McCahon, Baxter and Hayman (2)

More light is shed on the links Colin McCahon shared with James K. Baxter and Patrick Hayman, together with their shared focus on words, by the books Answering Hark and Patrick Hayman: Visionary Artist.

Peter Simpson writes that "McCahon had a considerable capacity and need for friendship. The friends of McCahon's youth in Dunedin - especially Doris Lusk, Rodney Kennedy, Ron O'Reilly, Toss Woollaston, Charles Brasch, and James K. Baxter - remained his friends for life." Mel Gooding adds that Hayman "fell in with a group of young student artists and writers" at Dunedin, "most studying at the small art school there." "Predominantly from South Island, these gifted people were to become a significant part of what constituted New Zealand's avant-garde. They included the young Colin McCahon, now widely regarded as the outstanding figure in New Zealand art in the twentieth century, Anne Hamblett, Elespie Forsyth, Rodney Kennedy and Ronald O'Reilly. Hayman had until this moment clung to the notion that his vocation was to be a writer: 'I had been trying to write, but I simply couldn't, I couldn't get a word out ...' It was at this point that he started to paint. It was as simple and immediate as that. 'It was a miraculous experience; it just broke out of me ... Painting was a marvellous release.'"

"This continuous close contact with an artist of extraordinary gift and essentially religious vision had a profound influence on Hayman: McCahon remained for him a model of artistic integrity and dedication." When McCahon married Anne Hamblett in 1942, "Haymen presented them with a copy of C.A. Cotton's classic Geomorphology of New Zealand, which described, with analytical diagrams, the physical formations of the islands' topographies. McCahon had been for some time struggling with formalistic ideas derived (at a distance) from Cézanne, an artist with whom Hayman felt little empathy. The gift registered an intelligently critical and sympathetic understanding of McCahon's formal preoccupation with the underlying structures of landscapes they both knew well."

"In 'Words for Painting', a sequence of small prose poems written close to the end of his life," Hayman "created a vivid picture of his creative universe and of his unique but immediately recognisable way of working within it." "Here, in a language whose startling immediacy is expressive of an utterly uninhibited spirit, Hayman creates images that at once convey the imaginative compulsion that animates his art and the procedures by which it comes into being. Their phemenological space is that of the reverie, the waking dream, in which outside and inside, psychically and physically considered, are conflated, and in which magical transformations take place, confounding category and defying common sense."

"'In the garden the trees talk - birds are words' (that rhyme is imperative, it reveals a truth through sound as well as sense): the birds are the insubstantial voices of the trees, bringing a language of sign and sound to the secret world of the garden. In the enclosed room within the house - in the studio - they are transmuted again, into things of visible, plastic substance. As the work comes into being in this interior space, a reverie made substantial, it transforms the room, and the house becomes one with the inner space of the imagination, an image for it, a metaphor ... Paintings - or the magical substitution of words for painting - are like windows through which we may look. Dark falls, darkness completes the work of the imagination. Daydreams give way to the dreams of the night."

Simpson also explores the source of McCahon's interest in words. He writes that partly it was "his fixation on the Bible ('In the beginning was the word ...'), partly his friendship with poets and their affinity for his work (... Caselberg ... Baxter, Brasch, Mason, and others), and partly, perhaps, because of his passionate desire for communication, and his growing conviction that words were necessary to get his 'message' across." "In 1973 McCahon told Pat France: 'Poetry, before painting, is my friend. The one without the other can't exist'."

Simpson writes that "Baxter was a keen admirer of McCahon's work" and wrote "a spirited defence of it in the student journal, Canta." "Baxter identified three main difficulties in appreciating McCahon. The first is ignorance of the art tradition he is utilising (Baxter refers to Hieronymous Bosch, Fra Angelico, William Blake and surrealism). Second is the popular preference for 'naturalistic' art and the distrust of 'all symbolism and subjectivism':

The third difficulty comes from his choice of subject and his handling of it. The raw quality of his crucifixions might well offend a church-goer who wished to forget Christ on weekdays. There is in them a good deal of pity and terror and the monstrously ludicrous element that lies in all suffering ... But McCahon ... is expressing the sour and struggling piety that lies behind the blank mask of Presbyterianism. Instead of revolting from his environment he learns to accept it. His Christs and angels are reconciled with the fertile hills behind them ..."

"Foul-mouthed, honey-tongued, social critic and wild prophet," Baxter also "entranced and scandalised the population in equal measure." Baxter "became one of New Zealand’s finest poets and most controversial figures, often at odds with a society unable to stomach its disturbing reflection in his work." He "once described each of his poems as ‘part of a large subconscious corpus of personal myth, like an island above the sea, but joined underwater to other islands’, and elsewhere commented that what ‘happens is either meaningless to me, or else it is mythology’."

