Everyone has felt like an outsider at some point. But sometimes outsiders are made out to be monsters – scapegoated by the real monsters in society. Chris Mars paints these mistreated outsiders. I asked painter Chris Mars about his paintings, and his favorite books; and he came up with a lot of interesting reading ideas. Before reading the interview you might want to check out Chris Mars’s paintings at www.chrismarspublishing.com .
READERSVOICE.COM: Does much of your favorite reading concern themes of outsiders and "monsters", like your paintings? Generally what sort of things do you like to read?
CHRIS MARS: I wouldn't have thought so initially, but now that you mention it and I'm thinking it over, I do have an attraction to eccentric characters; if not monsters per se then perhaps to characters that may be considered somehow "outsiders" - Holden Caufield (Catcher in the Rye), Ignatius Riley (A Confederecy of Dunces), Ned Rise (Water Music) - all inventive, unique and memorable personalities.
RV: Could you recommend about five titles of some of your favorite books of all time, fiction or non-fiction, and maybe say a bit about why you liked them?
CM: In addition to the three above - all darkly humorous and playfully odd - I'd add, along a similar line, Civil War Land in Bad Decline by George Saunders (along with his follow-up Pastoralia) - so inventive, so funny, alternately pessimistic and hopeful;
The Tortilla Curtain (by T.C. Boyle, who also wrote Water Music), again a juxtaposition of light and dark, an amazing, frankly world-view-changing piece of work exploring the distinct yet ultimately united worlds of the haves and have-nots;
Jim the Boy (by Tony Earley), a completely unpretentious look at the complex interaction of families, societies and children;
Mike Magnuson's The Right Man for the Job for its clean, natural language and simple, strong characters;
Craig Nova's very dark, visceral Turkey Hash - so intimately low-brow, a Joe Coleman painting come to life;
Donald Newlove's Those Drinking Days - a stunningly frank investigation of the progress through addiction;
Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars, each filled with incredible essays on the complexities of the human mind and the incredible malfunctions of it.
I'll also mention James Crumley's Dancing Bear (and others in the Milo series) - a funny, original take on the detective genre.
RV: Do you think that society is becoming more psychopathic, or monstrous, with its scapegoating of non-conformists?
CM: In truth, I actually feel society overall is evolving, progressing. You will no longer find endorsed slavery in any culture; you'll find an expansion of women's rights globally over the last century, a new and greater sensitivity to Human Rights, generally.
I do feel that now, presently, the media presents the world in microscopic bits. This can create the impression that the world is dissolving, failing, but too can serve to make us more aware, and thus present us with an opportunity to be more active - personally, interpersonally, politically - than we may be otherwise. I think it's important to discern and process information, and use the negative as fuel to augment change.
I think that there are forces at work that give greater rise to ostracizing the so-called "non-conformist", and that's dangerous. I also think that we are societally in a position to combat this, and are obligated to do so.
RV: Where do you research for some of the images used in your oil paintings, like A Faulty Diagnosis? What sort of books and magazines? Or are these images you've imagined, or other people have told you about?
CM: While most of the imagery in my work is pretty much my own invention, there are photographers whose volumes help me to visualize - Yousef Karsch is a favorite, along with Diane Arbus, Wee Gee and Richard Avedon, among others. As far as magazines, I'm a bit of a news junky. I like Salon and The Nation, and current events will influence my themes from time to time.
RV: What influences went into your rich oil painting style?
CM: When I was a boy, my oldest brother was institutionalized for schizophrenia. I remember visiting him in the hospital, what it looked like, how it felt...it frightened me and left its mark. Spiritually, that event has propelled me to champion those among us whose voices are too often neglected or even deliberately silenced - the mentally ill, the physically challenged, the negatively labeled, the outcast, the persecuted.
I've been intimately engaged with Art generally throughout my life. As an adult, it became my forum of expression and to some extent activism. The visuals you see are the sum of this.
RV: What sorts of comments do people tell you about your paintings and do you think they're on the same wavelength as you, generally?
CM: My present favorite came from a Minneapolis-based writer named Rod Smith, who basically said - and I'm paraphrasing - that when he first saw my work, he thought the characters were frightening, but in learning more about them he wanted to give them a hug. I think that sort of sentiment is, to me, a mission accomplished - the work is about looking past the exterior, or the initial, to discover the true nature of a soul. The work's about mercy, and I think comments like Rod's recognize that.
RV: What steps have you been taking to get ready for the exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art exhibition from September 22 to November 20? What remains to be done?
CM: I will continue painting and creating work for the show until it opens, 7pm on September 22. I'm also working to finish up an animated short, "The Severed Stream", which I hope to debut at the show as well.
Check out www.chrismarspublishing.com
-Copyright Simon Sandall
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The Go-Betweens
THE Go-Betweens have always been a literary band. They launched their ninth album, Oceans Apart (EMI), at Rocking Horse Records in Brisbane, Australia, on May 1, and I asked singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan about their favorite books.
