Jefferson Airplane star's art 'takes off'
by JENNIFER EDWARDS, m.staugustine.com
March 6th 2011
Marty Balin, lead vocalist of the influential psychedelic bands Jefferson
Airplane and Jefferson Starship, knew or played music with most of the subjects
of the vibrant paintings he's brought to St. Augustine.
And the paintings -- about 40 in all -- are like a short list of music legends,
including Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin.
But his favorites, Balin said, are of a subject he never met: Le Pétomane, born
Joseph Pujol, a French 19th-century performer with the unusual ability to make
music with a different instrument -- his rear end.
Pujol frequently entertained kings and queens and warmed the stage at the
famous cabaret Moulin Rouge, Balin explained.
"I wondered why (Henri de) Toulouse-Lautrec never painted him," he said. "They
were in the same place and scatologically oriented."
Balin was in town over the weekend to perform and to attend the opening of "The
Marty Balin Band: A Journey Into His Art and Music," a show featuring the
paintings he's done over the past decade and a half. They'll stay up through
March 19.
Toulouse-Lautrec, a French painter, painted during the last half of the 19th
century and became one of the most influential post-Impressionist painters but
he never painted the red-jacketed Le Pétomane.
So, "I tried (to paint a picture) and it didn't come out like Lautrec, it came
out like me," Balin said.
That's not such a bad thing.
The pictures surrounding him as he stood in the space the 130 King Street
Gallery rented for the show seemed to glow with life and personality, their
flourescent colors undimmed despite a lack of light.
In one, Elton John stands in a white suit, dark glasses aglow with glitter. In
another, Jerry Garcia looks pensive as his fingers work a guitar.
On a different wall, Al Green arches his back as he belts out a song along a
long slab of cardboard.
And throughout the gallery hang several images of Balin's friend Janis Joplin,
cloaked in feathers or rings or hats. She is smiling in most of them.
"We were good drinking buddies," Balin said with a smile that makes him look
much younger than 69. "We shared the same girlfriend one time.
"She found out and drank me under the table," Balin said.
He has painted many of the most influential musicians of the last half of the
20th century, but he has many more to go.
He said he has yet to paint Santana, Creedance Clearwater Revival and its lead
singer, John Fogerty.
"I'm doing a Who, trying to get it so the drums are flying out of the painting
at the moment of destruction," he said, flashing that same boyish grin.
Most of Balin's paintings are acrylic on canvas and sometimes mix in sequins
and glitter, said gallery owner Donna Wendler. Wendler organized the show with
sister Sue Geier, who owns Studio 212 in Tarpon Springs.
She said the opening drew about 500 people Friday night.
"He is a true genius," Wendler said. "People were amazed ..."
The paintings change with the lighting, she said.
"At nighttime the colors pop, they really come out," she said. "He sees it the
way he sees things when they're on stage because you're looking from different
vantage points."
She said the paintings would stay in town for a couple more weeks, eventually
going to her sister's gallery and then on to other places.
They're for sale, of course.
It might be interesting to see Balin part with Le Pétomane, though.
"That's his absolute favorite (subject)," she said. "He's very impassioned
about that series. When you see it, you'll know why."
Did you know?
Lead Guitarist/singer Jorma Kaukonen suggested Jefferson Airplane's unusual
name. Jorma had once jokingly been dubbed "Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane" by
a friend in reference to the blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Source: All Music Guide
About Jefferson Airplane:
"Jefferson Airplane defined the San Francisco sound in the 1960s, with the acid
rock guitar playing of Jorma Kaukonen and the soaring twin vocals of Grace
Slick and Marty Balin, scoring hit singles and looking out from the covers of
national magazines."
-- William Ruhlmann of the All Music Guide.
Original Page:
http://m.staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-03-05/jefferson-airplane-stars-art-takes
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