Three Artists
by Cork Marcheschi - 10/2/2006
H. C. Westerman
In December of 1978 there was an H.C. Westerman show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Westerman had been one of my favorite artists since I first saw his work in the early ‘60s. It was the last day of the show and there was a line out the door. I was really surprised. I had never seen a line at the museum before. I inquired about the line and I was told that this line was for Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” there was no line for the Westerman show and I could go up to the gallery. The dinner party had drawn in the bridge and tunnel people to view and be titillated by the vaginal place settings.
The Westerman show had 10 to 20 people in the gallery. It was a great show and he was a great artist. I loved being able to wander about the exhibition and really see it without a crowd but I wanted the work to have a crowd.
Westerman is an artists’ artist. He is very influential and his works are all highly regarded. If you are not familiar with his work and you are interested in art of some importance that was never a flavor of the month, check him out.
The sculptures are represented in most major museums around America and a few in Europe and Japan, but Westerman is an American artist.
Beyond the work itself I have always admired his unique and extremely personal stance. Stance isn’t the correct word. Stance implies that he chooses to be a certain way, and that is not true. H.C. was the only way he could be and he made what he made because it is what he did. The work exists in the fine art world without paying it any attention. Please do not get confused with the self-indulgent and over self-referential art work that has clogged the galleries for the past 20 years (Matthew Barney comes to mind). Westerman’s work was pure because it came from a natural vision paired with wonderful skill, craftsmanship and a great sense of humor.
Joseph Cornell
Another artist of the same stature is Joseph Cornell. Cornell was of the Surrealists’ generation, older than Westerman but just as unique as an artist. Cornell made boxes–wonderfully enigmatic object poems that weren’t sticky sweet or maudlin. People have attempted to emulate his work but they have never come close. He, like Westerman, was a person in touch with a very personal vision. He never married, lived his entire life on Utopia Parkway and produced rich and beautiful mysteries in sealed environments.
The most sensitive museum showing of his work was done about 40 years ago at the Pasadena museum of art. The galleries were darkened and the only source of light came from the illuminated niches around the room. It was a perfect way to experience the work. The catalog for the show was also very thoughtful. It was about 4 inches high and 3 inches wide: very small and beautifully bound. It felt like an object more than a book. It showed true understanding of what it contained. My copy was stolen over 20 years ago and I haven’t been able to find another. The work is easy to see, like Westerman check any of the major American museums and it will be there.
Simon Rodia
For those of you who are planning a trip to Los Angeles, may I recommend a visit to Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers. Simon Rodia was an Italian tile setter living by the railroad tracks in Watts. In 1919 he started to build something on his property because he wanted to do something for America and he wanted to do something like Galileo.
He would come home from work and bring bits and pieces of leftover tile. He used only hand tools and pieces of metal that could be hand bent or wrapped, like wire coat hangers. He started constructing three towers, each built from mortar over a wire frame and incrusted with tile, sea shells, broken crockery (you see a lot of Fiestaware), ground 7Up bottles and glass electrical insulators. At different periods in his work he would inlay the date and impress the profiles of the hand tools that he used. The tallest tower reached over 100 feet. He climbed on the spider web of supports and used a window washer’s belt for safety. He worked alone because according to him, “I couldn’t ask anybody to help me because even I didn’t know what I was doing.” He worked on the towers and garden for 34 years. They give Gaudi a run for his money.
Two weeks after he was finished he gave the deed to his property to a neighbor and moved to Santa Rosa to live with relatives. By the 1960s the local artists had all discovered the site, as had the local museums. The place was falling into disrepair and the city wanted to tear it down as a dangerous nuisance. The Los Angeles County Museum and individual artists and collectors formed a group to protect the towers. The city agreed IF the towers were as strong as a 100’ building, they could stay. They set up a pull testing device with a quick release so if the towers started to fatigue they wouldn’t be hurt. But that wasn’t necessary. They made it through the test and a loud cheer went up from the local arts crowd. The Towers are now protected and part of an art center. They are located on Los Angeles City maps and you should go. Simon never returned to see his work appreciated. It really wasn’t for us, it was for him.
If you are interested in art, do yourself a favor and check this stuff out. It is the real deal. And if you can, see it in person, be in the same space with it and it will then have the potential to change you.
— Cork Marcheschi | October 12, 2006
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