He turned out to be neither rich, nor a player, but an engaging, sincere brother, who was planted firmly on the ground, and who’s life was art. And yes, he was a real artist. Wadsworth Jarrell's world consisted of working as a graphic artist and photographer at a downtown ad agency; cranking out oil paintings and showing in art fairs; and keeping company with a fashion artist named Elaine Jae Johnson, whom he married in 1967. Our paths didn't’t cross very much at first, but, as time passed he shared his many thoughts about art and painting, and he and Jae even shared a few meals with me. Since I was a student, I felt as though I was always in the presence of a super talent. In a short period of time I became accustomed to the bold, broad brush strokes, and bright colors that characterized his painting style. His evolution from painting scenes of people hanging out in lounges, cock fights, jockeys astride race horses, riders in the subway, to the characters in the acrylic paintings he does today, Wadsworth’s work soared into the stratosphere with the beginning of AFRICOBRA. His work, without question, is the standard by which the groups painting can be judged. This was as true in the beginning as it is today. Much about his development is contained in his biography, The Making of a Revolutionary Artist. That vintage, ivy-covered studio at 1521 East 61st Street may have been at the end of a dead end street in a desolate, ravaged neighborhood awaiting the bulldozers, but it certainly did not portend bleakness with respect to Wadsworth’s artistic career. For, unlike many of the other artists in and around Chicago who abandoned their careers in favor of gainful employment in the Post Office, steel mills, stock yards or in other occupations, Wadsworth quit his day job and dedicated his time to painting and to photography and was all the better for having done so. He talks openly and honestly, and often, about his early experience getting his work out there and becoming recognized in an un-welcoming mainstream art world, which had never been kind to the faint hearted or dispassionate artist, treated the committed, talented artists like abused step children, and perpetuated an elitism based on favored kinsmen. The Chicago art scene seemed, correspondingly, downright brutal in it’s indifference toward non-white artists - who expressed a decidedly non-white World view. Black artists were veritably invisible. Wadsworth can tell you in very colorful language about how demonstrably surprised suburbanites at art fairs were when they saw the few Black artists who had booths. Against that backdrop, along with the seething atmosphere of social change and the gang violence in the neighborhood, the artists of AFRICOBRA were hosted by Jarrell regularly on that dead end street. Where the South Side Art Center on South Michigan Avenue once was a bastion for African- American artists who were engaged in WPA projects during the Great Depression, by the 1960's it was a virtual Mecca for another crop of grateful artists seeking opportunities to learn and to expose their talent before a highly appreciative community. A number of artist-owned galleries, also, sprang up in the 60's to greatly complement the efforts of the South Side Art Center. Their coming into existence coincided with the ascendant Afri-centric culture that blasted its way into American culture in ways never seen before. The WJ Studio and Gallery, operated by Wadsworth and his wife Jae was one of those galleries. With art openings featuring poetry readings, and music by members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and saxophonist Jose Williams, the owner of AFAM gallery, WJ Studio and Gallery became an important focal point for Black art in the city. Always the focal point of Wadsworth’s paintings, the life and culture surrounding African- American sensibilities served as the reservoir from which scores of artists derived much of their inspiration. Their creative energy left a legacy for generations to admire, to emulate, and to keep alive. To view the following works by Wadsworth, who pays tribute to numerous jazz musicians, is to be transported through ether to the golden age of jazz in the late 1940's -1950's when nightclubs and ballrooms were jam packed with lovers of "the music" out for the evening to see and to hear the kings and queens at their gut level best. In all of his paintings, not just these tributes, the undulating bands of vivid color, luminous forms, and rhythmic patterns are the life force of Jarrell's work in the same way that riffs, trills, vamps, and funky, engaging improvisations are the universally recognized core of jazz. Wadsworth keeps it all alive for us, reminding all, in this so-called era of "post Black," or "post racial" culture, that the reservoir is as full as ever.... THE FOLLOWING WORKS ARE PRESENTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF WADSWORTH A. JARRELL WHO OWNS THE COPYRIGHT TO THEM. copyright Gerald Williams March 2009 |
