Sometimes stupid can be beautiful and brilliant all at once
Written by Ryan Tramonte
Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:29
A Round with Ryan
NEW ORLEANS | There are few words in the English Language that I refuse to use. The word “stupid” is not one of them. The real definition of the word stupid is as follows:
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
While these definitions offer us a glimpse into what those using the Queen’s English appropriately mean by stupid, I have a little problem with them. I actually have a problem with definitions, and actually with names for that matter. Like my nephew Kyle, I prefer to name people when I meet them.
If you look like your name you are fine. If not, I will rename you and use that name when referring to you. My masseuse Michael is now David, and Kyle’s little girlfriend Chloe is now Brittany.
That is why I find it hard to allow myself to follow the three definitions given to us when using the word stupid.
You see, number 1 is rude and I would never name-call someone for something they couldn’t help. Well, I wouldn’t openly admit to that anyway.
Number 2 applies to all of us. I am guilty of careless behavior. God and the state of Texas knows I can date the wrong people, so my dating decisions are often times poor.
As for Number 3, show me someone marked by a lack of intelligence that I don’t find sexy and I call them stupid.
To me the word stupid does not mean any of these things. I use the word stupid to describe things that just don’t seem to fit into this world. These are the things that are unexplainable, or don’t seem to have any rhyme or reason and are too unimportant to really be a mystery, but at the same time, are so annoying that you really need that not so mysterious mystery solved.
For example, Kate Gosselin’s haircut is perhaps the stupidest haircut ever placed on the head of a woman. With a head of hair like that, one can only wonder why she is more concerned with chasing her chubby husband around with a financial axe while leaving her hair dresser safely alone. Looking, all day long, as if the back of your head has just exploded is just stupid.
Working out until you vomit is stupid. I see no good reason for pushing one’s body to the point of expelling its contents. That behavior has no place in my world, not to mention there are at least ten other more fun and interesting ways that I can think of to make myself throw up. While I find it ridiculous, I want people to tell me why they would do such a thing to themselves. I also think it is stupid to train your abnormally large body all of your life to win a gold medal, and then smoke pot, on film at your BFF’s house party. That is so truly stupid it makes Kate’s hair look acceptable.
Recently, after work, I joined BFF Nicolas (or BFF Nic) for a quick dinner before driving home. Now understand BFF Nic is one of those friends I meet on the sly. Not because we engage in illicit affairs or secret goings on that only we and the rest of the cult know about, but because I am embarrassed to be seen with him. However, he is so intriguing and bizarre, that I can’t help myself. I never ever talk about him to my other friends and God forbid they should ever see me out with him. The last time I tried to mix BFF Nic with other friends was at my homey Michelle’s birthday party. My friends all but tarred and feathered him and chased both of us onto the greens of Louisiana Country Club. It was like a true witch-hunt. Later that month when I had the courage to contact the group again, they all declared, one by one, that I was not allowed to bring that “stupid f@#$*!% boy around anymore.”
BFF Nic is the exception to the “stupid definition.” His antics and bizarre behavior, his tattoos and his alternating shades of pink faux hawk make him so fascinating that I ignore the fact that there truly is no place for him in my world. I ignore his painted fingernails and talk of Nostradamus, I ignore that he once put a hex on me, and I listen to his ranting about my killing myself in a tan bed because for some reason all of his odd, unusual, and yes, stupid, attributes add up to perfection rather than stupid repulsion. We meet three times of month under the cloak of darkness and laugh at everything we find stupid. In short, I adore him and stand stupefied when others do not.
Our most recent outing included the showing of Charles Chambers’ works at the d.o.c.s. Gallery on Camp Street. I remembered reading that Charles Chambers was a lifelong musician and a native of Birmingham, Ala. Upon moving to Los Angles and playing the guitar in a band, his creative juices began to march to a different beat. Exposure to artists including Picasso, de Kooning, and Ocampo planted the seed in his soul for painting and as he practiced with color, form, texture, and technique, his love and talent became apparent. I filled bff Nic in on the artist and we both agreed he sounded super cool and could not wait to see the images. My favorite kind of artist is a self-taught artist, because there is still that sense of growth that is visible in their work, without the presence of art school rules. Rules are stupid. The only problem I have with self-taught artists is that their work can appear a little unfinished or not well thought out. It’s almost as if their knowledge of the medium is limited, causing them to make careless mistakes and to use their medium with an obtuse vision. If you learn one thing in art school, it is how to think a painting through from start to finish, and how to use each medium to its fullest.
