artiststatement.jpg

Artist Statement:

I have not been into the heart of the Mississippi Delta, but I feel I have been given a glimpse of the life they lived through the music of the blues. My love for blues music is behind my on-going series which consists of both portraits of famous Blues Musicians, and the Blues History series. The passion that comes from blues music drives the passion in me to create a visual picture that will reflect the feeling of the musicians daily lives. The power created within this music was derived from the joys and sorrows in the cotton fields, street corners and in the ghetto's, from what the African American has had to endure since the turn of the century, through the Great Depression and post years when it was all created.

My color palette is of rich muddy earth tones which create the warmth and realism that we are so unfamiliar with when we think of the Great Depression era. We often think in black & white when we think of this period. My use of these colors gives the smell of earth in the air, the intermingling of dust and music, and an ambiance of warmth to the setting.

The Portrait Series consists of blues musicians who have influenced me with their music, style, sound and lyrics which I have tried to capture in a certain pose and expression. The musicians portraits are a detail of a much larger picture. They are close-ups of importance within the history and they reflect a time and place just from their appearance. To me, this series connects the whole of my work together in a more accurate package in the birth and life of the blues.

The History Series involves collecting imagery from the photo archives of the Great Depression in the United States. Actual street corners and roadside jukes from the south harmonize with the real people who walked them. This enables me to create an accurate atmosphere of the mood, clothing styles and structural landscape from that area of the country. I try to create a close social feeling by using multiple photo references of architecture and people from that era to build a complete and interesting composition that works together. This series reveals the migration of black musicians moving from the deep south, north to Chicago. Both known, as well as un-known musicians, arise in unexpected places just as they did back then. The unknown musicians get equal praise for creating lyrics and sound from the hardships of their everyday lives. In spite of these hardships they have produced a style and sound that makes you feel good when you hear the blues.

Being an artist of the blues, I have come to learn that this southern African American born music has become a universal language of sound. It has allowed me meet blues lovers all over the world and communicate with them through all language barriers. The Blues has no borders...

Peace & Blues,
Earl Klatzel