"Baxter first met McCahon in Dunedin in 1943 when Baxter was a 17 year old schoolboy; McCahon's painting A Candle in a Dark Room was prompted by this meeting." Baxter also introduced McCahon to John Caselberg, the poet with whom McCahon would collaborate most frequently. "Caselberg's neo-romantic elevation of perspective and rhetoric ran counter to ... the colloquial directness, social satire and existential self-scrutiny of ... James K. Baxter." Following Baxter's death, McCahon painted a series of Stations of the Cross for him - "mostly black & dirty white moving to purple, violet & yellow." He wrote that he "trembled for days before putting purple & violet & yellow in the last panels." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Horsepower - Cinder Alley.

The Heart Of Things

The Heart Of Things is an upcoming exhibition of painting and sculpture by Paul Hobbs and Sarah Kelly-Paine at the Menier Gallery (51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU) from Tuesday 16th to Saturday 27th October, Monday to Saturday 11.00am to 6.00pm (closed Sunday, late night opening on Fridays till 8pm).

Paul Hobbs "makes both celebratory abstract paintings, and painting and sculpture that consider contemporary social issues in the light of biblical values.

Punctuated with both humour and pathos, Paul Hobbs' work engages a wide range of materials to wrestle with questions of human value, dignity and faith. Familiar images are collaged together to make disturbing and yet frequently amusing juxtapositions. Some literally become visual puzzles. Hidden in the layers of paint, collage and assorted objects, metaphors and associations abound, laying out stories with multiple meanings.

Drawing on topical news and social debate, Paul's background in Sociology and his Christian faith, this work tries to come to terms with a world of great opportunity and yet great suffering, a place where even one’s best intentions can become distorted, or diluted by more pressing local activity."

Sarah Kelly-Paine writes: "My paintings celebrate the land that God has given to us. Earth is different everywhere, we are different everywhere. When we know who we are and where our land is we can oversee it and use it and delight in its uniqueness. We can have confidence in what we have and who we are because God made us and chose us. We can celebrate other people and other places and recognize our interdependence and our individuality. Sometimes there is a long hard journey to go on to find yourself and your land. Pain and suffering are part of life.

At certain times particular biblical stories capture my imagination and drawing on my illustrative roots I enjoy pursuing a story through images. The Bible is to me an intimate book and speaks to my spirit woman. It is also a practical, universal handbook and guides lifestyle choices. My beloved God is tender and endlessly creative, bigger than all my struggles and life’s senselessness. In my painting I seek to discover Him more and share what I know of Him with the onlooker."

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Julie Miller and Emmylou Harris: Forever My Beloved.

I AM who I AM

I AM who I AM
The name of God, I AM
The Word God speaks, I AM
In the beginning,
before time began, I AM
Do not be afraid, I AM

I AM alpha and omega
I AM beginning and end
I AM artist of the galaxies
I AM light of the cosmos
I AM ground of being
I AM in eternity

I AM human and divine
I AM the to and fro
of faith and love
between Father and Son
I AM marriage of flesh and Spirit
I AM union of earth and heaven

I AM sent by the Father
I AM dialogue
I AM conversation
I AM communication
I AM the door
and the door is open

I AM shepherd,
laying down my life for the sheep
I AM servant,
washing the feet of my disciples
I AM vine,
into which you are grafted

I AM the ladder
between earth and heaven
on which you ascend
I AM the way on which you travel
I AM the truth which is being revealed
I AM the life you are raised to live

I AM living water, living bread
I AM water into wine, slaking thirst
I AM broken bread, satisfying hunger
When I AM lifted up, raised up,
you will know I AM who I AM
I AM the resurrection

I AM has sent me to you
Follow the way I AM
Believe the truth I AM
Live the life I AM
I AM in you and you in I AM
Be together what I AM
I AM who I AM
I AM you, you are I AM

(based on the writings of Stephen Verney)

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Bob Dylan: Tempest

'When Dylan convened his band at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters studios in Santa Monica,' Allan Jones notes in his Uncut review of Tempest, "it was his intention to make a 'religious' album." Jones clearly thinks that there are only "inklings" to be found in Tempest itself of that original intention, presumably because of the wrath found on this album and "the often elemental ire that accompanies it, not to mention all the bloodshed, madness, death, chaos and assorted disasters" also found therein.

Douglas Heselgrave writes that "Tempest is one hell of a fiery concoction, a swirling inferno of love gone wrong that always holds out the possibility of redemption coming between falling from the saddle and hitting the ground." Presumably 'the possibility of redemption' is what Allan Jones was expecting from a 'religious' Dylan album and what he doesn't really find in Tempest, except in it's opening track 'Duquesne Whistle'.

He's right that Dylan's focus in Tempest is not on the possibility of redemption, instead it is rather more on the current reality of Hell. As Caspar Llewellyn Smith has noted Tempest is a "fire-and-brimstone" album "steeped in the country blues and old murder ballads" and as Matt Melis writes "On much of Tempest, listeners are guided by a still-yearning Dylan through a depraved and slouching world whose center cannot hold ..."

In 'Narrow Way' the central character reverses Jesus' words about walking the narrow path by seeking to drag the person he is addressing down into the hell he inhabits: 

"If I can't work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday."

A similar reversal is found in 'Pay In Blood' where the central character describes his violent actions towards others and states "I pay in blood, but not my own'. Jesus, of course, does pay - for the salvation of all - in his own blood.

But to pay in the blood of others seems to be the nature of the world that Dylan describes in Tempest. As the central character in 'Narrow Way' says:

"This is hard country to stay alive in
Blades are everywhere and they're breaking my skin
I'm armed to the hilt and I'm struggling hard
You won't get out of here unscarred"

This is the dark world of the night - 'Soon After Midnight' - where people renounce their faith and deny their Lord, put their "heart on a platter and see who will bite," wear dark glasses to cover their eyes as there are secrets in them that they can't disguise, there's looting and plunder on distant shores, "there's a bleeding wound in the heart of town," help comes too late for the "beggars crouching at the gate," and there are a "lot of things we didn’t do that I wish we had."

When the morning comes:

"We cried on a cold and frosty morn
We cried because our souls were torn
So much for tears
So much for these long and wasted years" ('Long And Wasted Years')

Dylan is, as ever, the storyteller rather than a character in the songs; he is a bard, a poetic teller of myths, not a confessional singer-songwriter and, therefore, it is futile to interrogate his songs to try to determine his state of mind or heart. Instead, he continues to carry out the role he first articulated in 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' of going out in the face of the tempest, the storm, the coming apocalypse, in order to say what he sees:

"I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall"

'Tempest' contains a repeated motif:

"The watchman, he lay dreaming
As the ballroom dancers twirled
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the underworld"

"The watchman lay there dreaming
At forty-five degrees
He dreamed that the Titanic was sinking
Dropping to her knees"

"The watchman, he lay dreaming
The damage had been done
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
And he tried to tell someone"

"The watchman he lay dreaming
Of all the things that can be
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the deep blue sea"

The prophet Ezekiel is called by God to be a watchman for the people of Israel. In the book of Ezekiel the watchmen are the shepherds - the priests and prophets - of Israel. Ezekiel is told by God that "if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood" (Ezekiel 33. 6).

The Dylan of Tempest, 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' and so many other songs, is the faithful watchmen who sees the storm of the apocalypse on the horizon and who warns his people before it is too late. Tempest is, therefore, a profoundly religious album.

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Bob Dylan - Scarlet Town.

No room for complacency

Daniel Trilling has an excellent article in today's Guardian where he lists 10 dangerous misconceptions about the far right.

The British far-right should be having a ball. With the economy faltering, austerity biting and economic pessimism growing, the conditions for racism and racist scapegoating could hardly be better. But, as Nick Lowles and Matthew Collins report in their essay on the current state of the British far right, racist groups are contracting and morale is dropping.

Their essay concludes: “The British far right is fragmented and bitterly divided and in the short term this will continue. While we might enjoy the short-term respite there is no room for complacency. Sooner or later the traditional far-right, in the guise of the BNP or EDL, or the Radical Right, in the guise of UKIP, will re-emerge as a major political threat. In the meantime, we should brace ourselves for an upsurge in organised and unorganised racist and political violence.”

They have written this essay to help HOPE not hate decide a strategy for the next couple of years. Over the next few weeks their website will host a discussion on the future of the far right and to help shape their response. They would appreciate our views.

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Ben Harper - Like A King.

New church community garden

St Andrews on The Drive in Ilford has created an excellent new community garden which will be officially opened by the Mayor of Redbridge on Saturday 22nd September. I hope that this church-based community garden will be as well used as has been the case for the community garden created at St John's Seven Kings.

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Eric Bibb - Shingle By Shingle.

Upcoming events and services

The All-Age Harvest Festival at St John's Seven Kings is this coming Sunday 16th September at 10.00am. We are collecting Harvest goods to donate to the Redbridge Food Bank. After the service we will have a bring & share Harvest lunch. In the service we will be thinking about the third of the Transforming Presence priorities - serving with accountability.

  

We have our 50/50 Auction on Saturday 22nd September. All items are included in the auction on the basis that 50% of the sale price is kept by the seller and 50% goes to the Church. Viewing begins at 10.00am on 22nd and the auction starts at 12 noon. Refreshments will be available. This is always a popular local event and a good fundraiser for the church.

  

We will then be celebrating our Patronal Festival on the weekend of 6th and 7th October. We have a Barn Dance on Saturday 6th from 7.30pm. Tickets are £8 for adults, £6 for under 12s. All are welcome. Our Patronal Festival service will be at 10.00am on Sunday 7th and the preacher will be Rev. Chris Wragg, Vicar of All Saints Squirrels Heath, who is a past member of the congregation at St John's. In the evening, at 6.30pm, we will host a Confirmation Service at which 8 candidates (from St Johns, St Paul's Goodmayes, All Saints Goodmayes and St Peter's Aldborough Hatch) will be confirmed by the Rt. Revd. David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking.

  

I am also involved, with other churches in the Redbridge deanery, in organising a series of arts events that will be part of this year's Woodford Festival (6th - 14th October). These include: art exhibition, Big Draw event, classical & choral concerts, Jazzathon, Poetry event, Street Pastors patrol, Woodford Proms, Youth Festival and various special services (including Jazz, Pets, and visual arts). 

 

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Neil Young - Harvest Moon.