Bill Barrell as The Walking Man at the Sun Gallery, Provincetown

I met Red in 1958. He had come to Provincetown for the summer and Irene Baker, my wife at that time, had known the girl he brought up with him, Sylvia Small. Red and I hooked up right off the bat.

I remember he had a subterranean studio in a water front building. It was dark, lit by one low watt bulb hanging from the ceiling. Red was working as a dishwasher and his paintings were of him washing dishes. The dishes were flying through the air as if he were juggling them. The colours were muddy.

Bob Thompson, Emilio Cruz, Bob Beauchamp, Salina Trieff and Bob Henry were also in town and I was drawn to this group as the figure was becoming important in my work and offered an alternative to abstract art.

Red Grooms began showing at the Sun Gallery which was run by Val and Yvonne Anderson - a young couple, she a painter, he a poet. I was intrigued by their work. Val wrote poems on the wall or windows in large script. Yvonne did constructions of buses and people in a paper mache manner painted with enamel paint. They were a great relief from the endless array of abstract art that filled all the galleries at the time. It was all dark and mysterious.

Red was building his Happening “The Walking Man” and I dearly wanted to be part of it. But he had the four people he needed. Val “The Walking Man” Sylvia the witch, Yvonne the beggar and Red as the Pasty man. I was feeling left out. It got close to opening day and Val got cold feet. Red asked me to replace him, I was elated. It was a great experience and one I knew was historic.

Another time, Red was putting together a Happening called “Magic Train” and I went to see it. It was great, the set was so alive. There was a great hoopla with the station master blowing whistles and the train raring to leave. I was so into it – it was very real to me and that train was about to leave without me. I leaped from my seat, ran up on the stage and hopped on the train. Later I asked Red if he was upset by what I had done. He said “Hell no. It proved my point and that he wished more of the audience had done the same.”

When Red came to Provincetown I helped find him an apartment. We would have dinner there and he was all for drawing on the walls in India ink. Red drew a train that ran all around the baseboards. When he left that apartment I had another friend who needed a place. I took him to Red’s old place with the landlord complaining how Red had wrecked the place. I said not to worry that it could be in a museum some day and my friend said how much he liked the decorations. On the floor were two of Red’s ink drawings. I picked them up and have them hanging in my loft. They are both quintessential Grooms. Both have men in top hats representing “The Walking Man”.

When I took over the Sun Gallery and continued in the same vein, I did my own happening called “Crash Party” and showed Ken Jacobs movies and did things like being the first to give Claus Oldenberg a show.

So, to see this period revisited gives me great pleasure. I feel this is the beginning of a closer look at what went on in that period. It was a time that got somewhat overlooked due to Pop, Op, and Color Field, but there is a treasure trove of work from that era that needs to be discovered.

Let the art historians start to dig.

http://www.mcall.com/travel/mc-bill-barrell-20111231,0,1750881.story

Lester Lanmen, Walter Chrysler, Junky Fleishman, Hudson Walker…. these were the collectors in the sixties. They enjoyed going to artists’ studios and rummaging around for work. Some of them even haggled. They were all adventurous.

In 1966, I had a gallery in the depths of the Lower Eastside. The location didn’t deter them from visiting, even though one would have to climb over drunks and drug addicts to get into the building. One time, Hudson Walker came down, bought four paintings and paid me the greatest compliment I had ever had. He told me that I was the best painter to come along since Marsden Hartley. I hadn’t known at the time that he was also Hartley’s patron.

Walter Chrysler sought me out on a construction site in 1957, wanting to see my work. I took him to a garage that a friendly Portuguese guy let me store my work. Chrysler looked through the work and bought three pieces. I was ecstatic. I had only been painting for one year. I didn’t even know who he was. He had just introduced himself as Walter. He later went on to become an avid collector of my work.

