St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 64

1 4F ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SUNDAY, JULY 31,1994 THE ARTS ENTERTAINMENT Dark Sides Of Redon, Goya Simultaneous Chicago shows illuminate their eerie link By Marsha Miro Knight-Ridder Newspapers CHICAGO nnf; HE GREAT Spanish painter Francisco Goya and the eccentric French painter Odilon Redon have at least .1...... J- -r TP I the Inquisition became subjects for his commentary. Pushing beyond the ground broken by his great Spanish predecessor Velazquez, Goya painted the less-than-human witches, spirits and phantoms. He painted the world of black magic from 1797 to 1799, in ferocious images like "Flying Witches," "The Spell" and "The Witches Sabbath." But Goya writes that he had no fear of such things.

Rather he feared humans because of their "cruel behavior Even when dead they do not cease to be offensive." His caricatures of the dim-witted and pretentious king of Spain of 1800 reveal the decadence of the court. Though none of these images is in the exhibition, Goya painted what resulted from royal political ineptness and the inadequacy of the reigning Catholic Church. Painting at the turn of the century, Goya's searing small images of the mentally deranged and of cannibals stripping corpses are timeless and unforgettable, a tribute to man's inhumanity to man. While these paintings are small, their effect is monumental. There are also three pensive, two things in common.

'3 Both share a preoccupation, perhaps even an 1 I i I'M. I nn 'Jib 4 vium obsession, with the dark side of human nature. Both seek to illuminate certain emotions and behaviors that go beyond the rational. Both expose evil, seeking its destruction. That was the first thing.

The second is that both have major exhibitions that reveal their genius this summer at the Art Institute of Chicago. There, Goya's flying witches eat human flesh. Redon's flying devil carries off a human head. Evil thunders at every turn. Which is not to suggest that all is dark and forbidding here.

Redon counters with art about the beautiful and good. Goya paints family, friends and villagers at play with a benign pleasantness. They knew relief. And so do the folks in Chicago, who have put together a terrific one-two punch of evil and good, of light and dark, of Goya and Redon. "Goya: Truth and Fantasy" is limited to Goya's small pictures, 80 of them.

The earliest are studies for larger commissions or works in other media. Many were done for the Spanish court. Goya, born in 1746, can be very 18th century in these pictures, which include charming village scenes, paintings of the seasons and studies for religious altar pieces. It is as he matures that his 'Goya: Truth and sy' and 'Odilon Re- don: Prince of 1 Dreams' 1 Where: The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Avenue When: 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

Tuesday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; and noon-5 p.mrni Sunday Duration: The Redon exhibitions continues through Sept. 18," the Goya through Oct. 16 haunting self-portraits in the show. They reveal a man full of self-doubt.

Some authorities consider Goya one of the greatest portrait artists in the history of art. Some believe he was the one of the first modern artists because he revealed so much of what he knew of human nature. He was also rebellious, unbiased and visionary in commenting on his own turbulent times. Odilon Redon is a decidedly modern artist. He had a 20th- 41 3 I 41 A 1 1 1 rti -3 1 Art Institute of Chicago ABOVE: "The Guardian Spirit of the Waters," Odilon Redon, 1878, charcoal on paper.

RIGHT: "Portrait of Mademoiselle (Jeanne Roberte) de Domecy," Odilon Redon, 1905, black pastel and charcoal on paper. FAR RIGHT: "Cactus," Odilon Redon, circa 1881, charcoal on paper. century vision, though he lived between 1840 and 1916. That vision made him an outsider, out of sync with his era. But he knew it and chose to see himself as an explorer of spiritual issues, a painter of modern thought, of the inner life of man.

The Chicago exhibition, "Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams," is a retrospective of about 180 works charcoals, pastels, paintings, prints and decorative designs. It is a great show, concentrating on the least understood aspects of Redon's art his charcoals as opposed to his more familiar, colorful and wonderful flower paintings. The show is also distinguished by its detailed educational labels. For some shows, all the written material is superfluous, even distracting. But because Redon's work is so layered with meaning and literary reference, the accompanying materials should be read.

