Press
An international publication dedicated to all arts and cultures
* * APRIL~MAY~JULY FEATURED ARTISTS * *
S.A. Griffin and Diana Bonebrake
www.luciolepress.com/Diana
* * MARCH FEATURED ARTIST * * Exene has a show coming up in May at the http://www.dcktcontemporary.com What would seem to be an uncomfortable topic is actually a great opportunity to talk * * JANUARY FEATURED ARTIST * * Jim Herrington. You may not know his name but you’ve seen his photographs. For thirty years Jim Herrington has been taking pictures, and he just completed a I put a few questions to Jim. Michael Cano: Portrait of the Painter Cano, born in
Exene Cervenka
Diana Bonebrake and Exene Cervenka
GOOD MORNING MIDNIGHT: The art of EXENE CERVENKA
I've known Exene Cervenka for almost thirty years. We met in the late ‘70s underground
music scene when she became a lyricist and vocalist for the band X (for the sake of full
disclosure my husband is the drummer for the band).
Exene is a thoroughly creative being. She moves through life always writing something down,
taking notes, collecting found art, sketching, photographing, listening to music, and thinking
about lyrics and language. Creating visual works of art comes as naturally to her as
commanding the stage in performance. And she has the uncanny ability to devote her artistry
and concentration completely to every project she takes on. The unique results are available to
everyone-- in collage and on canvas, in text, poetry, on film, and in music.
York City.
X begins its “13X31” Anniversary tour this month on March 13th at the
House of Blues.
I asked Exene a few questions about the process of making visual art:
Q: You were a poet before you were a singer. Were you also painting/drawing/working
in the visual arts back then?
A: I was always doing art and writing. I didn't start singing until 1976. I find art to be
the greatest blessing in my life.
Q: I know that for years you have worked in mixed-media journals that you carried
everywhere. Do you use the journals to come up with concepts for your art pieces?
A: The journals I write and draw in are their own little art pieces. I do use them for poems
and songs to perform. The art stays in the books. Unless I really like somebody and I tear
out a page and give it away.
Q: I have poet and artist friends who listen to music when they write, others who need
complete silence. Do you listen to music, or have the television on when you work?
A: I always listen to music when I write and do art. Collages lend themselves easily to that
since unlike painting a picture, there is an anywhere goes kind of flow. So Motorhead one
minute, gospel the next. You end up with Jesus and the ace of spades in one piece!
Q: Everything you create is unique, from your vocals to your handwriting style. Working
in visual arts seems like a natural thing for you. But do you find that creating a piece of art
is a process quite different from writing a song, or a poem?
A: Oh it's all different and it's all the same. Born out of pain or joy, realized partially by a
lucky scrap of paper that's just the right color or a word you overhear in a restaurant for
the rhyme to a chorus.
www.xtheband.com
www.exenecervenka.com
* * FEBRUARY FEATURED ARTIST * *
GIRLS ROCK! THE MOVIE
By Diana Bonebrake
What happens to girls ages 8-18 when their worlds collide with the likes of
Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill, and LeTigre? Girls Rock! “Girls Rock! The Movie”
(opening March 7 in selected theaters) is an empowering viewing experience for
little girls, but it should touch anyone who has ever felt shy, awkward, left out,
and invisible. This documentary film follows girl campers through an intensive week
of rock and roll training. They learn to play drums, keyboards, bass and guitar; they
learn to sing in a microphone; they learn how to form, write for, and play, in their
own bands. But Rock and Roll Camp is not about turning little girls into rock and roll
product. If you’d like to dismiss the concept of teaching girls to rock as trite or corny,
you need to see this film. After all, this is a camp for children. But the music is
really just a medium for campers to discover that they are more than appropriate,
mannered, pretty, dressed right, or overweight, repugnant, ugly, and plain. The
counselors teach the campers to handle their instruments, but they also gently guide
the girls to collaborate, face their self-doubts, and assert themselves. Girls