Charles Chambers does not suffer from the common afflictions of the self-taught artist. His visions of the human body, mostly nudes, busts, and men sitting in chairs, had a finished quality to them that is commonly seen in painters who have not only mastered their medium, but have figured out a way to coexist with and become part of that medium. Charles Chambers has managed to become part of each of his creations by making himself part of the medium.
In “Whistlers Doll” (8x10), the artist creates an image that, although soft in format, has a direct and playful soul to it. The subject’s face is nearly indiscernible, but the way the face is created gives it a direct and strong attitude that is easy to see even with the eyes of the face out of focus. This is because Chambers has taken the subject’s face and distorted it enough to arouse our attention and mildly disturb us, without making the face hard to look at. Manipulating the face in this manner gives an honorable strength to the subject. Also, the way in which the layers of paint are added to each other give the static image movement with each layer.
“Girl with the Diamond Earring” (8x10), is a good example of the artist’s ability to take a static, immovable form and make it move just by adding color to it. The ability to make motion with color minus the use of lines is not an easy task. For example, if I asked you to draw motion, the first thing you would do is use lines. Think of cartoons and comic strips showing characters falling or running quickly. There is always a series of lines streaking either above them or below them. Chambers forgoes the lines and uses just the color and the placement of color to insinuate motion. The shape and blue, representing the shirt of the subject, forces the subject forward, as if she is looking through a plate of glass at us. She appears to be leaning forward for a closer view. The areas around her mouth are finished in a way that allows us to imagine that she is moving her head from side to side, as if engaged in a little game with the viewer. The crisp color of the background pushes her even farther forward.
In the image “Birth of an Icon” (8x10), we see something very different here than in the other two paintings. This subject has a more visible pair of eyes. But, again, Chambers does not allow the obvious rulers to cast law on his land. The bright yellow background removes the power from the eyes and places it in the colors used to represent the shadows of the face. Notice the difference in the shades of this face as opposed to the other two images. These colors are the only thing making this image move. Everything else is working as a background, or a support, to this area.
Thrilled and excited by one of the best shows I had seen in New Orleans in a while, and equally ecstatic that it was with Nic that I saw it, I looked around to find him. From a distance across the room, I saw him balancing an olive on his nose for the entertainment of two girls who looked mortified. In an instant the two girls were rescued by a handsome young man who made a comment out of my ear shot to BFF Nic. BFF Nic looked confused. When I walked up to him he could tell that I had witnessed the interaction and without hesitation said, “I don’t get it Ry, you love the olive trick.” I assured him that I did, and then had him do it for me. As he rolled the olive around his nose and down his top lip to his mouth, I thought to myself, how could anyone miss the fantastic side of my BFF Nic? Was it me and BFF Nic against the world?
And then he did it. In his true form, he cleared up the world of confusion I was facing. As we exited the gallery for the nearest bar, I was clearly jumping out of my skin with excitement and anticipation as I couldn’t wait to discuss this show with him. I knew he was the perfect person with whom to have seen it.
Bursting with enthusiasm I asked, “What did you think?”
His reply was, “That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen.”
Ryan Tramonte is the General Manager of French Art Network and Rue Royale Art Partners of New Orleans. With galleries in Carmel by the Sea, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New Orleans and Key West, Florida; the company’s family of galleries represents 54 artists from across the globe. With his office in the center of the French Quarter at 541 Royal Street, Ryan has managed to surround himself with some of the most beautiful aspects of New Orleans, its artists. Artists mold the way we think and live on a daily basis, they are one of society’s most prized possessions. Ryan, himself works in all mediums, but centers his work on painting and collage.
