Category Archives: People

Discovering Phillip Payne of Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Phillip Payne: Visions of an Iron Horse

For a man in love with the Old West I astound myself sometimes with what I don’t know about it! I was completely unaware of ‘Western Art’ until, by happy accident, I was funnelled off Interstate 25 into the heart of New Mexico’s capital, Santa Fe, during a nine week, solo road trip across The West earlier this year. But for this, I would have driven past the World’s second largest art market after NYC and missed discovering this genre. As I intend to write more about it in Talking Beautiful Stuff, I will concentrate here on the man who introduced me to it.

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Phillip Payne at work on: Quanah Parker, the Battle of Blanco Canyon.

For two days I explored the downtown streets of this small, attractive, unusual and classy city lying in the heart of one of America’s most remote, arid and empty regions. Native American pottery and turquoise jewellery of the highest quality filled exquisite emporiums. Galleries by the hundred purveyed every kind of art imaginable and with this sophistication and wealth came comparable coffee houses, restaurants and gift shops. However, having this lifelong fascination for The Old West, I was drawn to the galleries that displayed bronzes and paintings of cowboys, Indians, buffalo and horses and awe-inspiring western landscapes. In one of these I met the gallery director Phillip Payne. His welcome to a road-weary scruff, who clearly couldn’t afford any of the wonders offered in his extremely classy gallery, was a delight that many gallery directors could take a lesson from. We fell into good conversation. At this point I had no idea who I was talking to. I soon discovered that Phillip is also a sculptor, creating powerful bronzes of many subjects including those with a ‘western’ theme. As an extra attraction to the gallery for browsing visitors, he works on an on-going piece using an oily clay.

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Phillip Payne: Beethoven: Feeling the Music

He showed me his bronze: “Beethoven: Feeling the Music.” He read out the words of Beethoven engraved into the piano lid: “Had I not read somewhere that a man should not quit this life so long as he can still perform a good deed, I would have left this Earth long ago and by my own hand at that. I can’t imagine leaving this World without taking the art God has placed in my soul and putting it to pen for others to hear.” This clearly echoed his own feelings as I saw him gulp with emotion. Here was a man who appeared profoundly involved with his creations and it was at this point that I decided that the readers of Talking Beautiful Stuff should know of him. I was privileged to be allowed an interview. In the half hour or so that we talked we both found ourselves close to tears as we discussed the influence of our deceased fathers upon us. It was a moving experience for me. I found Phillip to be completely without pretension and very sincere about the reason for and the philosophy surrounding his creative talent.

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Phillip Payne: Breaking Camp

If you visit Phillip’s website you are greeted with his words: ‘To create art is to bare your soul in the hopes that you will find a kindred spirit in the hearts of others’. This declaration is close to his answer to my question, “Why do you create?” He told me something along the lines of his desire to share with others the things that move him and better his life but unfortunately, over my travels, I lost my notes of our interview where I recorded his words verbatim. However, I well remember how unusually selfless his personal philosophy was and also my scepticism about this as it doesn’t fit with my ideas about creative people! By the end of the interview though, I was convinced that here was an extremely rare being – a truly altruistic artist.

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Phillip Payne: Canyon Sanctuary

I was now aware that Phillip’s father was Ken Payne, sadly deceased, but not yet aware of Ken’s stature in America as a sculptor. Phillip spoke fondly, with some emotion, of his tutelage under the kind and patient eye of his father and showed me his influence upon him as a sculptor. Phillip likes to create moments from western history that have importance to him and to bring awareness to others of the greatness of some of the leaders in the Native American struggle against white Manifest Destiny such as Quanah Parker of the Comanche Nation.

Having said farewell to Phillip I visited other galleries and discovered that I had fallen upon the mother lode of creators in bronze, a veritable ‘ant nest’ of brilliance. Ken Payne, his sons Vic and Phillip Payne and Vic’s son Dustin are all celebrated and tremendous sculptors within the genre of what I now recognised as ‘Western Art’. Vic’s daughter Jordyn is a painter of the most vibrant and gorgeous, western  landscapes. What a family! The artistic gene proves its existence!

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Phillip Payne: If it ain’t got that swing

As I journeyed on I saw many ‘Paynes’ creating wonderful moments as they graced the streets, parks, museums and galleries of The West’s towns and cities. I confess to relishing the change in attitude displayed by ‘Western Art’ gallery directors when I mentioned that I had interviewed Phillip Payne! The Payne family commands enormous respect in America.

