Two-Lane Blacktop

Two-Lane Blacktop — 1971 movie

Two-Lane Blacktop — song by Rob Zombie

And now 

Two-Lane Blacktop — blog by Simone Gordon

First, my respects to Stan Lee. He was a legend. One of the greats. Respected by all genres of the art world. 

I am both a DC Comics and Marvel fan. As a kid, among others, I was way into X-Men, Rogue in particular, and even now I still follow the Batman franchise with Gotham. I love comics where women have 80’s rockstar hair. The bigger, the messier, the better! And no one in comics are ever entirely good or villainous. Which makes them more interesting.

Comics take us back to childhood. The 70’s. 80’s. Everything was so different then. America was so different. It was a simple time and being a kid during that time was great. Amazing. Fun. Comics. Bubble gum trading cards. Tree houses. Candy cigarettes. Bikes. Skateboards. Toy guns and pop caps. All before the internet and cell phones. We used our imaginations back then to entertain ourselves. During the summertime there wasn’t a clean street in a mile radius of my house that didn’t have my chalk artwork all over it. If my dad wasn’t married to a nutjob back then my childhood would have been absolutely perfect. But, there’s aways gotta be something, eh?

I considered drawing comics in my 20’s. I rarely draw women but comic heroines look fun. The hair! Still, it’s such a totally different style from what I do. I would have had to been taught, and in my 20’s I didn’t have the patience to practice something new every day to be good at it. 

Anyone can draw, paint, and sculpt. Anyone. As with anything, it just requires daily patience, practice, and discipline. It’s hard work. It’s lonely. Don’t like hard work or being alone, you’ll never be good at making art. My occasional downfall is drawing what I want instead of drawing what makes money. Like in ‘Purple Rain’ my music only makes sense to me, but every now and then I connect with someone else, and crazy as it seems it’s a million times more rewarding making that special connection rather than drawing meaningless pictures for money. Quality not quantity. I’m an art snob. No self respecting artist would make cheesy xerox prints for hotel rooms. Anyone can do that now on their computers. 

The older you get, the more defined your art becomes. 

Young John Wayne was quite handsome, but that’s not the John Wayne who became someone special to us. It’s the older, confident, mature, “Pilgrim, you caused a lot of trouble this morning...” who we lovingly know.

All I want, is all I’ve ever wanted, to make art, drink wine, and travel. I truly am a simpleton. 

The only way this country will ever get back the peace we once had is to remove instant gratification, and make people earn what they have, as we all once did. 

Last night I re-watched ‘Lords of Dogtown’ and wished I lived in Venice, CA in the 70’s instead of 2017. If you’re like me, since becoming an adult, you’re a perpetual stranger in a strange land, and no matter where you go the only time you’re home is in your art. I think that’s why so many artists cover their walls with their own works.

Anyway, back to drawing my menacing suspension bridge

And all that waits on the other side.