True Art to Admire and a Cage Fight Lover

Hi Everyone

I would hope that art, in whichever form you prefer, is part of your life, whether it is music, theatre, ballet, opera or art itself. Just last week a world famous artist died. David Hockney left us with a wonderful collection of dazzling work which will live on and decorate walls for many years to come. A few years ago, we were on holiday in his native Yorkshire, when we visited the village of Saltaire, which has a famous and lasting story of it’s own. The huge woollen mill there has now been converted into a tourist attraction, including an art gallery. In the gallery, there was a collection of about forty examples of David’s work. What made the exhibition so interesting and almost unique is that all the work was created on his Iphone. The other painter who died a couple of weeks earlier was my friend Ray. He was a year younger than both me and David. Ray lived in a house just twenty yards from the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Game and Lolly shop where I lived. At eleven, we both went to the local high school, and while I was struggling with maths and science, among others, Ray was excelling at art. When he was sixteen, he painted four large murals which were displayed in the school entrance hall and the assembly hall for many years.  Ray then moved on to St Martin’s School of Art in London, while David Hockney was also in London at the Royal College of Art. I don’t think that they ever met, but I know that Ray was a great admirer of Hockney’s work. Ray stayed in London and for a number of years, where he had an art shop. Perhaps inevitably, we lost contact until four years ago, when I found on Facebook. In his later years, he had moved to the North East of England, but we were able to meet up twice when he came here to visit his surviving relations. It was lovely for us to relive our early years together, and we were looking forward to meeting up again this year, thanks to his partner Mark. Ray was a lovely, gentle man and will be sadly missed by his friends and family. Art, in whatever form you enjoy it, is essential for us all. One may have been famous and the other relatively unknown, but both made a great contribution to the soul of this country.

We have one of Ray’s watercolours on our wall that he gave us the last time we met him. Now it is a reminder of our friendship and his talent and vision. I have long since concluded that my epitaph will read ‘full of enthusiasm, not much talent’. The good thing is that it makes me appreciate the talented people in this world even more. It seems to me that many of the politicians in this world today will qualify to use the same epitaph as me.

This week, Barack Obama opened his Presidential centre in Chicago. Last weekend, Trump was watching his cage fighting event on the White House lawn. Putting politics aside and knowing that a President or Prime Minister in any country has a very difficult job in this turbulent world, it is impossible not to compare the two. Whether history will show either of them in a good or bad light, to me one is a man of integrity while the other put the world in turmoil and then has signed away a victory to Iran.

Just a Thought:

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

My friend is great at multitasking. He can waste time, be unproductive, and stress all at the same time. 

My friend won his first cage fight this week. The unfortunate bird never knew what hit it.

Brian