By connecting rich biographical information to Redon's art, the materials help explain Redon's unorthodox psychological delvings. That is, the artist spent most of his childhood alone, exiled from his family because he was believed to have epilepsy. The disease was considered a scourge in the 19th century and thought to be a cause of degenerate behavior, something associated only with the lower classes. Redon's upper-class family, embarrassed, kept their distance. See ART, Page 10 brilliance surfaces.

This leap from charmer to genius occurred, according to the show's catalog, around 1793 as he became gravely ill. While he was recovering, he painted a series of small pictures on tinplate beginning with scenes of bullfights and ending in gruesome images of death, prison and insane asylums. Goya explains in his letters how he reached this turning point. He says that because he was painting for himself and had no patron looking over his shoulder, he had the freedom to experiment and allow his curiosity free rein. He indulged in "Caprichos," or fantasies, as these images are known.

After those first tinplate paintings, Goya became fascinated by evil, by the demons inside. The occult and I I i i Weezer LA Alternative Group Is In From The Dark Weezer: Opening for Lush Where: Mississippi Nights, 914 North First Street, Laclede's Landing When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday (all ages) How much: $12 in advance, $14 day of show Information: 421-3853 lA II wm I I mi ft rm 4 'If? I I -ox 4 "jrl 1 I By Alan Sculley WITH the single "Undone The Sweater Song" beginning to gain airplay on alternative stations (including KPNT (The Point) in St. Louis), Weezer is making a name for itself in the modern rock world. But if bassist Matt Sharp refuses to be caught up in this first brush with recognition, one can hardly blame him.

Nothing, it seems, has come easily to this Los Angeles quartet. In fact, when Sharp met future band mates Rivers Cuomo (guitarvocals) and Patrick Wilson (drums) about four years ago, doing a musical project together wasn't on their minds. At the time, the three aspiring musicians were just looking for a place to live in Los Angeles. A mutual friend suggested they rent a place together. It wasn't a fortuitous beginning.

"I don't know if we even liked each other very much. We just kind of lived together for nine months or a year and then we all went our separate ways," Sharp said. "I moved to San Francisco, and they moved to different places. Then, like a year after that, Pat the drummer was coming through, and he said, 'You should listen to this tape. It's some stuff that Rivers and I are writing Sharp really liked what he heard.

Soon, the three uneasy friends, augmented by another acquaintance, guitarist Brian Bell, formed Weezer. The quartet didn't exactly take the Los Angeles club scene by storm. Jll 'I Vlltlt II IM 4 the spirited guitar pop that defines the Weezer sound, more people began to come to gigs. Eventually, a buzz began, and Weezer's casual career began to take on momentum. "Our theory or whatever that we practiced was never sell anything, never try to push anything on anybody," Sharp said.

"And that's sort of, probably, the reason why nobody ever came to see us, because we never really advertised anything. We just wanted to do it pretty organic "So we just kept playing and playing until people started showing up. And once people started showing up, a couple of record people, like on smaller labels and stuff, started showing up. Then around LA, it's kind of like, I guess, if one key person gets into it, they all go, 'I don't want to miss Soon many labels were pursuing Weezer. Geffen Records, which promised the band full creative freedom, won the bidding war, and Weezer began planning to record.

Initially, the members of the group wanted to produce themselves. Sharp See WEEZER, Page 10 -nO: 1 Jin Peter Orth Weezer: Brian Bell (left), Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cumo and Matt Sharp. il "We had at least 50 songs or more best," Sharp said. "For about nine "It was kind of sad," Sharp said, when we started and we just kind of kept months, there were about 10 people at laughing as he recalled those early playing in LA and just rotating the songs a every show. There were sometimes, like, struggles of the band, lot until we figured out what we liked the three people.

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