¡Colores!; 1926; Painter Eli Levin, “Art Farm,” Playwright Terrance McNally, Child Prodigy Rachel Barton

THIS TIME, ON COLORES! PAINTER ELI LEVIN KEEPS THE TRADITION OF SOCIAL REALISM ALIVE. I want to set up a problem. It's not just yes and no, we can solve that, it's a mess that I am trying to expose. FARMS FEED OUR BODIES AND SOME SAY ART FEEDS THE SOUL. AND IN NEBRASKA, AN ARTISTS' RESIDENCY PROGRAM CALLED ART FARM IS TAKING CARE OF BOTH. It's the experience that you can try something, you can experiment and not worry about failing. TONY AND EMMY WINNING PLAYWRIGHT, TERRANCE MCNALLY, USES HIS ART TO EFFECT CHANGE . We knew it touched on social issues, but we just tried to make it a good show that would keep an audience entertained and moved and thoughtful for close to three hours. CONSIDERED A CHILD PRODIGY AND CURRENTLY TOURING WORLDWIDE, RACHEL BARTON IS FOLLOWING HER DREAMS.

Playing the violin was what I was meant to do with my life. It's my calling. It's who I am as a person. IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES! ELI LEVIN WRESTLES WITH SOCIETAL PROBLEMS THROUGH HIS PAINTINGS. >> ELI LEVIN: I never doubted we kind of loosely call humanism, about peopleand ideals and a better life. Realism is a very vague term. At one point, I was gonna have a show called Social Realism with some other artists and they said, we have tocall

it 'critical realism', which is used in Europe. So I fought tooth and nail and said, Come on, social realists, that's the communist's way and they didn't go for it. But socialist realists are more in the cities showing the problem of city life, poor people, that's more my type of thing. Like these bar paintings; they may not seem obviously social realist because they're not workers and they're not about society in an active sense, like demonstrations and all those things which I also paint. But, the bar is sort of a contemporary version of what happened to social realism and it's a tragic side of our society. There's sort of a sub strand of it that was with all the competition and I always identified

with that because my kind of art was also left behind. So I would say, this is, you know, we're in the bar, at least they're not bothering us, we're having a good time getting drunk and we're avoiding all the great American society and all the pressures. Well, of course, it's kind of a terrible way to live when I stopped drinking forty years ago, but I still feel sorry for these people in bars who lead this dark life without realizing anything. It'salso great theater because people in bars will do crazy things and they're on stage. Each part of the series I did in the last five years of Old to show the village life, theold Santa Fe life. When

I came here, it was like that right here in Santa Fe when I moved in the 60s. And I have to say I don't really have the right to paint Spanish Americans because they have to paint themselves, you know, there's a whole movement. It's not a great thing to paint other groups inyour own group, but it interests me. I'm because I've had a long career and I've survived. The problem for the artist is a social economic problem. Social realism is dead in the water, in a sense; there are no longer movements of social realism that I know of, I don'tthink there is. But I'm realist trying to keep up the tradition of theseguys

from the depression. I overcame it in myself keep doing the social realism and enjoying it. Most of my teachers, everyone, changed their styles; half of them gave up. Even when I run a drawing group or an etching group, I am more old fashion than anybody that comes. If I really tell them the limits of my thought, they can't relate to them. They're too modern already. I think, by now, it keeps me alive just selfishly. I hate to say I'm one of those selfperpetuating, egocentric artists who paints for himself, but there's a lot with a brilliant idea

for a painting in my sleep last year. I got the phrase in my head, praise God, eat (bleep), and die. So it's a pretty powerful painting. Everyone says, Oh my God! Who's gonna hang that painting? That was one the rich guys at the top, the 1%, with prisons behind them and jet planes dropping bombs. Then in the middle, I had the middle class trying to maintain some kind of dignity and climbing all over each other trying to get a little higher then, poor people on the bottom. I had all kinds of variations of the three tear, some of them very funny, others not so funny. Ironically, social realist is trying to communicate with people. And I spent half my time repainting my paintings. I've repainted at least half of my paintings in the last few years. It's very difficult to do a political painting

or a social realist painting. Problems are much more complicated now and I can't figure out any clear answers. What's real? In my feeling, unphilosophically speaking, what they used to call humanism. Feelings, dignity, nature. Nothing too complicated, pressures; I like the simple pleasures. In the atmosphere of art in America, I've met a tremendous style. It's like Ibsen writing plays. I want to set up a problem. It's not justyes and no, we can solve that. It's a mess that I'm trying to expose. I've thought of every subjectI could think

