A Review of Tony Wynn's book 'Believery'
by Richard Van Der Draaj,
Ancient Heart Magazine editor
Recently, Tony Wynn premiered his art book 'Believery' at the Miami Book Fair International 2004. First off, this is not an 'easy' book, not the kind of thing that lulls the reader into a nicely soporific artistic trance. The images are accompanied by poems, both forms of expressions stark and yet strangely evocative. I was struck by the raw power of the paintings, the strong vibrancy of what is emoted here. 'Believery" grips the reader and shakes something significant out. In the poem "all About Eve", for instance, the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden is related from the point of view of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This conceit works well with poetic finds such as: 'I saw Eve walk by alone and stare/ 2 or 3 times so far today / like a fruit thief walks by a fruit stand'. The image of the Tree next to the poem is of a reserved beauty, a rarified dignity that stares from the canvas/screen.
The book contains images of Tony Wynn's first series of intuitive paintings and poetic writings from an earlier collection. Tony's paintings have been described as modern primitive and he calls his poetry 'artwritings'. Personally, I'm not big on labels and etiquettes, however apt, but from browsing through the preview pages, it is clear that an original artistic vision is slowly revealed here. Picture by picture, poem after poem tells something, however slight, of the poetic horizons that this talented artist registers. The title 'Believery' is well chosen and the poems and images deal with religious symbolism, spiritual awareness. I enjoyed the painting entitled: 'Martina Navaratilova as Worship Leader'. Worship in a broader format, icons such as sports stars and Lady Di are depicted as sacred images, idols. And perhaps the nature of modern worship is something that needs more exploration and is all too often neglected in accessible forms of art.
The title poem is elegant and 'feels' light in its approach. A few lines convey an unexpected atmosphere of sanctify and Light and then: 'walks through a girl reading poetry out loud/she says it is the poetry of heaven/ and the room develops atmosphere of a stage'. The sacredness of souls meeting, aware that each is acting upon the ultimate stage; life itself . The painting accompanying this poem ('Gold Believer') is identity in colour, personality broken down by a palette of experience, put back together again by means of artistry and vision. Talking of colour, the shades and colours used in the paintings are refreshingly pure and seem almost abstract even when the images themselves are figurative.
Some of the stylistic elements employed in the art and poetry are striking, almost startling but before long the aesthetic sensibilities of the viewer/reader are treated to pleasures of a near-ephemeral kind. The titles, both of paintings and poems, often speak volumes: 'ash wednesday can-can' and 'bed ritual', both also 'the scribe' and 'new vocabulary' are eloquent and evocative in an intriguing way.
In 'Bed Ritual" there are these lines about Jesus: 'rumour has it she said/ His eyes were as black as the desert sky./ but between me and you/they're more like the deep sea blue.' The whole thing has a magical -realistic feel to it; the imagery is biblical but made thoroughly palpable by the artist's own unique poetic touch.
Tony Wynn seems to take his inspiration from biblical imagery, spirituality as perceived by 'modern' humankind, the religious experience of living. To me, this source of artistic expressions is more than valid and it pleases this editor no end that with 'Believery' we seem to have a most successful matching of ancient symbolism with modern artistic endeavour. A match made in Eden?
I leave you with one of my favourite poems in this outstanding collection:
Meanwhile in Heaven
all morning long
the halls filled with poems and songs.
when I walk the breezeway
I hear the soft click of leather
on polished marble. it is slippery in here.
appointment with the creator and
I am 5 minutes late.
my escort is the Addami Oracle
from somewhere down Bethlehem way
proudly says I once knew the son of Iddo,
the prophet Zechariah, but now
we don't have much to say.
says I once long ago like you
went through this interview
and now I'm here (look at me)
worship leader. Heaven. sector seven-o-two.
long halls filled with poems and song.
takes me a little getting used to
asking quietly with a sly smile
if it were you. how
what would you do