Phillip Payne is a very young man and is already an accomplished and acclaimed sculptor. I believe that he has a glittering career ahead of him that can only blossom when fuelled by such a kind and unselfish philosophy towards his creative nature.

#alyaakamel

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I open my Facebook homepage. I see a bundle of red wool pulled into a heart shape. Amid the thousands of photos that I come across each day via the internet, this stands out. It has a simple and naïve charm. It is posted by Alyaa Kamel, the queen of that corner of cyberspace where “art” and social media blur into one. The text of the post reads: #Iloveme #love #heart #loveisnow #lovingmyself #process #evolution #respect #act #say #talk #think #arttherapy #life #world #humanity #contemporaryart #design #myart #wool #paper #alyaakamel (Interesting!)

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I head into Geneva’s old town and visit this striking and versatile painter in her studio. I am immediately captivated by an inky dervish-like figure, beautifully proportioned, poised and slightly stooped as if resting between manic whirls. However, my objective today is neither to admire nor to buy. I am after a behind-the-scenes-and-screens glimpse of Alyaa’s virtual gallery. We chat. I ask her about her unrelenting Facebook activity that could stretch to ten posts per day. She’s a little elusive. She says it’s about promoting and selling her work. I am not totally convinced. It is the “why” of so much activity that fascinates and that I really want to explore. There must be other incentives and impulses at play. I struggle to pitch the right question.

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Of all the images that Alyaa posts, her people fascinate the most. Who they are is unclear. They are frequently hooded or veiled. They are oppressed people; people in ruins; displaced people; poor people; crowded people; and people in distress. They are, in brief, a kind of faceless generic for those people about whom every day world news is made. She just feels for people caught up in events over which they have no control and she pours it all out on Facebook.

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Alyaa travels far and wide often in the company of Martin La Roche. Their clothes, their parties, their dinners and hotel rooms are all posted on their profile pages. Amid all this, she also executes and posts exquisite little sketches. Leafing through her (paper) sketchbook is a pleasure and a privilege. Take a look at this hotel in Stockholm!

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The most intriguing theme that Alyaa Kamel posts by the day – and the most revealing – is Little Alyaa. This pre-adolescent feminine persona expresses any and every little girl thought or emotion that might flit through the mind of an adult in a moment of regression. A cloth version travels in Alyaa’s handbag and does cameo photo-calls wherever her creater takes her. Little Alyaa rattles my sense of macho. I feel manipulated and irritated by her. I wish I could say I had absolutely no interest in her o-so-cute-girlie-on-valentine-card-addressed-to-self sentiments. But I can’t resist the pull of her charm, the more so with following her on Facebook. I come to realise that Little Alyaa is a very articulate little miss. She is brilliantly characterised and presented. She has, inevitably, a huge, and not entirely female, following. Just as Alyaa Kamel’s people speak of world events, Little Alyaa speaks to Big Alyaa’s friends and admirers. And just to tighten the saccharine screws, Little Alyaa sometimes shares a Facebook post with a teddy bear. The text is more revealing still….. ‪#‎givemebackmylife‬ ‪#‎life‬ ‪#‎teddyismine‬ ‪#‎teddybear‬ ‪#‎IamwhoIam‬ ‪#‎identity‬ ‪#‎innocence‬ ‪#‎childhood‬ ‪#‎mylife‬ ‪#‎live‬ ‪#‎alive‬ ‪#‎art‬ ‪#‎alyaakamel‬ ‪#‎contemporaryart‬ ‪#‎design‬ ‪#‎decoration‬ ‪#‎illustration‬ ‪#‎drawing‬ ‪#‎fineart‬

I admire Alyaa’s eclectic work and enjoy her unrelenting use of Facebook. However, her hashtag word clouds represent much more than a strategy of promotion and sales. They serve to bare her soul and simultaneously act as gaping virtual look-at-me dragnets that communicate with and capture a wide variety of other emotional and creative fish. But the question of “why” remains. A generous answer is that this behaviour signals a talented painter of the twenty-first century using social media unashamedly to promote her work by expressing her fears, hopes, longings and aspirations to as wide an audience as possible. A less generous answer is that she has a compulsion to put herself “out there” on social media. Perhaps the real answer lies somewhere in between. My attempt at analysis of Alyaa Kamel’s Facebook activity stops here. I just love it. #hugrobin #robinneedsabeer

The Ecstasy and the Agony of Paulo Tercio

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Paulo Tercio 1Paulo Tercio contacted Talking Beautiful Stuff to tell us of his admiration of Ana Maria Pacheco. Like her, he trained at London’s Slade (albeit a couple of decades later.) Like her, he creates beautiful stuff that hunts around themes of spirituality, suffering and torment. The first line of his website reads “Paulo Tercio was born into a devout catholic family. His foetus was gestated inside a jackfruit. When his soul entered his body he experienced his first ecstasy…..”

