Goat's Head Soup . . .

While visiting Haiti in 1997, as mentioned in a few previous posts, I photographed this worked iron goat, which was a piece in the personal collection of haitian folk art belonging to Rudi Stern. After the returning from the trip, I put together a hand-bound collection of photos done in Haiti, of which only two copies were produced. The caption I wrote under this photo was : "Land Scape Goat". And it was incredibly heavy . . .
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This second piece was shot in a haitian cemetery, where some real live goats were frolicking about. . . kids will be kids . . .
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Francois Sanon ; Rudi Stern : Haiti !

While travelling in Haiti in February, 1997 (Carnaval time !) I had the good fortune to visit the sculpture workshop in Petionville (above Port-au-Prince) of Francois Sanon, who does beautiful wood sculptures. The one he is holding in this photo, which I purchased, was about the smallest in size that he did, many in his shop were on a much bigger scale, and all carved out of beautiful tropical hardwoods. Although several websites on Google mention him, there does not, unfortunately, seem to be a site purely dedicated to his work. Someone should remedy that lack of information, for Francois Sanon is an important Haitian artist, and deserves wider recognition. .





















The main reason we went to Haiti in 1997 was to visit Rudi Stern, who was making documentary films there at the time. Out on Rudi's terrace I photographed this painting he was working on, a self portrait. Rest in peace Rudi, we miss you.
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R.I.P. Rudi

I wrote this poem in memory of Rudi Stern in 2006... see earlier posts below about Rudi...
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....Rude September
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This afternoon, sunny
And warm for September
I chopped up the climbing rose
It was dead
Gone brown down to the root
It had not appreciated
Being uprooted and transplanted
When we tore out the old terrace
From in front of the house
Because of its considerable size
It took me quite a while
Snipping and cutting brittle branches
Heavy leather gloves
To protect me from the thorns
Stacking the dead stems
Like bones in a catacomb
All that while
Rudi I thought of you
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I suppose all those months
The rose was slowly dying
The green giving way to brown
Something of the same sort
Was happening to you
As the cancer brought you down
But the last letter I had from you
Near a year ago
Was upbeat
I thought you’d bought yourself some time
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I know when you came back to Spain
Last fall, you were feeling sort of hollow
But that may be
Because they took your right lung
In surgery
Although I think it was also partly due
To flight from your beloved New York
Your Jersey City loft was history
With all the wondrous junk it held
Your paintings your projects by the score
The fabulous lion masks and rooster signs
From Haiti that hung by the door
Your bushels of books
Piles of the New York Times
The wonderful neon clocks
Brushes soaking in turpentine
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I guess at the end of New York
The old connections just weren’t working
Many projects started but aborted
The visions of two towers falling
And people jumping, raining down
As you watched with your dog
While walking by the river
May have left you haunted
I still have the postcard
Where you invited us to your party
Which showed the view from your roof
Two days before the world changed
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So you came back to Europe
Not long after
Settled in Italy in a farmhouse
With no heat
Looking for the warmth
Of a final fling in a human relation
I remember the glowing watercolors
Of the Piedmont hills
I know you found what you were looking for
I have a photo of you standing by the door
And then I saw you no more
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I had no news for many months
My last message unanswered
And like a fool I waited
As life at work and family filled my mind
Thinking you were busy changing diapers
And living the joy of watching
Your baby girl learn to talk and walk
And though she will not remember you
In sights and sounds
Which too quickly fade
She will bear your blood
And genes for all her days
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I cut up the rose
Stacked the branches in a bag
To throw them away
But saved a twisted piece of root
And one piece with thorns
And all the while Rudi
I thought of you
And wondered where
Your body lies
Cursing the fate who decided
That we should not say goodbye
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Rudi Stern Reprise !

A few earlier posts in this blog have been in tribute to Rudi Stern, who passed away in Cadiz, Spain, in 2006, and there is still more to come. In February, 1997, Carnaval time in the Caribbean, he hosted us at the house where he was living in Haiti for two unforgettable weeks. He is turning out to be an unforgettable guy, and I miss him alot. There is a fairly fascinating interview that was done with him on this website.

