4 minute read
"Indigo" Jones -By Bob Devin Jones
‘But I could have told you Vincent this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you... - Don McLean
For some several weeks hence I re-union with a dear old friend one who speaks with great eloquence whose paintings I ardently recommend...
although Vincent received scant recompense whilst he was alive among us he indeed was amongst whilst he was alive... b d jones...
THERE IS AN AUTUMNAL HUSH... A HUSH AS WHISPER, WHISPER AS PETITION
IT IS ALMOST A PRAYER... A HOMILY IF YOU WILL, A PRAYER THAT SURROUNDS AND INFUSES MANY OF THE WONDROUS PAINTINGS OF VINCENT VAN GOGH
EVEN PAINTINGS SUCH AS STARY STARY NIGHT HAVE THAT AUTUMNAL HUSH
WHEAT FIELD WITH CROWS... OH THOSE DAMM CROWS
SELF-PORTRAIT (PARIS)
SELF-PORTRAIT WITH FELT HAT
THE BEDROOM (ARLES) VERY SIMILAR TO MY BEDROOM IN SILVER LAKE IN THE HILLY EASTERN ENVIRONS OF LOS ANGELES
STILL LIFE WITH BIBLE
OR THOSE EXQUISITE POTATO EATERS
PAINTINGS THAT COULD ONLY HAVE COME INTO THIS WORLD
SOMETIME AFTER AUGUST
SOMETIME AFTER HARVEST
SOMETIME AFTER THE DELUGE
AFTER THE DISTURBANCE IN THE SKY...
THAT DISTURBANCE WHEREIN HEAVEN OPENS AND THE RAINS LOSES PURCHASE OF THE SKY...
THE RAIN HITS THE GROUND AND MAKES MAD EMPLOYMENT TO THE SOIL
"GROW WHY DON’T YOU, GROW!”
VINCENT MUST HAVE COME INTO THIS WORLD ON A MORNING SUCH AS THIS IT WARMS ME TO THINK SO
IT IS THIS WARMTH THAT RADIATES FROM YOUR SUNFLOWERS... WHEREVER OR WHENEVER YOU PAINTED THEM VINCENT
AND SO VINCENT PAINTED HE DREW... ILLUSTRATED HE IMPRESSIONED HIS LIFE ONTO THE CANVAS WITH BRUSH STROKES AS THICK AS MEMORY, DELICIOUS
AND EQUALLY AS MENACING AS A MURDER OF CROWS
VINCENT ARTISTANED HIS LIFE NEARLY EVERY DAY EVERY DAY THAT HE WAS CLOTHED AND IN HIS RIGHT MIND WHICH PERFORCE WAS NOT EVERY SINGLE DAY ALWAYS WINNOWING IN HIS ANGEL EFFORT WHICH IN THIS PRECISE CONTEXT THERE IS A PARALLAX VIEW THAT MIRRORS MY OWN JOURNEY TO AMSTERDAM
MY FOURTH VISIT IN FOUR YEARS AND A FIFTH VISIT IN 1984 WHICH PRECEDED THE LATTER FOUR AND ONLY MY SECOND VISIT TO THE VAN GOGH MUSEUM
THERE ARE TWO ANTECEDENTS... THREE ACTUALLY
LAST MONTH WHILE IN AMSTERDAM LISTENING TO VIVALD'S FOUR SEASONS AUTUMN ON BBC RADIO 4
I HEARD THE PAINTINGS OF VAN GOGH
Actually Heard Them
SEEING AN EXHIBITION OF VAN GOGH SEVERAL DECADES AGO AT THE MET IN NYC
THERE WAS A PORTRAIT, A SELF PORTRAIT, THAT LOOKED DIRECTLY AT ME AND THERE WERE THESE LETTERS TO HIS BROTHER THEO, IN VINCENT’S OWN CURSIVE HAND
I QUICKLY LEFT THE MUSEUM, A CRACK OPENED THAT SELF PORTRAIT AND THOSE LETTERS
CAUSED ME TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE CRACK WAS ME TOO
AND IN THE LAST YEAR OF THE PREVIOUS CENTURY WHILE VISITING LOS ANGELES I SAW A TRAVELING EXHIBITION AT LACMA ENTITLED ‘VAN GOH’S, VAN GOH’S, THIS WAS TO BE MY FIRST INSTRUCTION OF SEEING HIS MASTERFUL PAINTING OF THE POTATO EATERS IN PERSON
I FIRST SIGHTED THE PAINTING THREE GALLERIES FROM WHERE I WAS STANDING... STANDING BY THE STILL LIFE'S
I HAD A DECESISON TO MAKE I DID NOT WANT TO JUST WALK UP TO THE PAINTING AND INTRODUCE MYSELF
SO I AMBLED A CIRCUITOUS ROUTE... BACKWARDS
AND JUST BEFORE I REACHED THE POTATO EATERS
I SAW STILL LIFE WITH LEMONS... I JUST STOOD THERE, IN AWE, IN GRIEF... IN GRATITUDE, RADIATING BACK THE WARMTH OF THE HARVEST AFTER ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES OR SO, I MADE MY ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE POTATO EATERS... AH THAT HUSH... THAT AUTUMNAL HUSH I HAD A SEAT AT THE TABLE...
Bob Devin Jones is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director at the studio @620 in St. Petersburg, FL