of that's not a complicated political thing that I would have to be an expert in and read the newspaper everyday. But, if there's any social problem that I can spot, I'll try and paint something about it. ut people and ideals and a better life. Realism is a very vague term. At one point, I was gonna havea show called Social Realism with some other artists and they didn't like the term and they said, we have to call it 'critical realism', which is used in Europe. So I fought tooth and nail and said, Come on, social realists, that's the communist's way and they didn't go for it. But socialist realists are more in the cities showing the problem of city life, poor people, that's more my type of thing. Like these bar paintings; they may not seem obviously social realist because they're not workers and they're not about society in an active sense, like demonstrations and all those things which I also paint. But, the bar is sort of a contemporary version of what happened to social realism and it's a tragic side of our society. There's sort of a sub strand of it that was left behind that can't keep up with all the competition and I always identified with that because my kind of art was also left behind. So I would say, this is, you know, we're in the bar, at least they're not bothering us, we're having a good time getting drunk and we're avoiding all the great American society and all

the pressures. Well, of course, it's kind of a terrible way to live when I stopped drinking forty years ago, but I still feel sorry for these people in bars who lead this dark life for himself, but there's a lot of truth in that. I came up with a brilliant idea for a painting in my sleep last year. I got the phrase in my head, praise God, eat (bleep), and die. So it's a pretty powerful painting. Everyone says, Oh my God! Who's gonna hang that painting? That was one of a series where I had the rich guys at the top, the 1%, with prisons behind them and jet planes dropping bombs. Then in the middle, I had the middle class trying to maintain some kind of dignity and climbing all over each other trying to get a little higher then, poor people on the bottom. I had all kinds of variations of the three tear, some of them very funny, others not so funny. Ironically, social realist is trying to communicate with people. And I spent half my time AN ART FARM IN NEBRASKA PROVIDES A SUSTAINABLE WAY FOR ARTISTS TO EXPLORE THEIR WORK. >>NARRATOR: There are images and sounds we usually associate with life in the heartland..... ...But there are also.... >>ED DADEY: Hespo looking overyour depme. enure chostf ah land growing cornF1 ansoea. d ilth farmor o vitg artists spend their im of ruralli. F1 >> DEYTh's sort pocaayarts to go tghro. different from her usual >>REBECCA JOHNSON: And there's just something strange and amazing about walking down a dirt road andjust being able to see for miles and knowing that like you can walk and walk all day, and you'll beon that same dirt road and it'll pretty much look the same. (NAT SOUND - quiet ambiance) (TRACK) 24yearold Amy DiPlacido traveled 1600 miles from Middleton, Massachusetts. She found the pace of the farm fueled her passion for linear art.

>>AMY DI PLACIDO: It really slows you down here. I think that's really important to learn too, especially coming from the city and just knowing like the hustle and bustle it doesn'treally matter. (TRACK) The geography also inspired her artwork of straight lines. >>AMY DI PLACIDO: ...and of cornfields and soybeans. And you can see right down,everything's placed in a grid. So, I'm very inspired by these man made geographical lines (NAT SOUND Sycamore. Lone mare under the arched limb. Here a list of yellow things.) TRACK) For poet Meredith Clark offered a new look at her view

>>MEREDITH CLARK: I think it's been a real life changing experience in a lot of ways. Learning an awful lot about the way that I work. Ya know I think a lot of people make the mistake sometimes of coming to a residency assuming that they're going to turn something out. (TRACK) She also had to learn the process of printing her poetry...the old fashioned way. >>MEREDITH CLARK: This has probably taken me an hour and a half to two hours. And it's just six lines (NAT SOUND - quiet ambiance) (TRACK )The Art Farm has

welcomed artists from 10 different countries. Space is limited to fewer than two dozen residencies a year. And....in exchange for room and board... the artisans help work the farm. A current project is restoring old barns which see duty as studios and living quarters. (NAT SOUND - Tractor stopping) (TRACK) On this day, an old bathtub became a spa...of sorts. >>AMY DI PLACIDO: And it gets hot here during the day, so we're going to fill it up when we need to cool off. Jump in the tub, go back to our studio and work. (NAT SOUND quiet ambiance of wind in field) (TRACK) The landscape has become a repository of artwork completed by previous residents. (NAT SOUND quiet ambiance of wind in field) (TRACK) Carole and Bernard Smith say they make the pilgrimage from Indiana on a regular basis >>CAROLE SMITH: I remember when Ed first started this

