Rick Griffin (1944-1991); Surf, Rock, Christian Artist

My first encounter with the artist Rick Griffin was in the 8th grade (1962-63). His cartoons of Murph the Surf were popular in Southern California, where I grew up. I drew a Murph the Surf-style cartoon on the cover of Foghorn, my 8th grade yearbook (above).

It wouldn't be until I was part of the late 60s Rock and Roll scene that I began to recognize the distinctive artwork of Rick Griffin among the Fillmore Rock posters. His style was easily recognizable with his wild, almost illegible lettering style, bright colors, and precise ink work. His Hendrix flying eyeball (a Von Dutch image) is an icon among psychedelic poster art.

Finally, when I was into Christian Rock I came across an illustrated copy of the Gospel of John from Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, which I still own. I immediately recognized the artwork of Rick Griffin. His style had continued to develop in new and interesting ways. His images were arresting.

Griffin died too soon in a motorcycle accident in 1991. His artwork spans three popular culture movements: surfing, 60s psychedelic rock, and the Jesus movement. Griffin was a unique popular artist and one of my favorites connecting to three periods of my life. The last illustration with Jesus, Lord of the wind and waves, brings his art full circle.

Hyper-realistic Sculptors: Ron Mueck, Jamie Salmon, Sam Jinks, Thomas Kuebler, Evan Penny

I remember from art classes back in the 60s realist sculptors like Duane Hanson, who created figures of common people in everyday life situations. There is a new generation of hyperrealist sculptors, like Ron Mueck, Jamie Salmon, Sam Jinks, Evan Penny, and Thomas Kuebler who are taking sculpture in amazingly realistic, creative, and dimensional directions.

One of my earliest encounters with hyper or superrealism was at the age of 19 (1968) when I saw the large close up paintings of Chuck Close in LA. My preference is realism in art and I am particularly amazed at the technical skills of superrealist artists. They are creating sculptures that mimic in exacting detail human figures, stretching and altering dimensions, sculpting wierd and humorous figures, and playing with the scale from small to huge in size.

Below are three examples of my favorite hyperrealistics sculptures in order by: Ron Mueck, Jamie Salmon, Sam Jinks, Thomas Kuebler, and Evan Penny.

David LaChapelle: Jesus is my Homeboy

From the earliest depictions of Jesus artists have placed him in their own contemporary settings. This is obvious in many of the paintings of Jesus during the Renaissance. Artists have a tendency to place Jesus in their own time and place, sometimes in provocative ways.

I view sermon writing as an art form crafted with words. In a sermon at a church where I was pastor back in the 90s I painted a word picture of the "immoral" woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears as wearing a tight mini skirt and stilletto heels. I remember some members being upset by this visual image and letting me know! Well, when I came upon David La Chapelle's depiction of the woman washing Jesus' feet, she has a tight mini skirt and stilletto heels!

Modern photographer David La Chapelle does what other artists have done for centuries in his series Jesus is my Homeboy. These blown up photographs depict Jesus on the gritty urban streets and in the 'hood among the homeboys. Except for the white-looking-Jesus-guy, La Chapelle's images are provocative and maybe can jar our minds into rethinking Jesus and his message for our time.

The video is of an exhibit of La Chapelle's series in a Protestant French Church in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The exhibition was part of the St. Moritz Art Masters‘ “Walk of Art”.

A Focus in Life: Philippians 3:7-16

*This lesson can also be found at: http://www.faithandliferesources.org/Curriculum/abs/abs100815.html

When I was in seminary I used to do a daily 4 mile run around a point that extended into the San Francisco Bay. I can’t even imagine doing that today! The road I ran twisted and turned around the outline of land jutting into the bay. I knew when I was near my goal of four miles when I came to a steep hill that I had to traverse in order to finish my run. It took a lot of will power, sweat, straining, and great exertion of physical energy to make it over the hill and on my way back to my apartment on the seminary campus. I had to focus on the goal of making it to the end of my run. There were no others I was racing against and no prize awaited me at the end of my run. With so much time spent in my head with constant study in seminary I had a larger goal beyond getting to the end of the 4 miles…. staying healthy.

Paul uses the metaphor of running a race to speak to the Philippian believers about a larger goal than bodily exercise or winning a physical race. He talks to them about a race to know and become more like Christ. He hopes to achieve his goal through his own calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Though he has not turned the final corner or faced his last steep hill, Paul strains toward that goal like a runner exerting all his energy to reach the end of a run.

