Description
Artist’s Notes:
The masked Commedia dell’arte players travel from town to town, bringing fun and excitement. Each comedian and actor has their own life with their own personal conflicts and dramas, but, onstage, they become the characters of the performance. For the townspeople, it is their chance to turn away from their everyday lives, and to be transported into an engaging world of action, comedy, and drama.
The scene is of the popular opera, Pagliacci (Clowns), by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. Act Two has begun. The interplay of light and shadow creates the scene’s atmosphere, as the warm glow from the stage spreads to envelope the entire audience. The attentive crowd excitedly watches the story unfold.
PAGLIACCI – Image History John August Swanson’s 2016 giclee edition, began with a scan from a 4″x5″ transparency of his 1987 painting of the same name. Between November 20, 2015 and January13, 2016, changes were made to this digital image, adding new sketches, adjusting the colors, and planning a new artwork. A proof of this image was printed on January 13, 2015. Swanson began a new painting on top of the proof, completing it on April 6, 2016. The new painting was digitally scanned. That digital image was further refined and proofed. The final image, approved for the giclee edition was completed on July 27, 2016. Kolibri Art Studio printed the first batch of giclees in Spetember, 2016. Swanson inspected each print, approving and hand-signing them on September 12, 2016.
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1987 Acrylic Painting |
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Sketchbook Drawing |
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PAGLIACCI Reflections
See below for a collection of observations, thoughts, and ideas on, or relating to, Pagliacci. |
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Lyrics by Sam Lewis |
Life is a play and we all play a part |
Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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Ched Myers |
“The emancipatory spirit that lives within Carnival comes from its transgressive energy that is always
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Carnival De Resistance |
In 2015, I participated in a conference arranged by Ched Myers and the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. The Carnival de Resistance performed several times and reminded me of the ancient roots theater has in human community and the ways it has been used to bring people together. |
Franco Zeffirelli’s |
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Ken Feit |
“According to the ancient conventions of make-up, when a clown ‘puts on whiteface’ something magical happens, like the magic of Eucharistic prayer… the clown is ageless, being neither old nor young but transcending time… belongs to no race or cultural grouping… on the edge of all societies, defying containment by law, mores and reason. The whiteface by masking the clown in anonymity unmasks his true identity and permits him to reveal himself as never before…” |
Luis Valdez Founder of El Teatro Campesino |
The Teatro Campesino is a very important group. When I was part of the United Farm Workers movement, I attended many of their productions. They were fun, informative, and helped to raise our consciousness. What especially inspired me was the way they reached out to communities that never had a chance to see theater and the way they adapted the theater to the lives of people who harvest California’s crops, in the small towns surrounding our agricultural centers. |
Ariane Mnouchkine |
I saw this film many years ago and it made a lasting impression on my mind about the connection of modern theater with the past. Moliere wrote in the 17th century, but you could see the same excitement and joy the villagers would have for his theater troupe that we still experience. |
Theatre du Soleil |
I remember seeing the Theatre du Soleil at Paramount Studios in Hollywood during the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984. They were a major attraction for the Olympic Arts Festival, but I was fortunate to see several of their performances of Shakespearean plays. I have never forgotten the visual impact it had on me and the excitement of the audience. Even though the plays were performed in French with no translations, each one was a wonderful spectacle. At their theater in Paris, they perform in a converted armory building, and create shows using acting techniques, costumes, masks, musical instruments, and other elements from all theater cultures around the world. This performance of the ancient Greek play, Agamemnon, is an example of the brilliant spectacles that they create. The Theatre du Soleil formed by Ariane Mnouchkine is known around the world for their imaginative and important work in creating new ideas for theater. |
Dario Fo |
Censorship of art has always existed in all senses, at all times, during every era. Commedia dell’Arte‘s jesters were talking newspapers. People couldn’t read or write and, through jesters, they would listen to reviews and comments about the news. They learnt about what was happening elsewhere. And above all, the jesters’ reports helped raise people’s awareness. The jesters were liked by the poor, by the common people, but they were hated, feared and despised by those in power. |