Saturday, January 29, 2005
a taste of honey, tasting much sweeter than wine
forgotten greats #12: albert finney
you see these style icons, cult faces, teen idols around everywhere. posters in the street. wherever you go in the world you see the same old faces: brando, che, jim morrison, the pope, james dean, kurt cobain, sid vicious (never johnny rotten, always sid). and sometimes you think, well, maybe a few guys have missed out here.
this guy for instance:
he was the first cool guy i ever saw on screen, early sixties. i know now that he was copying brando a bit, but so was james dean, paul newman, everybody. and anyway, finney was something english, something very english. maybe that's why his face isn't on the posters.
one of the greatest experiences of my life was seeing this guy in a small theatre in london in the early 80s performing live. i fluked tickets on the front row, i was about six feet away from him for two hours while he acted his way through a play called orphans (which later became a film). the play was nothing special but he acted his way into my head that evening and i still think about it now. when you see the power of a great artist just a few feet away from you it's not something that doesn't change the way you live your life.
so why isn't albert on the posters? why isn't he a cult figure? maybe because he was just a great artist and didn't sell himself to some junk guru, or progressive ideology. maybe he just did what he knew how to do well.
wouldn't it be great if artists just did what they know how to do well and then just shut the fuck up? like albert.
you see these style icons, cult faces, teen idols around everywhere. posters in the street. wherever you go in the world you see the same old faces: brando, che, jim morrison, the pope, james dean, kurt cobain, sid vicious (never johnny rotten, always sid). and sometimes you think, well, maybe a few guys have missed out here.
this guy for instance:
he was the first cool guy i ever saw on screen, early sixties. i know now that he was copying brando a bit, but so was james dean, paul newman, everybody. and anyway, finney was something english, something very english. maybe that's why his face isn't on the posters.
one of the greatest experiences of my life was seeing this guy in a small theatre in london in the early 80s performing live. i fluked tickets on the front row, i was about six feet away from him for two hours while he acted his way through a play called orphans (which later became a film). the play was nothing special but he acted his way into my head that evening and i still think about it now. when you see the power of a great artist just a few feet away from you it's not something that doesn't change the way you live your life.
so why isn't albert on the posters? why isn't he a cult figure? maybe because he was just a great artist and didn't sell himself to some junk guru, or progressive ideology. maybe he just did what he knew how to do well.
wouldn't it be great if artists just did what they know how to do well and then just shut the fuck up? like albert.
# posted by manho @ 11:53 PM 
