Monday, January 8, 2007

Imaginary Relationship (1984)

“The easiest kind of relationship is with ten thousand people, the hardest is with one.” (Joan Baez) 

This drawing may have originated from photographs of singer/songwriters, Patti Smith and Bob Dylan, but I can't say for sure because the result wasn't a likeness of either Patti Smith or Bob Dylan. Like Patti Smith and countless people from my generation, my creativity was sparked and sustained by listening to Bob Dylan. Joan Baez, who appeared and spoke about Bob Dylan in Martin Scorsese's film, "No Direction Home," said something to the effect that many people are not in any way moved by Bob Dylan's words and music, but those who are moved feel moved in a way that goes very very deep. 

All of my drawings in the current series were created using photographs as starting points. "Woman Listening," from a few days ago, was a composite of the singer/songwriter, Bob Dylan; the artist, Georgia O'Keeffe; and the writer, Alice Walker.I frequently used photographs of Bob Dylan as starting points for making images of women. It is interesting to me that a woman, Cate Blanchett, is playing the part of a young Bob Dylan in the new film, "I'm Not There," and that Joan Baez, dressed and made up to look like Bob Dylan, performed with Bob Dylan in 1976 during the Rolling Thunder tour. I had a dream once that Bob Dylan and Woody Allen were the same person.

2 comments:

Loren said...

Am I right in assuming that the mask-like look on this particular pair is intentional?

Or am I just imagining that?

am said...

It's not intentional, but I can see what you mean about the mask-like look. Masks certainly go along with the idea of an imaginary relationship. My drawings have always had a life of their own. It is good to hear what other people see. I have always loved that about the process of showing work publicly.