are encouraged to express themselves and editorialize. They fight; they grow weary
and give up; and they get past their differences, both personal and musical, to
accomplish playing in front of an audience of about 700 people on the last night
of the week-long camp. We meet Laura, a bright, warm, and self-loathing Korean
adoptee from Oklahoma who loves death metal and bunnies; Misty, who has been
shuffled around from foster home to group home and back again because of her
parents’ problems with drugs and mental illness (Misty herself has also tackled
methamphetamine addiction and gang life); Palace, a little 7-year-old with an old
soul, divorced parents, and a baby brother who has Down’s Syndrome; and Amelia,
a youthful iconoclast who writes songs about her dog loaded with feedback and
accidental polyrhythm. Interviews with camp personnel reveal women who care
about these little girls because they identify with them. Most of the staff are active
musicians, and all of them have fought for their individuality, to be respected as they
are, without makeup, plastic surgery, minimal clothing, or for that matter, a male
appendage, in a milieu which is notorious for its sexism and objectification of
women both on stage and behind the scenes. And the counselors rock too. They
play sets for the campers (a number of the instructors are recognizable from
female-dominated bands, including Sleater Kinney), hold sit-down discussions in which
the campers can safely express their frustrations and learn how to cooperate and
get past their difficulties with each other, and encourage the girls to focus on the
intrinsic value of their own heads and hearts. They even teach a class on
self-defense. But they never patronize the girls, or foist expectations on them; they
want these campers to experience the power gained from letting go of preconceptions
and self-doubt. They acknowledge the girls as real and complex young people and
connect with them on their own terms, sometimes struggling to keep the groups
cohesive and focused. In the end, it isn’t how well each band performs, but the fact
that they can and do play their own songs and express themselves before a rather
large, live audience. Animator and Motion Graphics artist Liz Canning contributes
animated illustrations, film clips, and visuals of factoids depicting the sobering realities
of being a girl in American society today (and I was glad to see the sources of this
information listed in the end credits of the film).
Producer/Co-Director Arne Johnson and Co-Director/Cinematographer Shane King
address what is still for most of us an unfortunately obvious question on the
“Girls Rock! The Movie” website:
“The first thing we are usually asked at screenings are: ‘Why did two guys get
interested in this subject?’
about the journey that led us to this film. The first, and simplest answer, is that we
are huge Sleater Kinney fans, and one day we went to go see Carrie Brownstein
(guitarist/singer in SK) speak at an event with the artist Yoshitomo Nara, and she
talked about how inspiring the camp was. We called the rock camp, and the rest
is history. But the real story is a little more involved. The camp, understandably, was
suspicious and wary. We had to do quite a bit of persuading that we weren’t trying
to turn the camp into American Idol. And in the process of persuading, we did a lot
of listening, and discovered that the camp was about so much more than just kids
with guitars. We heard about transformations; girls who looked to the camp as a
lifeboat in the swirling seas of conformity, pressure; and bands of twelve-year-old
girls that by the mere act of playing made grown men cry. And in that process, we
forgot that we were just men, and started learning how to be better human beings.
And in a strange twist, we started to see the fact that we were men making the film
not as a hindrance, but as strength. The film would almost be the charting of our
experience (though we never appear in the film, of course) of having our eyes opened,
and we hope that perhaps that urgency, that sense of sad but also inspiring discovery,
will transmit itself through the film. And so we embrace these questions about being
men making this movie, because it gives us an excuse to talk in ways that men don’t
usually. This movie was supposed to be about the transformation of these wonderful
girls, but in many ways it became about our transformation too.”
