Where There is a Will...

I watched the excellent Herzog film "Invincible" the other night. Although this movie is sometimes criticized for being too "Hollywood" and lacking the elements that mark Herzog's best work, this film is actually a masterful fable, the best film about the Jewish experience in WWII Europe I have ever seen and great cinema, despite the fact that its simple beauty is mistaken for superficiality by the insensitive and arrogant.

Saw Pat D's show at Z'geist and dug it a lot. Missed the opening because of Jordan's wedding. Although I have always liked Pat's 2D stuff the most (and it is the highlight of this show), half the exhibit consists of 3D work. Although many of the elements play off of earlier pieces (skulls, cut grass, chairs etc.), a sculpture that uses a "dead bird" - a new image for P.D.- is killer...no pun intended...

Jordan's wedding was a blast! A woderful groom, a beautiful bride, a banquet table covered with Brazillian/Southern American inspired delicacies and the hands-down best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. Mix and pour into the middle of a Southern vineyard on a breezy summer night and you are happy.

The only dark spot on the evening was hearing about the death of my friend Will. Will was an artist who, at his best, combined his humor, intense mind and a provocative ferocity into work that examined his own ideas and assumptions (Wittgenstein's Banana) and affected his audience with the visceral physicality of his work (The History of Logic).



Will was also a friend of mine who I worked with on various art installations in Nashville. He was a good man. A hard worker. We would come up with so many ridiculous things to keep ourselves occupied. Here is a loose transcript of a "skit" we came up with.

(Man pitching a movie in Hollywood. Speaking with a "Scarface", Cuban accent)

"To make this movie, all I need is: A room, a monkey, a tarp, 3 thousand dollars and a dish of water"

(Movie producer behind the desk, patiently listening, smoking a fat stogie...)

"That is so interesting! You know Ron Howard was just in here and he made the exact same pitch. Let me tell you what I told him...

(Yelling!)

"NO ROOM! NO MONKEY! NO TARP! NO 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS! AND NO DISH OF WATER! NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

The End

Maybe you had to be there.

I am glad I was.


Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan