If you're going to film an artist, a bass guitarist is probably a better choice than a short story writer, audio-visually speaking, and thanks to filmmaker Luanne Bole-Becker's artful direction and subject musician/painter Rowland Salley's wonderful original score, this engaging profile is always easy on the eyes and ears. After hearing Chris Isaak at a 1993 concert, Becker found herself "inexplicably drawn" to the band's bass guitarist Rowland Salley, with whom she later corresponded, asking him about his influences, creative decisions and how he balances his twin vocations--music and painting. The letters became the basis for this film, in which Salley is seen playing, painting, and casually expounding on the forces which drive him in his work and art. Whether Salley is simply confessing that his love of painting stems purely from a love of color, or offering a more poetic take on, say, a really good gig ("there's no split between the crowd and the band; we all add up to the night"), this sort of MTV-with-brains portrait of the artist as a wandering minstrel and watercolorist is nicely done. Recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (R. Pitman)
Why the Artist Creates
(1998) 24 min. $49. BB Sound & Light. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 0-9654560-4-8. Vol. 14, Issue 3
Why the Artist Creates
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