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February 12, 2007
Byrne and the Science of Nonsense
If Leonardo da Vinci followed a somewhat different professional career by dropping out of art school in order to form a new wave/post punk rock band only to follow up its great success by carving out a unique solo career in which he would do everything from art installations, book collaborations, to hosting four nights of musical perspective at Carnegie Hall, he would be well...David Byrne. The only thing that might set the two renaissance men apart is that Byrne pulled off all these post Talking Heads feats since October.
Byrne is in the fact living the creative dream. He has the ability to act on all of his impulses, maintain critical/ peer respect, and at the same time remain in good eyes to the masses. A recent article in the New York Times even proclaimed Byrne's status when they titled the piece “Indie Rock's Patron Saint Inspires A New Flock.” I had no idea the New York Times had enough power to start canonizing saints. In this respect Merry Swankster will start knighting people every other Friday starting with Prince in order to give him another royal title for his first name.
Sir Prince?
Last weekend Byrne served as curator for the “Perspectives” series at Carnegie Hall. The four night extravaganza included two nights of original material composed by Byrne. One of the highlights included the performance of “Here Lies Love,” the much anticipated musical collaboration with Fat Boy Slim which was centered around the life of the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. Many reviewers had different takes on the series but no one could question Byrne’s creative risk taking philosophy in performing raw material in front of an audience of critics on one of the biggest stages in the world.
In celebration of Byrne’s recent entry into indie rock sainthood I picked up his art-book Arboretum published by Dave Eggers and McSweeney’s a few months back. The book contains 92 sketches of trees which allow Byrne to do a sort of subconscious free writing in which he scientifically charts an abstract idea from the roots of the tree to its top branches. For example here is the piece called “Music of the Future” in which he contemplates future genres that might end up being Grammy categories.
“and the winner for hard cheeze album of the year is…”
more words after the jump...
// Byrne's website here
// more examples of Byrne's tree drawings here
// "Why?: An Introduction" from Mcsweeney's here
Seeming to follow the composer/ poet John Cage’s statement of “I have nothing to say/ and I’m saying it,” Byrne explores what he calls “mental maps of imaginary territory.” By bringing scientific methodical thinking to abstract ideas, Byrne is able to make the statement that all rational logic is in fact irrational and vice versa. To this respect, if scientists can make charts about the origins of the universe... then Byrne can make a chart defining an idea as abstract as music itself.
Music Tree, 2002
What is most interesting to me is that Byrne’s approach to his art is the same he has always used in his music. He describes this philosophy in his introduction where he speaks to how he used these tree maps “to proceed, carefully and deliberately, from nonsense, with a straight face, often arriving at a new kind of sense.” Whether he is dancing in an oversized suit or contemplating human existence, Byrne never has been afraid to confront nonsense straight on. What makes him so unique however, is his ability to do so with a straight face- which is an artistic philosophy that will forever allow him to explore any and all corners of the universe.
Posted by Yonah Korngold at February 12, 2007 01:41 PM
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Comments
Not to undermine the depth of this post, but I think it rules that you used the picture of Byrne from the Simpsons episode.
"The leftorium is an emporium of WOE!"
Posted by: Jeff at February 12, 2007 02:28 PM
F-L-A!
Don't yell at Ned,
D-E-R!
His wife is dead...
Posted by: Yonah at February 12, 2007 05:07 PM
Another awesome post. Keep the love coming Yonah.
Posted by: Kelli Douglas at February 13, 2007 11:57 AM
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