Unknown painting from Zigzag Wandering exhibition 7

Don Van Vliet’s first Italian exhibition opened last night in Palermo, Sicily. The show, ‘Zig Zag Wandering‘, is being held at Galleria dell’Arco until 15 February 2008. Four reproductions of pictures from the exhibition are shown at Galleria dell’Arco’s website. Galleria dell’Arco Via Siracusa 9 Palermo Tel / fax +39091 6261234 www.dearco.it info@dearco.it Thanks to Roberto for mailing me with news of this show.  Read More →

Don Van Vliet Works On Paper

An exhibition entitled ‘Don Van Vliet Works On Paper‘ runs 27 October 2007 – 1 December 2007 at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Michael Werner Gallery and includes Van Vliet works from the mid-1980s to the early 90s. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 27th from 6 to 9 pm. Further information can be found at David Kordansky Gallery’s website. David Kordansky Gallery, 510 Bernard Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90012 Tel. 323-222-1482 Fax. 323-227-7933Read More →

Anton Kern Gallery, NY

A new exhibition of 15 of Don Van Vliet’s paintings opens today and runs until 6 July at the Anton Kern Gallery in New York. There is a catalogue of the exhibition and it includes a preface by Polly Harvey. More information, a press release and nine paintings from the exhibition can be viewed at the Anton Kern Gallery website along with a press release. How I would love to attend – if you make it to the exhibition please do let us all know by posting a report to this blog.Read More →

China Pig

Four works by Don Van Vliet are included in an exhibition to be held under the aegis of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). MUSIC IS A BETTER NOISE is an exhibtion of art made by artists who are also musicians (or vice versa) or whose creative process has music as an integral part. Thurston Moore, Devendra Banhart, Alan Vega, Leigh Bowery, Eye and Kim Gordon are among the many other artists represented. China Pig, an oil painting from 1987 (pictured here) is the largest of Don Van Vliet’s works on display (102 x 76) . His other titles are: Untitled (Woman) 1986 GouacheRead More →

This photograph of Don Van Vliet meeting his old friend Pamela des Barres was taken at what must have been one of Don’s last public appearances. The occasion was the opening of Don’s exhibition at the Fred Hoffman Gallery, Santa Monica on 31 July 1990. There’s presently a unique chance to acquire a copy of this photograph, along with a catalogue from that exhibition, from the collection of Pamela des Barres herself. Pop over to eBay and read all about it. Pamela tells me that Victor Hayden, The Mascara Snake, is staying with her this week and will sign the catalogue for the winning bidder.Read More →

The Michael Werner gallery in New York has an exhibition on at the moment called ‘Black and White: Drawings for Summer’. It opened on the 14 July and will finish on 9 September. The exhibition features about 20 artists including George Baselitz, A R Penck, and Joseph Beuys. There is at least one piece by Don van Vliet – ‘untitled’ (1999) and is pictured here. More information.Read More →

Moris Tepper was an artist before he joined the Magic Band, and he still continues to paint and sculpt as well as play music. For those of you who are within striking distance of Los Angeles you might think about dropping in to see his latest exhibition. It’s called “New Paintings and Sculptures of Moris Tepper”, and is at MJ Higgins Fine Art, Los Angeles from June 24th-August 5th, 2006 All this info and more can be found at Moris’s website.Read More →

I was recently sent a photograph of a Beefheart-related Cal Schenkel art work by Peter Warner who was sent the photo by Schenkel himself in 1981. A much larger version is also available. Entitled “Apes Ma”, it was produced in January 1979 and, although labelled “10 in a series” the rest of the series is not Beefheart related (according to Peter a couple of the others are Zappa related and the rest… who knows?). The picture features (l-r) Don, unknown bearded person – possibly John Thomas, Jeff Moris Tepper, Denny Walley, John French and Apes Ma him/herself. Many thanks to Peter for sending this alongRead More →