Various Artists - Jowe Head Presents: Art For All [CD]

Glass Modern

£12.58

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: GLAMCD065
Barcode: 5063176046918
Release Date: 09 Sep 2024
Genre: Rock

“Art For All” is a collection of music-pieces curated by Stephen Bird (aka Jowe Head), based on the theme of visual artists and artworks that have inspired the musicians involved in the project. He writes: “I presented a challenge to various songwriters and musicians that I know around the world: I asked them to express their feelings about a visual artist or their artwork, in a piece of music. I had already composed and recorded material about William Blake, Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys, Pablo Picasso, Joseph Cornell and Hannah Höch, so I was interested to see how other musicians would respond. I allowed them to choose artists as familiar or as obscure as they wished, in a musical setting of their choice.” “The responses have been as varied as I hoped: Styles are diverse, encompassing dirty rock and roll, joyful pop-songs, and abstract sound-pieces. Some pieces use electronica or ‘found sounds’; some use lyrics, others no words at all. Some pieces are comments on the lives of the artists themselves, others responses to specific artworks. Some of the artists chosen were creating their work centuries ago; some are still alive and producing work today. Some are ‘established’ artists, considered by curators and art historians to inhabit the respectable world of ‘fine art’. Other artists are more obscure shadowy figures, working discretely in the margins, sometimes referred to as ‘outsider artists’. Personally, I wish to destroy any such distinction.” “As a musician and visual artist myself, I am conscious of the connection between the two forms of expression. Our visual and aural senses often interact together powerfully. I am also keenly aware that art and music are often created by people on the edges of society, often striving to create and express their work under extreme mental and physical duress, enduring poverty, and lacking support or recognition. Speaking as a musician whose origins were in the early ‘punk scene’, I recognise that one does not need to be a virtuoso to make interesting work, so I respect untrained musicians and artists, who often rely on limited resources, using primitive tools and rudimentary forms of expression.” “The ‘music scene’ often seems like a kind of mirror to the ‘art scene’. In both media, there should be space for all kinds of practitioners with diverse forms of expression. The ‘Do It Yourself’ aesthetic of the early punk community inspired me and others to create without inhibition; the important thing was to “do it”, and to learn as we went along. It is vital that we retain the urgency of that creative impulse, without being distracted by the need to ‘show off’ with tiresome displays of ‘cleverness’ or technical expertise. The realms of art and music should not be reserved for a privileged elite!” “Ultimately, convenient categories such as ‘pop-art’, ‘surrealism’, or ‘impressionism’ are meaningless when contemplating the work of an artist whose work is transcendental and sublime in its intensity. The same applies to musical expression; in my view, often the best music is that which defies categorisation.” Artists who inspired the work on this album: Peter Blake, Henry Darger, Ferdinand Cheval, Joseph Beuys, Mark Rothko, Marcel Duchamps, Joseph Beuys, Yayoi Kusama, Barbara Hepworth, Richard Dadd, Caravaggio, Len Lye, Pauline Boty, George Shaw, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington.

Tracklist: 1. The Callas: “Caravaggio Was a Punk Rocker” 2. Woog Riots: “Yayoi Kusama” 3. Jowe Head: “Negative Space” 4. Luke Haines: “Pauline Boty” 5. Jeremy Gluck & Don Tyler: “No. 61” (for Mark Rothko) 6. The NoMen: “Deux Marcels” 7. Heather Leigh & Jowe Head featuring Future Pilot AKA: “Mister Blake’s Toy Shop” 8. Seven Headed Raven: “The Fairy Painter's Master Stroke” 9. SPeW: “Leonora” 10. Luke Haines: “Garden Aeroplane Trap” 11. BMX Bandits: “Ferdinand’s Cathedral” 12. Jowe Head: “Blues for Henry Darger” 13. Exploding Flowers: “A Colour Box” (For Len Lye) 14. Terry Edwards: “Hepworth” 15. Jowe Head: “Waltz for Kurt Schwitters” 16. Luke Haines: 'City Pub 3pm By The Station' 17. Woog Riots: “Beuys” 18. Jowe Head: “Garden of Earthly Delights”