On the streets, you might call them strange, half-light or even crazy. But those in the know say that Dr. Harrell Magnus and Michael Gordon are the furthest thing from crazy, in fact they are two of Belize's most important artists. And tonight, for the first time, art aficionados will see them together. They've put together a show at the Image Factory called Detritus. What does that mean? The man called Magnus explained.
Magnus,
“Detritus is a Latin term. It has to do with pieces of everything coming together, sometimes referred to masterly as flotsam and that sort of thing. My idea is of course to utilize indigenous material, that's that I find.”
And that’s what Magnus and Michael Gordon have put together, broken parts that they have made into art that is inventive, fresh and fearless. Magnus says the objects speaks to him.
Magnus,
“When I say these things, the people get all bit funny with me, in fact they look at me rather strangely as well. But the items that I pick up, I don’t select them; the item itself speaks to me. It says take me with you, in so many terms, it might say it in another way, I could help you, whatever. I actually communicates with these materials.”
At 82 years old, and 70 of those years creating art, it’s not hard to conclude that Magnus does have a special relationship with the muse.
Magnus,
“I go stronger, not weaker. The idea that I’ve reached the age of 82, that sounds like antiquity to many people and indeed the figure is rather larger but nevertheless, what is important is the fact that everything that I do is reinvigorating me. Extending my life, not taking anything from me, giving me more than perhaps I even deserve. This is what has to be thought of, how can you work effectively in an economically sound and positive manner to change the lives of people who need it most with the least financial effort involved."
And form the world of Magnus to the alternate reality of Michael Gordon. His
exhibit space is the only place that you’ll see Queen Elizabeth, before and after, Jesus Christ, Bunny Wailer, Rita Marley, and a sculpture of Osama Bin Laden juxtaposed against each other. Or you can also see the Taiwanese Embassy, a can of Grace shrimp and the Museum of Belize---one on top of the other. And even though his portraits of famous places and people have shown around the world, from Mexico to Madrid, Gordon insists he’s not famous.
Jules Vasquez,
Everyone who sees Michael Gordon knows you are the artist.
Michael Gordon,
“Would like to know but then to be famous you have to have yourself to be because then advertisement isn’t fame. Fame is your space of due, you hold a quality going and your things can be given back to as a value of something important. That is what fame is.”
Jules Vasquez,
But I am saying you have that, everyone knows Michael Gordon’s paintings.
Michael Gordon,
“That’s not fame, fame is winning because then giving somebody fame you have to make them win.”
And maybe it’s because he isn’t satisfied that he has one that drives Michael Gordon everyday to create so compulsively. So even as fame eludes him and he eludes it, Michael Gordon is the most prolific artists we’ve ever seen...he does everything, paint, sculpture, theory, crafts...he told us why he must make some piece of art every day.
Michael Gordon,
“You see Jules, the kind of things you do for a living, if you don’t have a boss, you have to make sure you can make a boss be out of your everyday living or else you can’t have a daily bread, especially within arts and craft.”
And that’s what these highly original and artists have done, they are boldly going to a place that most have left behind.
Magnus,
“This is a simplistic kind of primeval art where man once again associates with materials, the resources, his environment, where away from that it is all about the computers, all about this and that but what about the other things that make us whole.”
A question to which the art in this show gives decisive affirmation.
For those who'd like to see it in person, the show opens at 7:00 pm at the Image Factory and admission is free.