and it was How's he going to get people to come here? But it just never stops. I mean it just seems like every year he's got more and more and more. And it's wonderful. (NAT SOUND - girls with ladder) (TRACK) Perhaps it's the liberation of open space...perhaps it's the serenity to be found here. Ed and the artists will tell you...it's inspiration without encumbrance. >>ED DADEY: It's the experience that you can try something, you can experiment and not worry about failing. PLAYWRIGHT TERRENCE McNALLY TALKS ABOUT HIS PROLIFIC CAREER AND THE SOCIAL BOUNDARIES HE PUSHES THROUGH HIS WORK. >>JB: Terrance McNally is a name synonymous with theater he is the writer of Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de The book writer of Kiss of the Spider Woman and the Full Monty just to name a very select few and his show Ragtime for which he won one of his 4 Tonys. And TerranceMcNally is here. Welcome. You are also in town

receiving the ACLU's Beacon of Liberty Award. So I', wondering with shows like Ragtime which they are singling out which deals with race issues and class issues at the turn of the century. You've written a lot of plays about gay men. When you are working on these pieces are you cognizant of what social change they might provoke? >>TM: No, I would be too selfconscious. I just try in stay in the moment with characters and think what they are going through. Ragtime being a musical I had two brilliant collaborators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, my favorite American working on the show, loving the book, Doctorow is the real hero , Edgar Doctorow, who wrote the original novel, such a profoundlyinspiring work. But we had a great time writing it. We knew it touched on social issues, but we just

tried to make it a good show that would keep an audience entertained and moved and thoughtful for close to three hours. It's a big one. It's an epic. >>JB: Do you take a moment then to look back now? >>TM: Yes, yes and when people and touches them. I think its changed people's hearts. It's such a deeply felt show. And the music adds a dimension to it that is something very very special. I love Music Theater when it's done well. I wouldn't call the show operatic itsin the best tradition of musical theater Roger and Hammerstein's back to Showboat about very serious social themes, entertaining but with great heart and we've stood in the back of theaters around America and seen audiences deeply moved by this story. And its timeless I think its as relevant today as when he wrote it. Even when the show is set at the turn of the last century its always seem very contemporary book

to me. >>JB: Some artists admit this, that when they have had constant exposure like you had or more intimate exposure again they are tempted to go back and make some changes. Are you ever tempted to do that with your work? >>TM: I am, but not with Ragtime. We worked long and hard and well on it. Theater is about collaboration. And when you have the ideal partners, I couldn't ask for better collaborators on this. And we were working from a book that inspired us every day. There isn't a sentence in that book that doesn't sing. We just had so much fun working on it. And we had a wonderful supportive producer, because it was a big show. And we spent almost a year working on it in Toronto and getting it ready. That's where it premiered, Toronto, not New York. Audrey McDonald, who was here last year, she was a sensation, and she was a sensation in this too. >>JB: In terms of looking at the plays about gay men, like I mentioned before. Where does season, fall season, fit

in? Where a sit com is coming out. Sort of this conversation is happening yet again about the evolution and how acceptable it is? Have you noticed a shift? We also talk about how we see these on both sides of the coasts and not necessarily in other pockets. >>TM: Absolutely. The show is called the New Normal. I saw the first episode and the villain in the piece is the homophobe. And it was so matter of fact that these two men were in a committed relationship and were going to adopt a child. And I thought we have come a long way since Will and Grace andthat just went off the air. So it's very exciting the social change just in that area alone that I have experienced in my lifetime. And I do hope my work has somewhat been a part of it. I do think the theater;, entertainment t is a wonderful way to reach people's heart. And when people in the news say I am antigay, that's usually an emotional reaction

to something. They don't understand intellectually why they might have that knewjerk reaction. But when they are touched my characters and meet gay men and women in a play, a movie or TV and they start to like, that is civil rights moving it forward. The only direction it should be going in. >>JB: We have seen unfortunate incidents. Terrible incidents all over the middle east with the embassies and this is coming out of a piece of art which I can't say that this film which has outraged a lot of the Middle east is necessarily art, because it seems to be cobbled together and we don't knowthe interest behind it. But to some degree and this might be apples and oranges you experienced this outrage over your play Corpus Christi, because it depicted Jesus Christ as gay and this disciple as gay and you just had this terror rained down on you. You had death threats. What do you do in a situation like that? How much responsibility do you feel when you know that something like that might happen? When it will trigger this sort of effect? >>TM: I think you try to say the course. I think if there