There's always been a strong literary influence in the music of The Go-Betweens. Some of their songs have been compared to the work of specific authors. For example, one of Grant McLennan's songs on The Go-Betweens' latest CD Oceans Apart, Boundary Rider, has been described as Cormac McCarthy-esque. Plus songs like The House that Jack Kerouac Built, Karen, and Here Comes a City, all mention authors' names. And in Cattle and Cane the narrator remembers a time immersed in "a world of books". And of course the name of the group conjures up The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley.
But it's the quality of The Go-Betweens' lyrics that most reflect a love of reading.
So I asked the core of The Go-Betweens, singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, about their favorite books.
On May 1, I attended the launch of The Go-Betweens' ninth CD, Oceans Apart, (EMI), at Rocking Horse Records, in Albert Street, Brisbane, Australia. The Go-Betweens formed more than 27 years ago; their first single was Lee Remick on the Able Label, Australia, in May, 1978.(The first time I saw them was in 1981, at the since-demolished Cloudland Ball Room in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, supporting The Sports, and Madness).
Their romantic and intelligent guitar-based pop songs won over the critics and made some hard core fans in the 1980s, but they've always been musicians' musicians more than pop chart juggernauts. Albums from the first Go-Betweens period include Send Me A Lullaby (1982); Before Hollywood (1983); Spring Hill Fair (1984); Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986); Tallulah (1987); and 16 Lovers Lane (1988). After 16 Lovers Lane, The Go-Betweens split up.
During the 1990s, members of The Go-Betweens embarked on other recording projects.
The core of the band, singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, produced a number of solo albums.Then The Go-Betweens seemed to re-emerge from the tomb in 2000, with new members, for their album The Friends of Rachel Worth. This was followed by Bright Yellow, Bright Orange in 2002.Now, Oceans Apart features 10 new songs, five each from Forster and McLennan.
People of various ages, some with toddlers and babies in prams, headed downstairs at Rocking Horse Records for the launch of the new cd on May 1. Rocking Horse was a long-time source of independent music, like that of The Go-Betweens, in Brisbane. People were standing throughout the small room, surrounded by second-hand LPs lining the walls.Then Robert Forster came down the stairs and he said Grant McLennan was just behind him.The two then sat on a couple of chairs on a small stage area next to the stairs, and they thanked everyone for the welcoming applause.Some people were sitting on the stairs looking down at the stage; one guy had a video camera.Some people around the room took photos.
Robert Forster said he had been informed that a plumber was going to do something about fixing the air conditioning, although he wasn't sure plumbers knew much about that sort of thing.Grant McLennan said everyone would have to excuse them for a couple of minutes while they had the mics on their guitars, and for vocals, sound-checked. Eventually Grant McLennan said, "That's good; we can work with that."Robert Forster said it made him and Grant very happy to be launching Oceans Apart in Brisbane.Then they started singing a couple of songs from the 10 track cd, Oceans Apart.
During the concert, Robert Forster looked at the two or three rows of toddlers sitting on the floor, just in front of the stage.He said he was glad to see so many of The Go-Betweens' younger fans turn up, and that it boded well for sales of Go-Betweens cds in 20 years' time. They sang a couple of Go-Betweens classics like Cattle and Cane (1983),Spring Rain (1986), and Surfing Magazines (2001).
After the concert people formed a queue along the walls with their copies of Oceans Apart for Robert Forster and Grant McLennan to sign. Forster and McLennan stood behind the counter that ran along one wall, and people filed past with CDS and various Go-Betweens artefacts for signing. People brought old Go-Betweens LPs, rare singles, play lists from old concerts, magazines, Oceans Apart posters, and books. Forster and McLennan would comment on the art work on old LPs, or talk about other people whose signatures were already on things, and they'd try to recognise people's hand-writing. They signed the objects with a silver marker, and they'd step around the end of the counter and sign t-shirts little kids were wearing.
When they'd finished signing the cds, and other Go-Betweens paraphernalia, I asked Robert Forster and Grant McLennan to list some of the titles of their favorite books of all time. They came up with these lists:
Robert Forster: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen;On the Road by Jack Kerouac;A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; Collected Poems by Anne Sexton.
Grant McLennan decided to focus on Australian writers. He liked The Service of Clouds by Delia Falconer; The Hunter by Julia Leigh;Snake by Kate Jennings; and Totem by Luke Davies (which he said was a long poem, and which he described as astonishing). He also liked American author Thomas McGuane's Nobody's Angel.
I had met Grant McLennan before and he had said he liked the novel Father and Son by Larry Brown, plus Larry Brown's short stories. He also had a high regard for the biography Blake by Peter Ackroyd.
- Oceans Apart by The Go-Betweens is out on EMI Records, and it's getting good reviews.
