Art vs. Life

A gift of history and brilliant light, Provincetown Artist Roy Simmons

I had a most wonderful and enlightening art experience this week. While traveling
to see North Adams artist Brandon Graving, recent recipient of the Pollack-Krasner Grant,
and the Gottlieb Grant to help her restore her life after Hurricane Katrina wiped out
twenty years of her wonderful work,  I traveled over to Syracuse and down to Princeton.
While stopping in Syracuse I was scheduled to have coffee with Roy Simmons, a sculpture
and famous Lacross coach at the university.  I recently sold a suite of prints to Brook
Chase and his wife Lisa in Fayetteville, New York.  They kept telling me of the connection
I had to coach Simmons. both in an aesthetic sense and in our thoughts on contemporary
art.  Brook is from TheChaseGroup and recently renovated a beautiful old upstate New York
property which has amazing space and lighting for contemporary work.   He had been a player
for Roy Simmons at Syracuse and remembers his coach stopping  at galleries to educate
his players beyond sports to the world of art.  He left a huge impression on this group of young men.    When we met for a short talk ,it turned into an hour and half lesson of true
life art history.   Roy brought me a poster of a beautiful show of his work at the Emerson Gallery  at Syracuse.  As I looked at the image , and another work he had brought for us to
see I realized his art friends had been my heros and mentors for all these years.  He had lived
in Provincetown and was friends with Motherwell and Norman Mailer, and had framed for
many of the New York School artists who were the heart and soul of Ptown when art history
was changed for ever by these wonderful artists. He was friends with Alan Stone, who recently
died,and Gagosian.  His stories were just breath taking.   He was a student of the works of
Kurt Switters, and Joseph Cornell.   He has hinted that he may do a small show  of collages for us of this
 this summer and come to the studio to speak.  If we can get him over the mountain this
summer to talk to us it will be a night to remember.  Life is so rich and so many art connections turn into meaningful lessons in the connections and meaning of art in our
fast changing world.  Happy Thankgiving, be safe and make art.