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Click on the images to go to the Two Artists reception gallery It is Sunday April 25, a gloomy day with a cold and steady rain. Nash sets out my bowls of food and water, puts out my blanket and favourite chew toy, then sits and waits to hear from the world beyond. Soon we begin our 'Séance on a Wet Afternoon'. Cue obscure film reference now... Trouble is, high-speed internet connection sucks up here, and my lap-top keeps crapping out. Must be all the Milk Bone crumbs in between the keys. Yeah Nash, Milk Bone cookies! All I can eat in Heaven. Steak too, and pizza! But I digress. Nash will just have to interpret my story for you. I was never very far from Nash’s heart and mind when he started this series of monumental gigs. My portrait is posted on the dressing room door, so I am still in charge of dressing room security, and everyone gets to pay their respects. This presentation called ‘Two Artists’ was a huge undertaking, involving many creative partners over a period of a year and a half. Robert Vanderhorst and Nash the Slash have known each other for thirty years and it was now time to show the world just what an amazing collaboration of paintings and music they have created. Here were the challenges: Organize an art exhibit with over 30 canvases of various sizes, including a live stage area with room enough for a 9 X 12 foot projection screen and sound system. Find a unique hall that’s big enough to handle the exhibit. Design and build 34 portable combination easel and lighting systems because nothing can be hung on the walls. The paintings were completed, so it was up to Nash to write 34 pieces of music and Brett Maraldo to create the DVD presentation, incorporating the visuals and the music into a seamless work of art on its own. Finally, a six or seven day event had to be promoted by a creative publicity team.
The design challenge for the easels went to Peter Holman, so his team of experts came up with an original, portable creation. The design incorporates two adjustable clamps to hold each painting on an upright pole, with a boom arm extending above and behind the heads of the viewer as they look at the painting. This arm holds the lighting fixture and it has a framing device to illuminate just the painting without getting someone’s head blocking the light. You can see these stands in some of the photos. The whole event was recorded every night with multiple cameras and surround-sound microphones. It will be a great addition to the next DVD. In the balcony there was a time-lapse camera recording the entire seven-day event from set-up to tear-down. On the second night, this camera caught one of the over-night security guards going backstage behind the curtain where the DVD and sound mix was set up. He then came out from the curtain, turned on the projector and dimmed the house lights! What nerve! As the balcony camera watched in the dark, up on the big screen came the DVD of the film ‘Kill Bill’. At least the guy had good taste. Someone discovered the intrusion on our equipment the next morning. Things were out of place on the table, and stupid security guards think they’re very clever. The sound technician looked at the time-lapse film and sure enough there was the evidence caught on tape like something from ‘Real TV’. No, we’re not sending it in! Needless to say the security company was informed and Two Artists had better ‘security’ from then on. The Saturday Night Gala was overflowing with opening night jitters and technical malfunctions. I’m not talking about all the high-tech equipment we brought in for the show. No, I’m talking about the defective elevator. Three days of constant transporting of gear to the grand ballroom took its toll on the elevator. Did I mention that all this activity was taking place on the third floor? By the time it came for the gala evening, the elevator had decided to stop working, and this being a municipal building and not a privately owned property, the building maintenance man wasn’t very swift at getting the problem solved on a Saturday afternoon. Yes, it’s going to cost you time-and-a-half to get a repairman, but that’s what you have to do! Here was this grand event, held on the third floor of a classy building and we are expecting dignitaries from the Dutch Embassy, the Ecuador Consulate, Nash’s spry but elderly parents and numerous TV crews! The elevator has got to work! The elevator remains a dilemma until the repairman arrives at 6 pm. The event starts at 7 pm and the elevator is still not working. When Nash’s parents arrive, they are swarmed by friends and relatives eager to escort them up the three flights of stairs to the exhibition. Nash’s mom is 75% blind and she is supported by well-wishing but drunken friends who are doing their best to navigate the staircase themselves. The irony is, this is an art show, and Nash’s mom can’t see the paintings any better than some of his friends. Just as the blind-leading-the-blind entourage arrives at the top of the third flight of stairs, the elevator door opens and its ready for business! That being the only glitch, the Gala was a huge success, with over three hundred guests in an eclectic array of leather and formal wear. The bar and food were free to all in attendance and Nash’s performance drew a standing ovation from the enthusiastic crowd. At the Sunday afternoon concerts, Nash performed three shows at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. At the 5pm show, a young girl fainted and went into spastic convulsions. Luckily a nurse was in the crowd. The girl was taken to the nearest hospital and was OK, but I wonder if Nash’s music had anything to do with it? At the time of her seizure, Nash was performing to the painting ‘Code’, which is a very dramatic work that was commissioned by the Police Chiefs of Ontario for an anti-drug campaign in schools across Canada. If she had been smoking something, maybe she wouldn’t have had a seizure!??
‘Two Artists’ is the name of this whole event. The DVD title is ‘View From The Gallery-One’ because the DVD needs to be split into two discs and Rob has two paintings called ‘View From The Gallery-one’ and ‘View-Two’. The paintings make an obvious choice for the cover artwork of each DVD. The show has drawn a lot of attention from the arts community around Toronto and Nash and Rob have agreed to do seminars with some local school groups to discuss art and music with young kids. Monday’s group was the art and music class from Crescent School, a private boy’s school in Toronto. Rob and Nash took them on a tour of the paintings, answering questions about the ‘meaning’ of the images. Young, curious minds ask unusual questions. Nash did a short performance and then a seminar on what he does with the instruments and how he does it. A sweet, classical violin sound turns into the distorted wail of corroding metal. The young jaws all dropped, and the wanna-be rockers in their school uniforms enjoyed every minute of it. Nash has been invited to perform for the entire school in their brand-new, high-tech auditorium. The show will blow their minds. Tuesday was the inner-city class of young art students from the Cabbagetown Community Centre. This could not have been a more different class than Crescent School. Young kids with moms and dads in tow, checking out the artwork and marvelling at the show and the space. One young boy of ten plopped himself on the floor in front of ‘Micomicon Dissolve’ and started to draw the painting on his sketch pad. He later had Rob and Nash autograph it for him. He had drawn all the images, including the bumble bee. The kids were younger than the Crescent crowd, but just as attentive, with enquiring questions about the equipment and the bandages, and other things that Nash had to think about before answering. This gig has been about reaching out to the community, not just the high-brow artsy crowd, and Rob, Nash and all the technical support team rose to the occasion. Over 2500 people attended the event during the six days. The final culmination of 18 months of hard work resulted in a first-class presentation. The publicity team of Seth and Disia at Word of Mouth Promotions made this an event that everyone will be talking about for a very long time. Thanks to Ron Shaw and his team of experts with the audio-visual set-up. A very special thanks goes to Brett Maraldo, who not only co-ordinated the Two Artists project, but he also created the DVD and stage-managed the event itself. Nash noticed there was a nice park just across the street from the hall. I would have felt right at home. Digger |