is a message in Christianity it's that weare all divine. And any one of else have the same divinity inside of us as Jesus Christ did. And gay men and women have that divinity. And that's all the play is saying. I did not feel that I was writing a blasphemous indictment of Christianity at all, which of course the play was accused of being by people who hadn't seen it. And it sounds to me what's going on now with this film , its 70s minutes long. It sounds like a trouble maker got it on Arab networks translated it just to inflame people. And that's what was happening with Corpus Christi, troublemakers frankly and anyone who experiences the play its message of profound love and humility and deepest respect for Jesus Christ. I think it reveals the amount of homophobia that exists in established religion. The hierarchy

of the churches and I think that have a lot to answer for frankly. >>JB: As I said, I was comparing apples and oranges. Yours is definitely f a piece of art, not necessarily this film. But I want to ask you finally, what is left in terms of what do you to explore? Iknow you started a career as a journalist. So are ideas constantly germinating? I wonder if you are intimidated by your own success in way because you have a lot of expectations. >>TM: No, I surround myself with people who keep me pretty grounded. I am married to a wonderful man who keeps my feet on the ground. I never worry about well running out of things to write about. Now, that I am getting older, I think about mortality more than I use to. I think maybe my work is a little more serious. I always thought it was serious but a bit more thoughtful perhaps, but if think that's part of it. Today, I was taking a shower and decided I like being older. Yesterday, i didn't like it. But there

are some nice things about turning 74. One day at a time this country gives a writer so much to think about. I can't imagine ever saying gee I wrote everything I wanted to write. I will be babbling until the last minute, I think JB: Terrance McNally, I have waited to meet you, suite frankly. Thank you so much for coming. RENOWNED VIOLINIST RACHEL BARTONPINE HAS A PASSION FOR WHAT SHE CALLS LIFECHANGING CLASSICAL MUSIC. We all know how inspiring music can be and very few people know that more than world renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine. Hi Rachel, good to see you! Good to be with you outside of the Sacramento community Theater. You have a very moving message behind your music, tell me about that. >> well, um.. I really believe that classical music is of all the wonder kinds of music that exists,classical is the kind that most brings people

together, it's really a universal language, a music that's not of a particular time and place but music that moves all of us in the deepest way possible and really uplifts our spirit and it's my mission to share classical music with as many people as I possibly can. >> Now you fell in love with the violin at a very early age and boy did you skyrocket to the top quickly. >> Ever since I started violin lessons at the age of 3, I really felt that playing the violin is what I was meant to do with my life, it's my calling, it's who I am as a person and all of the challenges I've had all the way through the years have never deterred me from that path because during my childhood and teenage years my father was unemployed most of the time and we never knew where the nextscholarship was going to come from, whether a borrowed instrument and be able to continue being able to pursue my dream and holding on to my faith that music is the best way that I can share my gifts with the world.

>> You inspire so many people through classical music, I'm curious Rachel, how classic music inspires you. >> Oh man, that's a great question. Well, I mean... being a classical musician is fulfilling on so many different levels of course there's all of the historic interest in learning about the composer'slife and analyzing the score and it's just very intellectually stimulating and then of course it's fun kind of like a sport to get to play all those fast licks and all those challenging notes and make yourself better and better as you practice and practice kind of like doing Olympic figure skating or something but all of that is just background to what it means to be on stage which is really to fully experience the emotions of the music and even more importantly to reach out to those listening and share those feelings with them so that everybody gets caught up in the music together and classical music goes farther than any other kind of music in terms of expressing absolutely every possibleshade of emotion

of the human experience. I want to just share music with absolutely everybody. >> And that's what you're doing here today with the Sacramento Philharmonic. Rachel, such a nice time speaking with you. Thank you for being here on Rob on the Road. PIONEERS OF VIDEO ART, SANTA FE'S STEINA AND WOODY VASULKA It's no fun to go and say today I am going to make a masterpiece. That is of no interest to me. IN HIS OWN TIME, ARTIST ANDY WARHOL PUSHED THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT DEFINED ART, CHALLENGING EXPECTATIONS WITH HIS PORTRAYALS OF POPULAR CULTURE. He was constantly looking at current events and looking to newspapers, to magazines. AND SHODEKEH IS A BEAT BOXER TURNING THE TABLES ON TRADITIONAL ART FORMS Because there were some people

who didn't like that I was beat boxing for ballet. ISLAMIC ARTIST UZMA MIRZA, PAINTS ARABIC WORDS AS MUSICAL NOTES COMBINING MUSIC AND FAITH ... Every piece of art I do, I can't explain how I did it. It was meant to be. PHOTOGRAPHER A.D. WHEELER HAS FOUND ART IN THE DECAY OF URBAN LANDSCAPES. I guess I got bored of shooting the normal everyday stuff. NEXT TIME ON COLORES!