent Van Gogh, b. 30 March 1853
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Lady Gaga, b. March 28: “I don’t see myself in terms of artifice.”
28 Mar
“I don’t see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way – artistically.”
~ Lady Gaga, b. 28 March 1986
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Maxim Gorky (b. March 28): “Science is the intellect of the world, art its soul.”
28 Mar
“Just as science is the intellect of the world, art is its soul.”
~ MAXIM GORKY, b. 28 March 1868
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Kat von D (b. March 8th): “I was born naked, waiting for life to write itself on my skin.”
8 Mar
“Like everyone else, I was born naked and screaming, waiting for my life to write itself on my skin.”
~ Kat von D, b. 8 March 1982
Piet Mondrian (b. March 7th): “The artist is a channel.”
7 Mar
“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.”
~ Piet Mondrian, b. 7 March 1872
A Small Glimpse into Bowie’s Legacy
14 Feb
Like an asteroid crashing to Earth, David Bowie’s impact was immense. He was an inimitable artist and a true spaceman from the future, whose powerful lust for life set fire to the music, film and fashion industries. His eccentric lifestyle and his creative output served as inspiration for millions.
With his death a month ago, it’s an appropriate time to acknowledge all the ways his genius remains reflected in the work of artists living and working now. Where can we see traces of Bowie today?
Music
It was Bowie’s music which first catapulted him to fame. He dipped his stylish toes in almost every genre, experimenting at an early age with the saxophone before moving on to pop and ‘glam’ sounds. As his career progressed, he would move to work with artists as diverse as John Lennon, Klaus Nomi, Trent Reznor and Giorgio Moroder, all the while pushing himself towards continual reinvention.
Today’s artists who live to provoke – Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, even Kanye West – have credited him as one of their most important inspirations. As an avant-garde musical artist who managed to break through to the mainstream, his influence is unparalleled. Who else could ever rival his theatricality onstage, or repeat the impact of his look, his costumes?
Madonna, another impactful performer, was personally devastated and noted that a David Bowie concert was the first show she ever went to. The singer took to Twitter to say, “This great artist changed my life!” She wasn’t alone, as Bowie tributes from musicians will likely continue throughout the year in all manner of incarnations.
Film
In contemporary cinema Bowie’s performances still stand strong. During his life, both the music videos and films he worked on were natural extensions of his other artistic ventures. Whether playing a vampire cellist or prisoner of war, a Goblin King or Pontius Pilate, Bowie’s own eccentricities brought a certain cult quality to mainstream movies.
Tilda Swinton, androgynously sexy in her own way, has been called Bowie’s ‘doppelganger’ over the years (the two did star in a music video together), and embodies similar shape-shifting personae in her work.
Bowie’s tastes for out-there trends and contemporary art, as well as cultural elements and characteristics that would help define him as “alien” or otherworldly, enabled his transcendence of creative boundaries. Today his films are typically defined as cult classics – click here for local listings – but this does little to reflect the variance and intelligence found in his film work. In roles where he plays himself, such as Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo Bowie’s presence serves to bring a certain atmosphere to the picture. He is art intellectualized, but not coldly so, since as the artifice of himself, he opens up a world of new possibilities.
This year’s Berlin Film Festival will be paying tribute to Bowie’s creativity across disciplines, showing Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth to commemorate both his legacy and time spent in the city.
Fashion
David Bowie was confident in anything he did, but especially so in his fashion and costume choices. Despite being thin and white himself, he was larger-than-life in the way he presented the characters he chose to inhabit. He pioneered the look of “glam rock” with his flamboyant, Japanese-inspired ensembles and makeup, pushing gender-bending boundaries. His fearlessness and androgyny were extremely inspiring, especially in a time where being overtly feminine, for a male, was not a good thing. His “out-there”, “be yourself” vibes connected with men and women of the era who looked to him for ideas as to how to transform their own appearances to better fit who they were on the inside.
Upon his passing, hundreds of “fashion world” elites took to social media to comment on the influence Bowie had personally on their lives and art. Nowadays, looking at runway trends, his gender fluidity has clearly led to a sea change not only in clothing and style but in the way everyday people are allowed to express themselves.
In the end, David Bowie’s bold and eclectic style paved the way for artists and fans, inspiring them to be themselves and look beyond the norm to the stars. As the saying goes: shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars, perhaps next to Mr. David Bowie himself.
~~~
Beth Michelle is a Chicago-based blogger with a nasty film addiction. Her primary interests include pulp cinema, fashion photography and vintage Japanese film cameras.