I have a friend who was visited  by a big time collector called Murchason. This collector was notorious for haggling. He would make it look as if he was about to buy the whole studio so the prices would come down. Then he would switch and only buy one or two for the discounted price that he would have got for fifty paintings. My friend, who had a short fuse, kicked him out. I never dealt with him.

Those adventurous collectors do not seem to be around anymore. I think that they miss a tremendous chance to see how the work is created and to meet the artist on his or her stomping ground. I think most collecting is now done through the galleries. Also those guys who went to the source were shrewd; they managed to get a better price. There was no commission.

Those were the good old days, truly bohemian. What goes around comes around – maybe adventurous types will resurface. There is certainly a mass of people out there with the means to start collections and have the fun of not only enjoying the art, but watching the artist grow.

Attempt at Flying, 52" x 72", 1980

I am sure flying is a common dream among dreamers. In this particular dream, I had the handle of a lawn mower in my hands. All I had to do was hold it out in front of me with both hands and then turn the handle back towards me. Up I would go at great speed reaching great heights. I would look down and see my brother and then zoom down to surprise him.

I have had this flying dream quite often. In one dream I was way up above the Empire State Building when I thought to take a good look at what I was holding. A wooden handle!! How could a wooden handle take me to such great heights and places? The minute I had that thought, I plummeted earthward. At about twenty feet off the ground, I turned the handle heavenward and the power came back on! What a relief! Up I went, my confidence was back. I continued zooming around town but had become aware that if I doubted the power of the handle I would lose the ability to fly.

How would a shrink interpret this? Well, I think it is quite simple. Don’t lose faith in one’s self. However, I am also sure that a shrink could make much more of this. The heights – the falling – the buildings – my brother – the handle. Who knows, it could be all kinds of stuff.

So anyway,  I did this painting of my flying dream expressing my hopes and fears. In my painting, I have sprouted wings that perhaps act like a parachute in case my flying handle fails me again.  Of course, like the Wright Brothers knew, flying carries the risk of crashing, but it’s worth it.

I have not had a flying dream in a while. Maybe this blog will bring one on.

Have you had any dreams where you can fly? Has it inspired you?

Bill Barrell gives remarks at the opening of his show "Full Circle" at PAAM.

 …. I have a show in Provincetown, Massachusetts that begins this week at the PAAM (The Provincetown Art Association & Museum).  The show is titled “Full Circle”.  

Why? Becasue Provincetown is where my life as an artist began. In the summer of 1956, at the age of  just 24 years old, I had the feeling there was something special I was meant to do but I could not figure out just what it was.When I arrived in Provincetown, I was made aware of not just art, but artists and a way of life that an artist led. Bingo! It all came together for me. I knew exactly what that special something was that I wanted to do. I wanted to be an artist.

There were no obstacles to cross and nobody I had to ask for permission. I was an artist from that moment on. I saw things in a different light and understood things that had puzzled me all my life. It opened not only my mind and a way of seeing and thinking, it also broke down barriers that had stunted me all my life.

I met people I would never have met before - collectors like Walter Chrysler and Hudson Walker, artists like Bob Beauchamp, Red Grooms, Hans Hoffman, Bob Thompson, Myron Stout, Tony Vevers, Yan Muller, Franz Kline and many more. People of all classes give artists respect. There is a mystique about the life they live and how they dare to challenge old ideas and venture into new domains.

It is a difficult path to take and is not for the faint of heart or for those who see it as a way of earning a living. I knew from the first brush stroke it was going to be a long and often disheartening journey. But with fire in the belly there is nothing that cannot be overcome. Money is one of the biggest obstacles – without it there are problems. If you want to marry and raise a family one has to make a few sacrifices. I have stinted on clothes, food and rentals but never on material for my work.

The work in this show is the tip of an iceberg of all that I have painted. It was hard deciding just what to put in the show. With the help of Robert Henry and my wife, Marilyn, as well as my sister-in-law, Susan, I was able to get it together. I hope you get to see the show. (Opening Friday, May 27th)

The opening day is Friday, May 27th, 8-10 pm! Hope to see you there.