Songs Without Words: The Art of Music
Nassau County Museum of Art
Now through March 6, 2022
BY LORRAINE BERTAN,
CULTURAL AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE
Connecting art, sculpture,
music and technology is the
focus of this exhibit. Many of
the painters and sculptors are also
trained musicians and performers.
There is artistry in the design of musi-cal
instruments which you will see in
the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar
used by Keith Richards of the Rolling
Stones. Keith Richards and Mick
Jagger were part of the group which
introduced rock music to New York
City on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964
Les Paul, the singer, helped design the
Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, which
is one of the most popular electric
guitars because of its versatility with
rock, country, soul, rhythm, blues,
reggae and heavy metal. In 1968,
George Harrison of the Beatles was
given a Gibson Les Paul electric gui-tar
by Eric Clapton. The body and
neck of the guitar is mahogany and
the fretboard is rosewood or ebony.
Artifacts, like Grammy awards and
the ubiquitous wooden metronome,
are scattered throughout the exhibit.
The 1991 Peter Max painting,
“Grammy,” complements the arti-facts.
Peter Max is an American
artist, German born in 1937, fleeing
with his family in 1938 to China and
moving westward through France
and eventually settling in Brooklyn,
NY. He graduated from Lafayette
High School and attended the Art
Students League. He was known
for his paintings of the Statue of
Liberty, and is now associated with
Norwegian Cruises where his work
decorates the hull of one of the largest
ships in the world,
Another painting featuring music is
the “Still Life with Banjo” by Thomas
Henry Hope, circa 1880. Thomas
Henry Hope was born in England
in 1832 and was a trained musician
specializing in the cornet, a brass
band instrument. He immigrated to
the United States in 1864 and worked
as a musician to support his wife
and daughter. During the Civil War
he was a band leader in the Union
army achieving the rank of sergeant.
Some years after leaving the army he
entered the Philadelphia Academy
of Fine Arts and graduated in 1881.
He engaged in two occupations,
teaching music and painting still-lives,
and mastered the technique of
tromp l’oeil.
One of the larger paintings in the
exhibit is “The Drummer” 1958, by
Larry Rivers. Larry Rivers was born
in the Bronx, New York, in 1932. His
connection to music was a serious
one; he attended the Juilliard School
of Music during 1945-46, and worked
as a jazz saxophonist in New York City
with Miles Davis. He later attended
New York University and received a
BA in art education in 1951. His work
was much admired and sought after. In
1953 the MOMA purchased his large
scale abstract painting, “Washington
Crossing the Delaware.” During
the 1960s Rivers lived in the Hotel
Chelsea in NYC with artistic residents
like Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Janis
Joplin, Niki de Saint-Phalle and other
people associated with Andy Warhol’s
Factory. In 1965 his work was appear-ing
in museums across the country.
He went to Africa to cooperate on a
documentary, which became a part
of the NBC series, “Experiments in
Television.”
Examples of beautifully crafted
musical instruments from many
world cultures enhance the exhib-it,
and a truly unusual experience
awaits the visitor in the Gamelatron
installation. The Gamelatron Project
is designed by Aaron Taylor Kuffner,
New York City born in 1975. He
briefly attended Syracuse University
studying visual and performing
arts, dropping out to become a
street musician, international DJ
and music producer. His training
included painting and sculpture and
he is skilled in acoustics and robotic
technology as demonstrated in the
Gamelatron installation. He studied
in Indonesia, where he learned to
play the Gamelan, which inspired
his future work. The Gamelan is
a complex instrument containing
metallophones struck by mallets
for the tune, and drums for the
beat. The museum exhibit contains
bronze gongs and wooden mallets
in a traditional setting and employs
robotics for an unusual acoustic
experience in a very beautiful and
contemplative setting. Aaron Taylor
Kuffner describes his work as “sonic
immersive sculpture” and composed
music for the robotic sculpture. His
work appears in the Smithsonian
and museums throughout the world.
Be sure to visit the second floor to
see more examples of instruments
and paintings connecting music and
art. There are videos describing vari-ous
dance festivals around the world.
Nassau County Museum of Art
1 Museum Drive, Roslyn
516-484-9338
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 11
AM-4:45 PM
For Tickets: nassaumuseum.org
Theater in the Suburbs
The Madison Theatre at Molloy College
BY ROBERTA GRAFF
Tucked into the leafy com-munity
of Rockville Centre
stands Molloy College, a
private liberal arts college where
the Madison Theatre, a 500 seat
Broadway style performance space
proudly stands.
For the past ten years it has been
offering top notch entertainment in
an intimate setting that is delight-ing
ardent theatergoers as well as
families. With ample free parking,
reasonable prices and stadium style
seating, The Madison is one of the
best theatrical venues this side of
the Great White Way.
It is an intimate setting and was
perfect for the holiday performances
of the Nutcracker Ballet. The
dancers from the Leggz Ltd. were
captivating, the principal soloists
were superb, and the South Shore
Symphony was outstanding.
There is a sparkling roster of
programs coming up, including
Martin Barre performing classical
Jethro Tull on February 11 and
the South Shore Symphony on
February l2. And what could bright-en
up a dreary winter better than a
Swingtime Big Band Valentine on
February 13?
For additional information and
tickets call 516-323-4444 or check
out their website at www.madison-theatreny.
org.
Keith Richards’ guitar
“Grammy” by Peter Max
32 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ February 2022
/www.madisontheatreny.or
/www.madisontheatreny.or
/www.madisontheatreny.or
/nassaumuseum.org
/www.madison-theatreny