Since this camping session was filmed in 2005, Rock and Roll camps for girls have
been formed throughout the
The Girls Rock Camp Alliance lists their core values as follows :
We value the power of music as a means to create personal and social change;
We value efforts that actively expand opportunities for girls and women;
We value positive approaches to fighting sexism;
We value integrity, honesty and respect;
We value appropriate sharing of resources, cooperation, and collaboration;
We value using our collective voice to further our mission;
We value diversity.
www.girlsrockthemovie.com
http://www.girlsrockcamp.org/supporters/grca 
all rights reserved
Jim Herrington, photographer
Herrington has worked for dozens of major American magazines (Rolling Stone,
Esquire, GQ, National Geographic Magazine, Vanity Fair, etc.); virtually every major
record label; numerous publishing houses, advertising agencies, and private
companies. You might remember seeing his iconic portrait of Merle Haggard, taken
in 2000
wheel of a car in
mid-nineties.
retrospective show in his hometown of
is. He travels all over the place. His work is both sensuous and gritty. His portraits of
musicians recall the great studio shots of the stars taken in the 30’s and 40’s--
but without the soft focus, retouches, or smoke and mirrors. These are pictures of
real people, pictures that vibrate with life. And his startling photos of places and
things he has discovered during his travels are, well, strange, and most fascinating.
They are both personal and timeless. Myself, I think of Herrington’s work as fine art.
Artists/photographers that inform your work?
That's a long list. When I was REALLY young, I liked looking at our family's
Encyclopedia Britannica, an old 50’s edition. I'm guessing that a lot of the photographs
were probably file photos from the 40’s... The photos of
some guy operating an Icelandic warp-weighted loom... anything... they were all
interesting to me, because I was in podunk Salisbury, NC, and I could already guess
that there was a big ‘ol world out there. So anything with a story behind it I was
interested in. Then, when I was still young, my dad had a collection of old Life
Magazines, from the 30’s and 40’s. It was years later before I realized those photos
were taken by the likes of Walker Evans and Margaret Bourke-White, but I used to
leaf through those magazines and dream. It started dawning on me that someone was
taking these photos... getting hired to travel around the world and bring back stories,
or evidence, of other people and places. It got me thinking that one day I would like
to do that. I also watched a lot of old movies and I loved the look of them...
John Huston movies (although I was just watching for Bogart at that age), James
Cagney, Marx Bros. movies... all of it. Then, when I was a little older, I found out
that you could go to the public library and have them screen old 16mm movies for
you... You went into a closet, kind of like a peep show booth, and you sat there
alone with the sound of the projector almost drowning out the actual audio of the
movie... That's where I watched my first Luis Buñuel movie, and it was years before
I found anyone to talk about it with.
But... you asked about photographers, so I could list many that I've liked, or like.
Diane Arbus, Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, Avedon, Penn, William
Klein, Carleton Watkins, Gustave Le Gray, Emmet Gowin, WeeGee, Helen Levitt,
Cartier-Bresson, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Brassai, John Deakin...
and tons more. And, as inspiring to me, sometimes more so, are just the old amateur
snapshots you find in granny's attic or at a yard sale.
How many years did it take you to develop what you feel is your own distinct style?
That's a good question, because I think, if anything, I've developed an anti-style;
or at least I think so. When I was young I tried to experiment and be really different,
for the sake of just trying new things and trying to develop a look that was unique
and set me apart... But I think, or hope anyway, that I've managed to be less
self-conscious through the years and become much more concerned with WHAT
I was photographing, rather than gussy up a photo that wasn't there to begin with.
It sounds like a typical question, but one of the things I love about your work is
that it is so gorgeous and gritty at the same time.
Do you set up shoots or carry a camera with you?
I've done, and do both. Left to my own devices, I'd rather, and usually do, show
up with a very small and basic set-up: A camera and some film.
But, aside from my personal work, and the music and editorial work that I do, I also
take advertising jobs to keep the coffers topped off. And with those kinds of jobs,
everything is fair game; meaning, elaborate lighting and major set-ups sometimes.
More often than not, though, I usually get hired from the strength of work I've
already done, which is the more simple set-up stuff.
Jim Herrington is at JimHerrington.com.
http://www.myspace.com/jimherrington 
Jim Herrington.
all rights reserved 
* * DECEMBER FEATURED ARTIST * *
by Diana Bonebrake
Michael Cano’s work is bright, vivid, and loaded with emotion. Cano creates
paintings-- both realistic and abstract-- that honor his subjects with strong colors
and direct, forceful compositions. His portraits resonate with emotion, and there is
an elegance and honesty in their presentation that is deceptively simple.
classically trained artist. But his paintings have something of an outlaw quality to
them-- an outsider’s sensibility that is never feigned or forced. As a native Californian,
Cano references
artists, and personalities. His focus as of late has been on portrait work. While
extremely modern in style, Cano’s work lacks the otherworldly self-indulgence of the
current crop of young
and drawings results in respectful and deeply moving-- and sometimes disturbing--
works of art.
I asked the artist a few pointed questions, and he responded in his typical heartfelt
manner:
Who and/or what exposed you to art and painting as a kid?
I don’t remember seeing a lot of painting as I was growing up, but I can clearly recall
watching my mother as she gave me tips on coloring, how to shade, how to blend,
going from dark to light. In particular, I remember my mom drawing and then coloring
a mouse wearing a turban, and I was in awe of it. Right then and there, I decided to
learn how to draw and color at least as well as my ma. As I grew, my artistic interests
manifested themselves in my obsessions with animated cartoons and superhero comic
books, especially Warner Brothers cartoons and Marvel Comics (big props to Bugs Bunny,
Daffy Duck and Spider-Man). I would draw continually from my stacks and stacks of
comics, usually after watching as many WB cartoons as were shown on television that
day. I worked and worked on developing my particular approach to my craft throughout
my school years, sometimes at the expense, many times at the expense actually, of
my actual studies. I took art in high school all four years, where I learned how to work
in pen and ink. This culminated in my attendance at
where I studied under such outstanding professors as Mr. Dale Harvey, Mr. Jerry
Romotsky, Mr. Bill Lane, and Mr. Richard Lopez. When my time at Rio Hondo came to
its logical conclusion, I applied to and was accepted at Art Center College of Design
in
fundamentals (of) a Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration in 1992, and have continued
my studies every day of my life in one manner or another ever since.
Who are some of our favorite artists/people who inspire/inform you?
Painters: David Alfaro Siqueiros, Kathe Kollwitz, Alexander Calder, Wilfredo Lam,
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miro, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente
Orozco, many, many others.
Authors: Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, John Steinbeck, Nelson Algren,
Flannery O’Connor, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, many, many others.
Musicians: First and foremost, Joe Strummer, Mike Watt, Charles Mingus, and
Eric Dolphy.
Everybody else (and it IS an extensive and impressive list) comes in a very close
second.
What are your work habits? Do you listen to music while you paint? TV?
Paint mornings? Or anytime you can?
I can be one of the most obsessive and prolific painters who has ever lived, painting
well over one hundred paintings in a year (which I have done in several 365 day spans
before), or I can be nearly slovenly in my canvas and easel habits. I am currently in
the latter stage, after a previous two years of very intense artistic exploration and
explosion, during which I created tons of work of which I am immensely proud. I listen
to music about 30 percent of the time I am painting, especially jazz, and I watch TV
the other 70 percent. Both stimulate me in nearly equal fashions; it depends on my
mood and what I am painting. I lean towards painting at night, fairly late, so the
noises from outside are of a nocturnal nature. I can, and certainly have, painted a lot
during the day; however, I prefer evening.
Please talk about your desire to do portraits, and how this came about.
I made the conscious decision to enter the world of painting portraits, Cano-style,
after spending the first few years out of school working in a very expressionistic
approach. I came to this decision after remembering that I was the single worst,
without a doubt, painter of portraits in my graduating class. I quite simply stunk
when I was in school. I wanted to change that, so I went to work towards that aim,
towards that goal. Thus far, I am fairly pleased with my results. I am getting better
and feel that brand new things will be here soon.
Current Project(s)
Currently, I am putting together the beginnings of a new series of self-portraits.
I will be working in a genuine combination of representational and expressive, and
they will be large in scale. I am truly looking forward to this.
And I am most certainly available for commissions, just about any or all.
Contact Michael Cano at:
www.myspace.com/paintingsbycano
mcanoart@sbcglobal.net
Pablo Picasso, by Michael Cano
Cano with a self-portrait
all rights reserved to respective parties
