Over the holidays, I watched the documentary BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, which highlighted a group of artists that were friends, emerged at the same time period, and came out of a tradition of skateboarding meets tagging, meets happening, meets comic book, meets cartoon, meets folk art, meets mural.
I had always admired the artist Margaret Kilgallen but was reminded of her brilliance by this film. She was a central part of this group until her untimely death from breast cancer only three weeks after she gave birth to her and husband, Barry McGee’s daughter. One can only imagine the power her work would have achieved had she been able to continue making it. As it is, I find the work to be very powerful, inspiring, and individual and often think about her sense of scale when I think about my work and impacting a space.
I marvel at the artists that have only a small window of opportunity to make their mark. Think – Margaret Kilgallen . . . Felix Gonzalez Torres, Yves Klein . . . and the sheer force of the work that can be created in their time on this earth.
Writing this on new year’s day, pensive about the meaning of it all, I can’t help but be touched by this art and want to publicly honor the voice of the artist who could only sing for a short time.
D.
love! add Eric Revillious to the list of talented lives, cut short!!
xx
ab
Posted by: Alex Bates | January 10, 2010 at 07:53 AM
you are so RIGHT!
D.
Posted by: david stark | January 10, 2010 at 09:50 AM