 

And here it is! Paulo’s painting that depicts what he describes as the single most important moment in his life.

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Paulo Tercio “The Ecstasy of Paulo Tercio” 2012 Oil on linen, 60cm x 45cm

The image is innocent, earthy, nourishing, fecund and more than a little intriguing. Why the seedy head? Why the eye in the foetal belly?

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Paulo Tercio “Virgin and Child of St Andrews Fulham” 2013 Oil on linen, 75cm x 60cm

In 2013, Paulo won a commission for a permanent alter piece at St. Andrew’s Church, Fulham. This fabulous work shows the virgin sporting an exquisite orchid and the child whose halo has yet to reach its full iridescence; he casts a sideways, quizzical glance at his mother as if he already knew what life held in store for him. The scene seems to be watched over by two larger and darker forces.

Fascinated by what I find on-line, Paulo and I strike up an email exchange. Why does he works on religious themes? He replies “I believe that, in all major faiths, religious art functions by creating emblems of hope. It has the responsibility to help society in these troubled times.” What inspires him? “My inspiration comes mostly from within. I believe artists should undergo training only to develop their technical skills.” I ask about influences unaware of where this would take me. He begins “Many people have influenced my life including philosophers, spiritual leaders, artists, designers and musicians. Concerning my artworks, I believe spirits of other artists play a huge role in shaping them.” More of his story unfurls. The lines between painting and persona blur.

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Paulo Tercio “Collapse of the Ego” 2013 Oil on linen 75cm x 60cm

Paulo says that some of his artworks are transformations of his own suffering. “Collapse of the Ego” is intensely dark, desparate, mysterious and screams in agony. Just read this! “I had a major breakdown a few years ago and I thought life was at an end for me. From working as a manager of a prestigious hotel in London, I ended up in the streets. I was completely broken. I fitted nowhere. Death was my destiny. I gave most of my material possessions, including my own bed, to the homeless. During this time I painted ‘Collapse of the Ego.’ Looking back, I experienced a simultaneous spiritual, physical and mental death. This realisation became apparent a few weeks ago when starting a new painting to be called ‘Metamorphosis & Resurrection.’ I am still living the metamorphic stage: a human being in transformation. My resurrection will be the next stage in my life when as a transformed being I will be able to live life as a newborn.”

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Paulo Tercio “Plethora of Emotions II” 2014 Oil on gessoed linen 75cm x 60cm

“Plethora of Emotions II” is a beautifully executed but harrowing painting in which mental suffering yells. It has been selected for the “Dreams” exhibition to take place at the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham (curated by City Arts in partnership with University of Nottingham.) This exhibition will explore the interaction between creativity and mental health. Paulo believes the spirit is intrinsically connected with the mind and that one’s well-being depends on both. He sees his participation in this exhibition as contributing to society more widely. He tells me that with this painting he is attempting to purge the mix of anger, revenge, despair, corruption, guilt and fragmentation that he feels growing inside him. I dig a little deeper and ask him about the source of these feelings. Ready for his reply? “My upbringing ruined my emotional structure. I grew up in a family poisoned by domestic violence. Parenting was abusive and alcoholic. I experienced loneliness, homophobic bullying, persecution, sex abuse, homelessness, and poverty. I felt desolate. Self-loathing and isolation were my main sources of escape as any attempts at artistic expression were met with contempt. ‘Plethora of Emotions II’ portrays a human being overpowered by collective emotions. Despite all this my religious roots, if anything, made me a more compassionate and humble person.”

So, Paulo, thank you for letting us see into your creative universe. And thank you for telling us about your ecstasy and for sharing your agony. I am sure all the readers of Talking Beautiful Stuff wish you well.

Talking Beautiful Stuff thanks Paulo for his permission to publish extracts from his email exchange with Robin. Portrait photo of Paulo Tercio ©  BvB Universe