~OWEN GRAY
o.k. back to ‘reading’ our ‘world’ – through the eyes of the animal kingdom. you know, the usual suspects: rats, snakes . . . and, toads.
FILE UNDER: a story as old as the very hills – never loses it’s poetry.
OWEN GRAY at his long time studio in HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY. hey, tell me Jersey ain’t a happening place.
while some artists reach for the stars, others are content to continually plod a path through the natural flora and fauna – on the geo planet’s natural unification of chaos . . . evolutionary food chains and all.
there are futuristic ‘systems’ artists working in truly !! cutting edge online – wide world web technology.
the very Rev LUKE MURPHY comes to mind, of course. as the best of the best – in that field.
and then there are the wonderfully naive yet prescient neo-folk artists, like DUKE RILEY – re-matching the mother goose animals of the ancient, and very much enduring – Chinese zodiac, on the very banks of the Caogang River in Zhujiajiaso, CHINA, near the legendary and nefarious Shanghai !! as if – right on cue.
yep, DUKE RILEY done been stirring up the ancient gods – right smack dab in hot button China, where some big politico party boss named BO, has a wife named GU, there’s a dead Brit named NEIL HEYWOOD, rumors of illicit affairs, money-laundering, and even the word ‘cynanide’, as in ‘poisoning’ – playing out a nice and most eternal fable – in the current world headlines.
and, yes, the word rat, and rob – does does comes to mind.
see: Chinese murder puzzle thickens – Poisoned British businessman . . . NEW YORK POST – APRIL 18, 2012
yep, there’s Brooklyn’s own pied piper of tattoos and ancient seafaring arts, scrimshaw anybody ? the DUKE RILEY bringing the ancient wisdom of the Far East – back home for the US of A.
ONE: there was, and still is, real truth – in those age-old bestiary adages: a rat is a rat is a rat, and watch your back. cheaters and lowlife win.
and TWO: don’t ask me why, but even the most simple of scrimshaw folk artists – be shamans and seers.
if you just let the hands do the drawing, connecting the dots is easy. it’s all about reading the ‘pictorial’ code.
from the earliest cavemen – to the most far-out ‘systems’ – guys around today.
hey, does LUKE rhyme with DUKE – or what. just saying.
and then there are the guys, like Owen – who just like to stick with the basics. the code of the jungle, river and forest.
you know, the usual suspects: snakes. bugs, and toads. the occasional forlorn human, and/or water sprite.
it’s called: allegory. as in: all the gory . . . of nature.
bringing it back home, to planet, Mother ? – Earth: “EVERGLADES – THE STORY BEHIND THE SCENERY” !!
“A lizard ran out on a rock. . . ”
“A lizard ran out on a rock and looked up listening no doubt to the sounding of the spheres
. . . if men were as much men as lizards are lizards, they’d be worth looking at.” (too !!)
D. H. LAWRENCE.
OWEN GRAY CURRENTLY HAS SHOW UP of HIS ‘ANIMAL KINGDOM’ PAINTINGS – at BLUE MOUNTAIN GALLERY, 530 W. 25th ST in CHELSEA, NYC.
note: the show comes down this weekend, APRIL 21, 2012.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, HOBOKEN, N.J. APRIL 15, 2012.