bkohatl
06-02-2005, 04:27 PM
The Santa Monica Museum of Art
Bobby Driscoll Paintings on Exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art
September 17 - November 26, 2005
Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle
Guest curators Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna; organized by SMMoA
Opening reception Friday, September 16, 7 - 9 p.m.
Traveling to the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah; the Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas; the Berkeley Art Museum, California; and the Grey Art Gallery, New York.
A quintessential visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman was a remarkable catalyst, traveling through many different worlds, carrying the ideas and ideals of one group of people to another as he moved through different creative, social, and political circles. Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle offers an extraordinary snapshot of the post-war arts underground in Southern California, a groundbreaking scholarly exploration of the individuals and communities Berman gathered around him as they worked, lived, created, played, and above all, collaborated. The exhibition is organized by writers and independent curators Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna.
The exhibition will include the complete loose leaf run of Semina, a free-form art and poetry journal Berman published in nine issues between 1955 and 1964; over 100 of Berman’s own photographs, recently developed from vintage negatives and shown for the first time; and never before exhibited works by the over 50 artists included in Semina - drawings by Cameron, John Altoon, Jay DeFeo, Bruce Conner, and Joan Brown; collages and assemblages by Robert Alexander, Stuart Perkoff, John Reed, George Herms, and Jess; poetry by Robert Duncan, David Meltzer, Philip Lamantia, and John Wieners; photographs by Charles Brittin, Walter Hopps, and Patricia Jordan; and 16 mm works by filmmakers Bruce Conner, Paul Beattie, Russ Tamblyn, Toni Basil, Larry Jordan, and Dean Stockwell, as well as by Berman himself.
The book accompanying the exhibition is published and distributed by SMMoA and DAP. It includes approximately 100 photographic images by Berman; a selection of works from Semina; 250 reproductions of artworks included in the exhibition; and a distinguished selection of essays: Michael Duncan traces the literary and art historical significance of Semina; in two essays Kristine McKenna explores Berman’s photographic practice, as well as a social history of the Los Angeles underground; David Meltzer considers the sexual politics of the Beats; and Stephen Fredman examines Semina's ties to Surrealism and the Kabbalah. Artist biographies are written by Duncan, Meltzer, McKenna, and Raymond Foye.
Three of the paintings on display were painted by Bobby Driscoll, the former Academy Award Winning Child Star(he won an Oscar at age 12 for the film noir The Window/RKO 1949). I have seen some of Bob's paintings: Most people remember Bobby for the person they thought he was, that isn't possible once you've seen his art.
Bobby Driscoll/A Forgotten Life March 3, 1937 - March 30, 1968When Bobby Driscoll was 12-years-old, he won an Academy Award for the wonderful film noir "The Window." Bobby's life is also one of Hollywood's darkest chapters. Bobby would later say of his career in Hollywood "I was carried on a satin cushion and then dropped into a garbage can." Bobby was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was the son of Cletus Driscoll, an intstaller of asbestos insulation,, and Isabelle Kretz Driscoll, a school teacher. In 1943, when Bobby was 5, the family moved to Altadena, California, where a barber suggested to Bobby's parents that their boy should be in movies. Bobby appeared in the "Lost Angel"(1943) and "The Sullivans" (1944). Bobby also appeared in four movies for Disney, "Song of the South"(1946), "So Dear To My Heart"(1949); he played Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island"(1950) and was the voice of "Peter Pan"(1953)in the animated feature of the same name. All of Bobby's movies for Walt Disney were hits and are considered film classics. Bobby attended The Hollywood Professional Actor's School where he was a straight A student and one of the most popular kids in school. At the Academy Awards Ceremony in 1950, 12-year-old Bobby Driscoll received a Special Academy Award for his role in the film noir thriller "The Window," about a boy who witnesses a murder and can't get anyone to believe him. Bobby also won a Golden Globe for his performance. Everyone who ever worked with Bobby always commented what a great kid he was: he worked hard and he never complained. He was well liked and was considered the most talented kid of his time. When Bobby went through puberty his voice changed and he developed a severe case of acne: never unemployed as a child, Bobby suddenly found work scarce. Bobby soon discovered that most of his Hollywood "friends" were even better actors than he was. From 1954 to 1957 most of his work was on TV. The quality of his performances never declined. He had an excellent role on Richard Boone's The Medic/Laughter is a Boy. A small guest appearance in "The Travels of Jamie McPheter"(starring Kurt Russell) in 1963 was his last acting job. Bobby married Marilyn Jean Rush in December 1956. Bobby and Marilyn had three children, but eventually divorced.. By his late teens, Bobby was experimenting with drugs, eventually turning to speed and heroin. Bobby was arrested repeatedly for drug possession. After serving a term in California's Chino State Penitentiary, he disappeared. He eventually turned up in New York City in 1965. One story reported that Bobby wanted to revive his career by seeking work on Broadway, but it came to nothing. Bobby Driscoll died of a heart attack at age 31 on March 30, 1968: some children found his body in a trash-filled, deserted tenement off Tompkins Park in Greenwich Village in New York City. The same kind of building that was used in the filming "The Window", years earlier. No one could identify Bobby's body, so he was buried in a pauper's grave in "Potter's Field" on Hart Island in New York off Long Island Sound. A year later, his mother enlisted the FBI and Disney studios to find him. A fingerprint match led to the discovery of his fate in October 1969. Remember Me...
Remember me with smiles and laughter,
Because that is the way I will remember you all.
If you can only remember me with tears,
Then don't remember me at all.
