On Monday, we had the honor of releasing an edition from musician, artist, bike advocate, and cultural icon, David Byrne, Roots of War in Popular Song (forest of no return). Byrne wrote his own mailing list this morning, talking about his relationship with Creative Time, whom the edition benefits, and of the purpose, history and "roots" behind this drawing.

Hello out there

I've done a couple of public art projects here in NYC (Playing the Building and "I Love this Crowd!") that were presented by a wonderful organization called Creative Time. To return the favor I have done a limited edition print on nice fuzzy archival paper of one of my "tree" drawings, and the money goes to said organization-Creative Time. An art edition place called 20x200 is selling the print. Obviously these are not drawings of real trees, they're more like family trees or evolutionary trees. They show how things evolved and where they come from. For me they are not exactly literal; they're more like mental maps or aids to my thought process, or to your thought process-but sometimes I can actually explain a little of what it's about.

In this drawing I propose that the roots of conflict and wars lie in popular song. Well, not exactly. But yes, also. Popular song can be viewed as a measure of sentiment, feeling, and values, and of what a culture projects as their identity. I'm not being as obvious as drawing a line from "The Ballad of the Green Berets" to the war in Vietnam, or from "Deutschland über alles" to WWII; the connections are more subtle than that. Songs and the sentiments that they contain are emotional memes that worm their way into the general culture and are at the same time a reflection of that culture. In that sense they're a distillation-culture concentrate. And the hubris, vanity and self-image of a people are all there, waiting to collide with those of The Other, like particles in an accelerator. Lots of energy is released as a result. Is this crazy talk? Maybe, but do you feel lucky? Whatever, the song titles are pretty good-but they're not, I admit, verifiable.

So, if you like trees, unexpected connections and supporting arts organizations, the purchase of this relatively inexpensive print will satisfy all of your needs.

DB
Midtown

Roots of War in Popular Song (forest of no return) by David Byrne

Image Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery