Popular Posts

Thursday 5 April 2012

Jake - art student extraordinary



A gifted draughtsman - when he drew,
though Primitive with paint.
Irreconcilable, these two:
a mystery to me.

A lack of confidence, perhaps - the lack
that drove him scavaging the bins
for anyone's rejected work.
Before his time, perhaps: recycling them!

I heard it said some twenty artists
gave him his degree,
but I am sure he would have scored
more highly on his own.

He played trombone with a small group,
his first love being jazz - but was prepared
to slum it on the odd occasion
with blasts of modern pop.

He wrote the most exquisite poems,
delicate and subtle, full of quiet joy -
and published Dirtier than God is -
privately - a porno magazine.

He gave amazing readings:
poems, mostly on his art -
and always took the art along
and flogged it at the door.

(Even when it was not his to sell.)

12 comments:

Windsmoke. said...

Definitely a talent gone to waste :-).

Cloudia said...

Yourself? Some version thereof?

Me too-



Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral

><}}(°>

Mary said...

Definitely a very enterprising chap!! Wonder what came of him as years went on.

Sujoy Ghosh said...

Jake reminds me of a lot of people (myself included).

Anonymous said...

Ha. A wonderful portrait! I am very curious about this guy with his porn and purloined art! (And I'm laughing though, of course, there's a part that's somewhat serious.) Thanks for that. K.

Jim Murdoch said...

A delightful portrait this. I have never been a free spirit like this but, oh, I used to dream of it and I suppose I still do but we are who we are. I loved Technical Drawing at school. I was top of the year, leaps and bounds past my nearest rival and I walked straight into a job in an architect’s the day after my schooling finished. But I am no use freehand. I can manage a simple cartoon character and that’s about my limit. Even when I started painting I’d use my technical drawing skills to lay out the work which I then basically coloured in.

Brian Miller said...

ha nice character sketch and def seems like an interesting one to get to know...i like hanging out with artists they def have a different view...and way of life...

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

...scavaging the bins...this portrait reminds me of someone like a sort of Allen Ginsberg.

Daydreamertoo said...

He sounds like a cheeky, clever little sod to me LOL

Janine Bollée said...

Bin-diving at its most creative :-)
We all want to know more about this chap now. Sequel or even a prequel will do.

Dave King said...

Windsmoke
Not sure what happened to him, so can't actually say the talent went to waste.

Clousia
Definitely not. I am no draughtsman and have no musical ability other than appreciation. He was - hopefully still is - a much more gited artist than myself.

Mary
I too wonder that. Intriguing. I would have expected to read about him somewhere sometime.

Sujoy
Yes, I'd have to go along with that. Thanks for the comment.

manicddaily
Yes, he was a real mixture. Most folk found a lot of good in him, most found some bad, a few were influenced by a touch of jealousy I used to think.

Jim
Thanks, and yes, know what you mean. I used to envy, not so much his aesthetic gifts, as hisdevil-may-care attitude.

Brian
Yes indeed, they do tend to be different - which I guess is the same as saying they are interesting.

Tommaso
Spot on, I would say.

Daydreamer too
Absolutely!

aprille
I'll have a think, see if I can come up with more! Thanks for the thought.

Dulcina said...

Interesting portrait of this strange artist who played both extremes in literature and music: from jazz to pop, from delicate poems to private porno, mamma mia!
A mystery to me as well.
:)