We all runners in a race. We are not running against anyone as if to beat them to the end of the race. And we have not reached the end of the race. There are more twists and turns on the road ahead. We have not reached the final hill we must traverse to reach our goal. But, there is still time left to exert our energies, correct our course when we take a wrong turn, and keep our eyes on the road ahead before we reach the final goal of Christ-likeness. We are all runners in a race. And in this race a prize awaits us!

• How is living a life of faith like running a race?
• What exercises do you practice to stay spiritually healthy?
• What particular “track” has God called you to run? What is your calling?

Retro Art: It's Cool, Daddy-O!

I have been diggin' the cool retro art of some contemporary painters lately. They have captured the look of the graphic art that was part of the cultural mileau during my growing up years in the 50s and 60s. They evoke old images of Tiki cocktail lounges, beatnik and hot rod cultures, commercial illustrations and 50s and 60s cartoons. That style of art is exemplified in the work of Jim Flora, an artist known for his commercial illustrations on the covers of RCA Victor and Columbia Records (above, also see http://www.jimflora.com/).

Although Flora was in many ways an original, his illustrations reflect a broader everyday style that anyone who lived in the 50s and 60s would recognize from magazines, album covers, postcards, cartoons, and commercials of the time. So, when younger appreciators of retro art comment that someone like Shag or Yaniger are highly influenced by Flora, they probably don't realize how pervasive this style of commercial illustration was in everyday life.
























Josh Agle, better known as Shag, was in diapers when this style of art was prevelant, but has captured the essence of 60s commercial illustration in his slick, stylized, mod graphic style (seehttp://www.shag.com/). His work is known worldwide and has been exhibited in modern art galleries.





















While at Powells bookstore in Portland recently(largest bookstore in the world!), I came across Wildville: The Art of Derek Yaniger. In Yaniger's art I see the same retro style that evokes images from my growing up years, when I used to carve my own tiki necklaces out of wood and watched all those stylized cartoons (seehttp://www.derekart.com/) . Aesthetically I appreciate Yaniger's ability to capture the look of the 50s and 60s commercial illustration, even more than Shag, though Yaniger has probably not recieved as much recognition as Shag.

There are plenty of other retro artists, but these artists particularly remind me, iconophile that I am, of a hipcat and groovy style. Can you dig it, Daddy-O?

Deaf Priscilla: Beauregard Ajax (1968)

My 60s rock group Beauregard Ajax. Music recorded at Del-Fi Records, Hollywood, CA, 1968. For more info on the group and album go to: http://drummingforpeace.blogspot.com/2009/02/beauregard-ajax-deaf-priscilla.html

Deaf Priscilla, Beauregard Ajax by Leo Hartshorn

2003 Bethel College Staley Lecture: Rhythmic and Irenic Pedagogy or Teaching Peace with a Funky Beat

Just came across this while looking through CDs and didn't realize I had a copy of my 2003 Staley Lecture presentation (see list under 2003 at http://www.bethelks.edu/academics/lectures/staley.php at Bethel College, Newton, Kansas (a Mennonite College). I was suprised to be invited to give the Staley Lecture! I had only received my doctorate (in Anabaptist preaching) a year earlier as well as beginning my job as Minister of Peace and Justice for Mennonite Mision Network. Who was I to give a lecture? But, I did and enjoyed doing it. In this lecture I gave some historical background to drumming in the Bible and world cultures as well as performing several teaching exercises with Bethel College students attending the lecture, which was probably a first for an acedemic lecture series! I translated this to an MP3 ovew 30 minutes in length, which includes the demonstrations.

01 Staley Lecture 2003 Rhythmic and Irenic Pedagogy or Teaching Peace with a Funky Beat by Leo Hartshorn

Art Gish: Christian Peacemaker, 1939-2010

Finished a drawing of Art Gish, peace activist who died this week in a farming accident (Read the stoty at:http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-31680-prominent-local-activist-dies-in-farming-accident.html). I read Art's book The New Left and Christian Radicalism back in the late 70s, when I was looking for anything that was Christian and radical. I met Art at a regional peace gathering I helped organize in Columbus, Ohio around 2004. We were at a table with a Christian Zionist who had a totally different perspective on Israel/Palestine than Art and the rest of us at the table! And yet, Art treated him with respect, even though he has been on the ground in Israel/Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams and knows well the real situation there and not just some idealogy.

Art became recognized internationally through an Associated Press photo of him confronting an Israeli tank ready to destroy a Palestinian marketplace (See picture above and read the story at :http://mideastchristians.virtualactivism.net/articles/amongapples.htm)

May his wife, Peggy, find comfort in her loss and the world weep upon the loss of one of her prophets.

Video of Art and Peggy Gish, Old Radicals:

Old Radicals from matthew leahy on Vimeo.