Title: East St. Louis Buddha-loo: portrait of Duke Ellington
Material: oil on canvas
Size: 60×48
Year: 2013
I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. — Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington’s outsized inspiration and productivity are described here with rivers of fire and water radiating to and/or from his head in dialog with the universe, I guess. The Duke’s konked hair is highlighted to suggest piano keys and to also resemble the Art Deco graphics found on vintage jazz sheet music, though he’s more the elder statesman here. Duke wears a choir robe to remind us of the early, sacred musical workout so many black (and white) musicians received. The face on the pencil is lighthearted sport, and also a nod to the cartoons of Max Fleischer, whose art often involved the animation of inanimate objects. His soundtracks almost always included early jazz.
Anyone who has spent any time in grade school music class (or a brothel) can recognize the back of an upright piano. Music teachers can see right through an upright piano, was my take-away from music class. Another was that my music teacher didn’t care how well I could draw – music class was for music, not doodling. The title riffs on Ellington’s song “East St. Louis Toodle-oo”.
Was Duke a buddha? Or maybe a boddhisatva? In a sense, perhaps, but talking sense is not my job. The answer is, I don’t know. Maybe we can ask the music teacher when she’s in a better mood.