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There is another article about him here... in which he was quoted as saying :

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"It's theatre because the intention of theatre from the beginning, which is long lost now, is magic," "Magic is an essential component of theatre. It's the space in which unexpected things can happen on a human scale."

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He sent my wife and I this original watercolor that he did in 1997 not long after our trip to Haiti. For me it captures his New York City spirit and magical capacity to paint vibrant color and light into living energy. In my own small way, I am hoping the energy I am pouring into creating this blog experience is bringing a little magic to anyone who may by chance stumble in here... which was the goal at the outset when I had to choose a name for it... Magic Lantern Show...

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Let There Be Neon ! Rudi Stern !

While driving home the other night from work at around three in the morning, a realy-o truly-o ungodly-o hour, I wouldn't wish working at night on anyone, I noticed a small splash of neon light in a spot that had never caught my eye before, so I stopped to take this picture. The more I looked at it, the more I realized that someone really went to great lengths to cut the outline of this sign out with painstaking precision and attention to geographical accuracy. In France the country is often called "l' hexagone" as the outline of France approximates a hexagon, and many signs have a hexagonal shape for that reason... but whoever made this one was a stickler for detail ! Bravo to whoever you are, nice job. Only one of the three neon arrows was working though. Either they are economizing electricity, or this sign needs repairs.

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Anyway, neon signs always, infallibly, get me thinking about a guy who I was lucky to have met and considered a good friend despite the short time I knew him... Rudi Stern. Rudi was one of the founders of a company which is still going strong in New York City called : Let There Be Neon Don't hesitate to get in touch with them if you need any neon signs around your place, these guys are the best ! On their website there is a tribute to Rudi. He sent me the photo just below the sign here while he was living in Italy, just a couple of short years before he died in 2006. Rudi, Rest In Peace man, you were a giant in my eyes.

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Rudi Stern : In Memory

I did this portrait of Rudi Stern in July, 2002, in a small outdoor café in Jersey City, NJ, directly across the Hudson River from where the World Trade Center towers had come thundering down less than one year previously. Rudi was telling us how he had been walking his dog, as usual, that September morning along the river when the proverbial feces hit the fan. Even from across the river he could see people jumping from the top of the stricken towers as the smoke billowed up. Oddly enough, in August 2001 he had sent us a postcard to invite us to a party he was throwing on September 9th, 2001 at his new studio in Jersey City, as a housewarming. This is the postcard, on which he had pasted the PS about the view from his roof... a view that was radically transformed just two days later :
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All things considered, I suppose it is just as well that we couldn't make it to Rudi's party that weekend, as we probably would have had a hard time getting back to France if we had stayed for a day or two afterwards, which would have been likely.

Rudi : In Memoriam

Rudi Stern was a great man. A truly great human being. He was among the most generous and intelligent humans I've ever encountered. From the time I met him in Haiti, where he was living in a house in Petionville, above Port au Prince, that he rented from the sister of Antoine Izmery, who had been assassinated outside a church, Rudi never ceased to demonstrate his kindness and thoughtfulness. Rudi was in Haiti working on films he had been shooting for Crowing Rooster Arts, about the political situation in that sad and desolate country. He had trained as a painter, and still was painting in Haiti, in Jersey City, and in Italy, the last time I saw him alive. But he had gone from painting to doing light shows for people like Igor Stravinsky or the Doors, while hanging out with Timothy Leary's crowd in the 1960's. He went on to producing works of art in Neon, founding a company called "Let There Be Neon", and he authored a book with the same name. Type Rudi Stern on Google, and numerous references can be found, including obituaries which ran in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among others. I shot this portrait in Haiti on the terrace where we played chess several times during the two weeks I was there. Rudi passed away in 2006, a victim of lung cancer. I will never forget how he related the morning of September 11th, 2001. He was out walking his dog, as he loved to do, along the river in Jersey City, just across from the World Trade Center. The events of that morning were clearly visible from his vantage point across the river. He was profoundly afflicted by having witnessed people jumping from the tops of the stricken towers. He was an excellent chess player. More info can be found at :

http://www.lettherebeneon.com/rudi_stern_memorial/index.php