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| JOHN LEE HOOKER II |
(Hooker Handbill)
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| Antone's |
Antone’s, Jan
25 – 26, 1985
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| 8.5" X 11"
(21.59cm X 27.94cm) |
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This rare handbill has garnered me
as much praise and has been as warmly received and appreciated
as anything that I have ever done. It is a remarkable
study of countenance. Histories of worlds and of times
are written there, a landscape of spirit rendered in
flesh. The form that emerges from the darkness seems
complete, sufficient unto itself. Is it contemplation;
an effort of thought, or merely a capitulation to feeling?
I can remember that as I was doing the piece I almost
felt physically drawn into it. As I stippled the mitigating
tones about the dark areas, I was leaning into it, feeling
a hint of torque in my pen as I listened to his music.
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| One of my very best pieces; one of my most
successful pieces. This is a pen-and-ink drawing; utilizing
a shading technique called stippling. Stippling is a means
of valuing, or gray scaling, between pure black and pure white
by creating fields of dots. The more of them, the darker the
value; the less, the lighter the grayscale. I think it worked
very well to evoke the presence of John Lee Hooker and his
music. This dotting softens the face; a closed eye softens
the whole image. While a spotlight makes the profile dominant,
its concentration loses the sparse falloff in shadows, and
the face becomes insular. A false tranquility – the
cant of head and purse of chin -- reveal the torque within.
There, just beneath, are hints: a determination informing
the sinews connecting cheek and chin, a fugitive thought that
furls the eye. Something is about to be released here; the
blues. And I’ve cast a net of dots to capture it.
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