An Irish Poem of Remembrance
Bobby Driscoll Paintings on Exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art
September 17 - November 26, 2005
Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle
Guest curators Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna; organized by SMMoA
Opening reception Friday, September 16, 7 - 9 p.m.
Traveling to the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah; the Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas; the Berkeley Art Museum, California; and the Grey Art Gallery, New York.
A quintessential visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman was a remarkable catalyst, traveling through many different worlds, carrying the ideas and ideals of one group of people to another as he moved through different creative, social, and political circles. Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle offers an extraordinary snapshot of the post-war arts underground in Southern California, a groundbreaking scholarly exploration of the individuals and communities Berman gathered around him as they worked, lived, created, played, and above all, collaborated. The exhibition is organized by writers and independent curators Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna.
The exhibition will include the complete loose leaf run of Semina, a free-form art and poetry journal Berman published in nine issues between 1955 and 1964; over 100 of Berman’s own photographs, recently developed from vintage negatives and shown for the first time; and never before exhibited works by the over 50 artists included in Semina - drawings by Cameron, John Altoon, Jay DeFeo, Bruce Conner, and Joan Brown; collages and assemblages by Robert Alexander, Stuart Perkoff, John Reed, George Herms, and Jess; poetry by Robert Duncan, David Meltzer, Philip Lamantia, and John Wieners; photographs by Charles Brittin, Walter Hopps, and Patricia Jordan; and 16 mm works by filmmakers Bruce Conner, Paul Beattie, Russ Tamblyn, Toni Basil, Larry Jordan, and Dean Stockwell, as well as by Berman himself.
The book accompanying the exhibition is published and distributed by SMMoA and DAP. It includes approximately 100 photographic images by Berman; a selection of works from Semina; 250 reproductions of artworks included in the exhibition; and a distinguished selection of essays: Michael Duncan traces the literary and art historical significance of Semina; in two essays Kristine McKenna explores Berman’s photographic practice, as well as a social history of the Los Angeles underground; David Meltzer considers the sexual politics of the Beats; and Stephen Fredman examines Semina's ties to Surrealism and the Kabbalah. Artist biographies are written by Duncan, Meltzer, McKenna, and Raymond Foye.
Three of the paintings on display were painted by Bobby Driscoll, the former Academy Award Winning Child Star(he won an Oscar at age 12 for the film noir The Window/RKO 1949). I have seen some of Bob's paintings: Most people remember Bobby for the person they thought he was, that isn't possible once you've seen his art.
Bobby Driscoll/A Forgotten Life March 3, 1937 - March 30, 1968When Bobby Driscoll was 12-years-old, he won an Academy Award for the wonderful film noir "The Window." Bobby's life is also one of Hollywood's darkest chapters. Bobby would later say of his career in Hollywood "I was carried on a satin cushion and then dropped into a garbage can." Bobby was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was the son of Cletus Driscoll, an intstaller of asbestos insulation,, and Isabelle Kretz Driscoll, a school teacher. In 1943, when Bobby was 5, the family moved to Altadena, California, where a barber suggested to Bobby's parents that their boy should be in movies. Bobby appeared in the "Lost Angel"(1943) and "The Sullivans" (1944). Bobby also appeared in four movies for Disney, "Song of the South"(1946), "So Dear To My Heart"(1949); he played Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island"(1950) and was the voice of "Peter Pan"(1953)in the animated feature of the same name. All of Bobby's movies for Walt Disney were hits and are considered film classics. Bobby attended The Hollywood Professional Actor's School where he was a straight A student and one of the most popular kids in school. At the Academy Awards Ceremony in 1950, 12-year-old Bobby Driscoll received a Special Academy Award for his role in the film noir thriller "The Window," about a boy who witnesses a murder and can't get anyone to believe him. Bobby also won a Golden Globe for his performance. Everyone who ever worked with Bobby always commented what a great kid he was: he worked hard and he never complained. He was well liked and was considered the most talented kid of his time. When Bobby went through puberty his voice changed and he developed a severe case of acne: never unemployed as a child, Bobby suddenly found work scarce. Bobby soon discovered that most of his Hollywood "friends" were even better actors than he was. From 1954 to 1957 most of his work was on TV. The quality of his performances never declined. He had an excellent role on Richard Boone's The Medic/Laughter is a Boy. A small guest appearance in "The Travels of Jamie McPheter"(starring Kurt Russell) in 1963 was his last acting job. Bobby married Marilyn Jean Rush in December 1956. Bobby and Marilyn had three children, but eventually divorced.. By his late teens, Bobby was experimenting with drugs, eventually turning to speed and heroin. Bobby was arrested repeatedly for drug possession. After serving a term in California's Chino State Penitentiary, he disappeared. He eventually turned up in New York City in 1965. One story reported that Bobby wanted to revive his career by seeking work on Broadway, but it came to nothing. Bobby Driscoll died of a heart attack at age 31 on March 30, 1968: some children found his body in a trash-filled, deserted tenement off Tompkins Park in Greenwich Village in New York City. The same kind of building that was used in the filming "The Window", years earlier. No one could identify Bobby's body, so he was buried in a pauper's grave in "Potter's Field" on Hart Island in New York off Long Island Sound. A year later, his mother enlisted the FBI and Disney studios to find him. A fingerprint match led to the discovery of his fate in October 1969. Remember Me...
Remember me with smiles and laughter,
Because that is the way I will remember you all.
If you can only remember me with tears,
Then don't remember me at all.
An Irish Poem of Remembrance