The guardian

Yes this painting is called the guardian. if you can spot this guardian, then you do look well at paintings. I like also the harlequins in it , the gentle figures and what I feel is a selfportrait. The painting belongs to a friend/collector who has a wonderful choice of Tony's work. Of course the landscape is dreamlike, a safe place to rest.

Unknown

My father’s second piece of Tony’s artwork(above) he can thank Les Silver for. It was a rainy night and they were at the Rainbow Room on Sunset Blvd. Both were entering the men's room, and while standing there they noticed this blackboard hanging in front of them. He told Les that he thought it was a strange place to hang a blackboard, which would be my first thought if I was in his position staring at a blackboard jumping out in front of my eyes above the urinal. Les said that it was probably covering up a hole in the wall. My dad, being as curious as a child, looked behind the board only to find that his friend was right. As his eyes withdrew from the gaping hole in the restroom wall, he noticed that there was a painting in the back of the blackboard...it was a Tony Mafia oil. Anyone would be able to guess his next reaction. He was confused as to why someone would put a painting where no one could see it. Les noticed my dad’s bewilderment, and asked him what was wrong. He explained to Les about the painting and about Tony Mafia. They finished their business and walked back to the table to pay their bill, put on their raincoats, and Les said he needed to go to the restroom again and for my father to meet him outside. My dad recounted it this way, “Les then came out, as it was raining and he said LETS GO! We got to my car, he took off his coat and there was the painting. He said ‘Didn't you want it?’ I said yea. He said ‘You'll take better care of it!’” The painting that was stolen by Les is still hanging in our living room. I was blown away. My dad has a stolen painting; I guess no one is perfect after all. My dad added that later in life he told Tony, who loved the story.

Unfinished

Found unfinished ever was 'found' in 1986. Different materials have been used: brown charcoal, pencil, thick black ink, gray oil pastels. Tony often started something, put it aside, added some lines with whatever he had at hand; even felt pens or ballpoints. Many things, also in his life, were left unfinished... It is yours to finish it in your mind, gallop with the horses in this drawing, roam.

Masked acrobat

I guess we are all masked acrobats, not showing our feelings, unable to speak of our needs. Tony's biggest need was being able to just paint, just play music. More than once he said If at the end I become to sick, just put me in a room with my materials and instruments and put some food inside every day... You can feel the concentration on the instrument in the picture above. He is playing the 'Crying Madonna', bought in Montellano near Seville. The painting Masked acrobat is in Antwerp, owned by a fellow artist who has quite an impressive overall collection.

The Kiss

The Kiss is an etching. At least three times Tony had people buy a good large etching press for him. They would be rewarded by a series of etchings. It happened in the US, at least once and Doug Lyons still has some the etchings from that period. This etching stems from 1984 in Belgium when a group of friends without a lot of money, also pinched in and got him the press. This is from the vet's series. When he left, he also left the press and it went to another starving artist... The last press he had went to an activity center for people with incurable diseases but who are fit enough to express themselves in an artistic way.

Black sun and painted ponies

This is an oil on heavy German etching paper, from March 1992. After the battle the painted ponies and the women cry. The landscape is gray and the sun black. Some warriors in the background still stand, so it isn't all sadness. The painting went to Canada as far as I know, a lady falling in love with the horses. When Tony painted them, they were movement, the icon of a horse and thus more suggestive than a realist rendering would have been.

Pen and ink

These pen and ink, black and white drawings are sometimes whimsical, sometimes tender, an expression of his fears or a longing for what never could be. Tony did some Christmas cards every year for friends like Anke and Sam Nassi and Doug Lyons. This might be one of them. The landscape in the background is inviting you to dream in it, to escape in it. Sometimes I am asked who owns a painting or a drawing that was posted. Since some are from photographs found in guitar cases or in folders and drawers or because the images find their way to me through friends from friends the whereabout of the work is in quite a few cases unknown ... But as Tony said: You'll recognize me by my brush strokes.