Bob Marley (b. 6 February 1946): still a legend
6 FebGuest post, Chicago cinéaste Beth Michelle:
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Robert Nesta Marley, if he had survived the cancerous melanoma that claimed his life at the age of 31, would have been 70 years old today on February 6th. With that in mind, it’s a good time to look back at the profound influence he had on popular culture, as well as the spiritual and political zeitgeist of our time. Bob Marley was much more than a famous pop star with enviable record sales. He stood for Rastafarian ideals, promoting intercultural unity and harmony among races. As such, it’s important to look at his considerable achievements independent of the commercialism that distorts his legacy today.
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Marley grew up in a tumultuous time in Jamaican history. When he was a child, the country was still under heavy-handed British rule. This era witnessed tremendous exploitation of Jamaican natural resources for British profit. Full independence for Jamaica, which finally arrived in 1963, only plunged the emerging nation into another difficult period in its young history. Years later, in songs like “Africa Unite” and “Get Up, Stand Up,” Marley expressed the desires and yearnings of colonized people, and the fighting spirit that was instilled in him at an early age.
Marley, who was raised by his mother, didn’t have an easy childhood, yet friends and family remember him as relentlessly cheerful and positive. He worked many odd jobs in his teenage years and young adulthood, such as welder and factory worker, but wasn’t depressed or embittered. Music was always a source of comfort and solace. In 1963, when Marley met fellow musicians Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the iconic band “Bob Marley and Wailers” was born.
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Yet despite the remarkable success of his band, Marley was truly a man in love with life, not material possessions. He recounted some of the happiest periods of his life as being before his stardom, when he was living simply off the land with his family. Once he became successful, he was extremely generous with family and friends. Marley’s actions were motivated by music and spiritual teachings, not financial power.
Long before he became an international superstar, Marley was renowned for his musical gifts and captivating stage presence. He was widely popular in Jamaica for many years as a songwriter and performer before he released music internationally through Island Records. Once he and the Wailers became international stars, he was a formative influence on many English and American musicians, spanning cultures and generations. Sting, Carlos Santana, Joe Strummer of The Clash, John Densmore of The Doors and many others have spoken about how much Marley has meant to them musically. Eric Clapton’s popular cover of “I Shot the Sheriff” also speaks to the transferability of his music.
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However, striving to be more than just a musician, Marley made great contributions to the intellectual life of 60s and 70s counterculture. Songs like “Get Up Stand Up,” expressed profound dissatisfaction with the structural inequality perpetuated by the establishment. Beyond that, Marley’s words served as a call to a broader intellectual independence. “One Love” is a song that calls for humanity to come together, independent of leaders and nationalism in a true spirit of unity.
Marley’s Rastafarian belief system was a big part of who he was as an artist. He used ganja for spiritual reasons, not merely recreational, incorporating personal discoveries into his artistic oeuvre. He believed in African unity as advocated by Emperor Haille Selassie of Ethiopia, and beyond that, the unity of all mankind.
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Many aspects of Marley’s legacy have come under scrutiny in recent years. While his music continues to stand alone, his image has been largely absorbed and neutralized by the establishment he once railed against. Unwilling to sign a Last Will and Testament due to his Rastafarian beliefs, holders of his estate have been able to co-opt his celebrity and use it to peddle everything from screen-printed T-shirts to cannabis-infused lip balm. The power of his intellectual ideas – beliefs in the spiritual components of ganja, unity among people, and independence from exploitation – has been largely repackaged as a “feel good” commodity, which any consumer may purchase for a price.
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There is hope, however, that Marley’s music will outshine the tarnished image of his celebrity. His son Ziggy continues to perform his father’s reggae music along with his own, recently performing live on DirecTV’s Guitar Center Sessions, and continuing to tour. Never fading from popularity, the Marley reggae sound was popularized again with the resurgence of ska in the 90s, and has been incorporated into elements of today’s hip hop and rap beats. And of course, Marley’s original music remains as beloved today as when it was first released.
At this point in our society, it’s nearly impossible to find an art form that has not been touched by commercialization. While there has been a clear exploitation of the “Rasta” culture as well as Marley’s own easily recognizable visage by mainstream music elite, components of the Rastafarian religion remain embedded in the core of his work. Marley’s music will forever be a voice for the poor and oppressed, spreading messages of universal love and unity.
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Beth Michelle is a Chicago-based blogger with a nasty film addiction. Her primary interests include pulp cinema, fashion photography and vintage Japanese film cameras.
Jackson Pollock (b. January 28): “The strangeness will wear off…”
28 Jan
“The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.”
~ Jackson Pollock, b. 28 January 1912
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Woody Allen: “If you’re not failing…”
18 Nov
“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” ~ Woody Allen
Jorge Luis Borges (b. August 24): “It is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger.”
24 Aug
“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”
~ Jorge Luis Borges, b. 24 August 1899
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