-Copyright Simon Sandall.
There's always been a strong literary influence in the music of The Go-Betweens. Some of their songs have been compared to the work of specific authors. For example, one of Grant McLennan's songs on The Go-Betweens' latest CD Oceans Apart, Boundary Rider, has been described as Cormac McCarthy-esque. Plus songs like The House that Jack Kerouac Built, Karen, and Here Comes a City, all mention authors' names. And in Cattle and Cane the narrator remembers a time immersed in "a world of books". And of course the name of the group conjures up The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley.
But it's the quality of The Go-Betweens' lyrics that most reflect a love of reading.
So I asked the core of The Go-Betweens, singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, about their favorite books.
On May 1, I attended the launch of The Go-Betweens' ninth CD, Oceans Apart, (EMI), at Rocking Horse Records, in Albert Street, Brisbane, Australia. The Go-Betweens formed more than 27 years ago; their first single was Lee Remick on the Able Label, Australia, in May, 1978.(The first time I saw them was in 1981, at the since-demolished Cloudland Ball Room in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, supporting The Sports, and Madness).
Their romantic and intelligent guitar-based pop songs won over the critics and made some hard core fans in the 1980s, but they've always been musicians' musicians more than pop chart juggernauts. Albums from the first Go-Betweens period include Send Me A Lullaby (1982); Before Hollywood (1983); Spring Hill Fair (1984); Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986); Tallulah (1987); and 16 Lovers Lane (1988). After 16 Lovers Lane, The Go-Betweens split up.
During the 1990s, members of The Go-Betweens embarked on other recording projects.
The core of the band, singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, produced a number of solo albums.Then The Go-Betweens seemed to re-emerge from the tomb in 2000, with new members, for their album The Friends of Rachel Worth. This was followed by Bright Yellow, Bright Orange in 2002.Now, Oceans Apart features 10 new songs, five each from Forster and McLennan.
People of various ages, some with toddlers and babies in prams, headed downstairs at Rocking Horse Records for the launch of the new cd on May 1. Rocking Horse was a long-time source of independent music, like that of The Go-Betweens, in Brisbane. People were standing throughout the small room, surrounded by second-hand LPs lining the walls.Then Robert Forster came down the stairs and he said Grant McLennan was just behind him.The two then sat on a couple of chairs on a small stage area next to the stairs, and they thanked everyone for the welcoming applause.Some people were sitting on the stairs looking down at the stage; one guy had a video camera.Some people around the room took photos.
Robert Forster said he had been informed that a plumber was going to do something about fixing the air conditioning, although he wasn't sure plumbers knew much about that sort of thing.Grant McLennan said everyone would have to excuse them for a couple of minutes while they had the mics on their guitars, and for vocals, sound-checked. Eventually Grant McLennan said, "That's good; we can work with that."Robert Forster said it made him and Grant very happy to be launching Oceans Apart in Brisbane.Then they started singing a couple of songs from the 10 track cd, Oceans Apart.
During the concert, Robert Forster looked at the two or three rows of toddlers sitting on the floor, just in front of the stage.He said he was glad to see so many of The Go-Betweens' younger fans turn up, and that it boded well for sales of Go-Betweens cds in 20 years' time. They sang a couple of Go-Betweens classics like Cattle and Cane (1983),Spring Rain (1986), and Surfing Magazines (2001).
After the concert people formed a queue along the walls with their copies of Oceans Apart for Robert Forster and Grant McLennan to sign. Forster and McLennan stood behind the counter that ran along one wall, and people filed past with CDS and various Go-Betweens artefacts for signing. People brought old Go-Betweens LPs, rare singles, play lists from old concerts, magazines, Oceans Apart posters, and books. Forster and McLennan would comment on the art work on old LPs, or talk about other people whose signatures were already on things, and they'd try to recognise people's hand-writing. They signed the objects with a silver marker, and they'd step around the end of the counter and sign t-shirts little kids were wearing.
When they'd finished signing the cds, and other Go-Betweens paraphernalia, I asked Robert Forster and Grant McLennan to list some of the titles of their favorite books of all time. They came up with these lists:
Robert Forster: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen;On the Road by Jack Kerouac;A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; Collected Poems by Anne Sexton.
Grant McLennan decided to focus on Australian writers. He liked The Service of Clouds by Delia Falconer; The Hunter by Julia Leigh;Snake by Kate Jennings; and Totem by Luke Davies (which he said was a long poem, and which he described as astonishing). He also liked American author Thomas McGuane's Nobody's Angel.
I had met Grant McLennan before and he had said he liked the novel Father and Son by Larry Brown, plus Larry Brown's short stories. He also had a high regard for the biography Blake by Peter Ackroyd.
- Oceans Apart by The Go-Betweens is out on EMI Records, and it's getting good reviews.
-Copyright Simon Sandall.
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