White Dog

This wonderful large oil was painted after Tony received the news that his older, also white haired, brother Bill had died. Family relations never were straightforward in Tony's life nor very close. But obviously a lot of caring poured out on this canvas. We also have had a white dog for a while: Angus who pestered Tony and tested him lifting up his leg inappropriately like here in the painting. This is quite a metaphor for his brother's perceived behavior. Yet Tony admired him since his brother had found black and white pottery shards which turned out to be older than his fellow anthropologists ever thought possible. Tony and Bill shared at least the pride of their Indian blood.

Poison

Tony didn't really recycle, yet he cared deeply about all things natural being killed by big industry, be it logging or because of pollution. This drawing stems from 199g, a while after a company had discharged some poisonous material. Note the stretcher, note the dying animals - was he forefeeling his own demise? This drawing is the only one in which you will find a car!!

A dream of one night of summer

This soft painting was send by the vet who was/is a close friend of Tony's and keeps me supplied with scanned in photographs or pictures of Tony Mafia's work and works belonging to friends... Public thanks for that. The drawing, as usual mixed media on thick German paper, stems from 1981. Note the unicorn, looking back over his shoulder, and the harlequin like figure and dream on, yet only for one night...

White Gloves

This is a rather large oil painting from 1999. Note the fiery tongues, also in the horses. Images are powerful but not always clear as to their intend. Is it fear, anger or just desperately trying to communicate? Strangely the more one goes into the reds, the more serene the figures are. The yellow figure, pierced by the fire, holds up her hand in a protective way, protecting what lies behind.

Clowns

Two clowns in love, beautiful in color and composition. But did it work out?
A text by Tony from December 1976, Ode to a one I have passed. In a period with hearttrouble after the first operation.
I have been passed by, around, over & under, and even had a by-pass. But no matter passings there will never be a bigger shit than you, lover. Thank Goooooooood we were only passing.
I have had tough meat to eat, met tough men I could never beat. One so tough he knocked me on my doff damn rough! But no matter I still can laugh and scream, tough shit on you lover. If I had never met another I might never have had a companion. Thank Goooooooood we were only passing. And on you I lay the words of a friend of mine: you I shall ever pass, thank gooooooooooooddd vou were only off passing. I pass.

I don't know who owns the painting, nor who the lover was...

For the head of a dog

This watercolor with pastel was done in Strasbourg France in 1991. I don't remember whether in spring or late autumn. It was part of the 'payment to the dentist'. Obviously the theme is Native American with the typical iconic landscape of Arizona in the background. See the turtle? The Americas are called Turtle Island by the Indians. His signature Black Sun is prominently present as a drawing. Nice work Tony, it was a good time for us...

Not to like

Well Tony, the white curly hair is the giveaway clue that it is a selfportrait, obviously liked this blond lady, but he definitely didn't like cats. See the paintings in the background in top left corner and the wedding ring. He was astonished at how 'easy' Belgian women were. I just notice his small golden earring: definitely a selfportrait of a younger Tony.

New Wave Golden Eyes

This painting is signed, not dated. Black and white, man and woman, not looking at each other, yet there is togetherness. Maybe that is the best one can hope for. Tony had such a the-shirt... if you recognize it and know more, please share your knowledge.

Underworld

This mixed medium came to life in 1996. It represents the subconscious which is chaos and out of which grows a friendly, tranquil garden. At least in art. The theme gave Tony the opportunity to combine abstract and almost figurative as two sides of the same coin in one drawing. It was shown in the retrospective in the castle in Hoboken. "One of the most striking aspects of abstract art's appearance is her nakedness... abstract art is stripped bare of other things in order to intensify it,its rhythms, spacial intervals, and color structure." (Robert Motherwell)

Nello's dream

When Tony was eight years old at Lawrence Hall Indian Home for Boys, he was tested and turned out to be gifted as a painter. It had been forever his dream to be exactly that. Nello, the sad hero of The Dog of Flanders, spoke to his imagination. This painting is almost an illustration of the story but expresses more than that, warmth and loyalty, the dream of beauty... Actually love and death is its real theme. If you happen to be in Antwerp, take tram 4 or 2 to Hoboken and check out the City Info center in Kapellestraat, office hours only, they have brochures to hand out to you.