So the HBO wonder-woman in all things press, Cecile e-mailed this morning, saying that they needed a photo of me. I paused and thought of the ones I hate in those recent No 1 articles, and in turn sent a note to "John upstairs," as he's called with many of my friends.
John Upstairs has been a resident artist in Tribeca for - too many years - let's say we stopped counting at 35 when Ernie the Cat, of the Ernie books by Tony Mendoza, was also a resident and the building had not yet been converted nor did anyone but arists want to live in Tribeca. His original loft (an old paper factory) could outshine anybody's in Architectural Digest's (in fact, if you want to see the building, go to the issue where Michael Imperioli hangs out of his window - he looks over to John's windows, the scrappy one which could use a paint job.)
John's paintings are fantastic - he shows in public rarely, in favor of private viewings. He works in his studio every day, one half of the loft, the other half is nothing short of a museum of collections - artists friends, things gracing the pages of Christies, amazing finds out of the trash - and it is always fun to "go upstairs" to see what new creations hang on the walls. His life is inspired - coined once the "recluse about town," - and I'm not sure too many live this "outsider vision" anymore. Once when I went to see Helen Martin's house in the Karoo in South Africa, it was John who supplied the definition of "outsider art" to me.
He was keen for an impromtu photo shoot, for what else do any of us have to do all day long in Tribeca? He bragged of owning a tripod (a gift from his sister.) I asked if we needed a camera, to which he said that some people who were interested in his art, had sent him one, so he could take photos before they choose a painting to buy. So I took a reluctant shower, and half an hour later, we were dithering about taking cheesecake photos, or the closest thing the subject matter would merit.
John lives a fully artistic life, and has a fabulous eye. He took about a dozen photos, and we narrowed it down to two choices for HBO. The one here, in front of one of John's paintings from the 70s, is NOT the one HBO chose but is the one that looks more like me. (Of course, we had to send one photo that looked like me - not chosen - and one which did not - chosen. The chosen one may be on their website.)
Now, here are two photos above on my blog: one of me, and one of my former resident, Ernie, the Cat. See if you can decide which is which.
Thank you John.
