Ortodox Jews

This oil painting is shared by Daffodil. It was painted in Antwerp in 1968. She shares that her mother in law met Tony in Miami and went to his home in North Miami Beach. It was sometime in the late 60's. She paid $500 for the painting. It is 48x36 ". Tony was living with his wife who was pregnant at the time.

All this information is correct. His wife was probably pregnant with their second child at the time. In 1968 he lived in a small apartment in Antwerp in the Jewish quarter of town: Korte or Lange Herentalse Straat, between central Station and the Town Park. In that period he drew and portrayed a lot of the Jewish people around, the majority in that area being orthodox. He and his family left for the States half of January 1969. I am so certain of that because I have a dated good bye drawing for my daughter who just was born on the 1st of January. He told me later he had been teaching at the university in Miami but the students didn't get credits for it since he did not have the right degrees. Well that was Tony.

Tony the poet

A grey grain in the sands of time
dark clouds and thunder call from the night
looking lonely for some one to love
as I love thee
But lonely I wander

Lonely I wander
an endless hum in the melody of time
a breeze blown from the sea
laughing crying called to me
looking lonely for someone to love
as I loved thee
But lonely we wander


This is a part of a song Tony wrote somewhere in the seventies.

Tenderness

Tenderness is a simple watercolor, a few lines in brown ink and a dab or two of pastel. The work stems from 1983 and is probably a tribute to a then redhead short time girlfriend. The male figure could be an icon for his younger self, seen the white hair.

Blue selfportrait

It was time for another selfportrait. This one is mixed media, oil on paper; it stems from the period in 1981. The Vet has loads of those. The lyrics typical for Tony's longing say: and see me. Like all of us he wanted to be seen and loved for whom he was. Note the realistic details of earrings and the dog in the background. The large pallet was a typical attribute. He often represented himself as a painter.

Looking at the big world

Looking at the big world was shown at the retrospective ' I am a brush' in Castle Sorghvliet Hoboken November 27 in 2003 till January 2004. Here you see it bathing in the Antwerp morning winter sun, waiting for it's place. It is an almost totally abstract work, with powerful reds. If you scroll down 4/5 on the lefthandside at the bottom, you'll see a figure watching. We are small in relation to the universe and contemplating that grandness Tony Mafia had a healthy respect. A peaceful Christmas to you all: love and light.

The big guitar

The vet and Tony were close. Tony laid a lot of drawings and paintings on him, also this double drawing I had never seen. It stems from the first year of our togetherness. What more can I say: thanks. Spain has always been good to us, in total he bought over the years all nice guitars. The first one was called 'Crying Madonna':

The master
He looks and feels
and knows
the craftsman
who under the Madonna’s tears
gives life to the guitar
Angel wings
will make it
sing
to prince
or king

Crying

A beautiful yet sad drawing from the same period as Blue Soup, somewhere in 1982. The dog Song is also in this drawing. If I remember rightly he lost the dog and the girl. Also note the pigeons and the fish. You'll find a lot of birds in Tony's paintings. We once had 23 cages with all singing male canaries in a very small flat... Later on he also had several aquariums. See the water in the background, ready to break over the figures?

Circus

It was time for another circus drawing: look at the strange perspective from high up, although the high wire, the tight rope is even higher. Also notice the signature double face in the front. He would always return to the subject as a metaphor of life.

Mexico

A simple pen and ink drawing with probably the background squares done with an airbrush, so is his 'Mexico'. He loved Mexico, the colors, the music, even the food. He lived in Mexico city, toured through Mexico, lived in Tijuana in 'a cardboard' house. He painted the bullring in Tijuana. That was the time when Sinatra send his chauffeur to go and fetch Tony, bring him over with his portfolio and then he would choose one or two drawings. To Tony Mafia Mexico symbolized a life with more togetherness, when a man was still allowed to be macho, when being an artist was grand and bullfighting was a way of life.

Dancing in the colors

This mixed media drawing was shown in the retrospective in Hoboken from December 2003 to January 2004. Here once again he refers to his Indian blood, the dances and the landscape albeit in a fairly abstract way. Some one on Steph's blog ' Reflexivity' wanted to know Tony's 'real name'. His birth name was Robert Lee Alderson. He disliked the name and all it signified to him. One of the reasons to take his stepfather's bastardized name (it had been turned around from Mafai to Mafia) was that it gave him a reason to distance himself from elements in his family he didn't like (a very severe uncle comes to mind who used to shave his ears when he was a still a small kid). The new name gave him a chance to reinvent himself. He was proud of his Indianess, the Irish and even the Dutch in his mother, but didn't feel comfortable with some of the Kentucky ways of doing things. To Tony, Tony Mafia was his name. Almost all his papers were in that name or carried it as 'Aka: also known as'.

Black Sun

From te top of the mesas once sang our people, now in a world known only to us. That is the text on this 1991 drawing done in Antwerp. Regularly Tony Mafia honored his heritage and was Black Sun. I like the openness, sparseness and almost abstractions in part the drawing and the Hopi girl with her typical hairdo. Of course you see the mesas in the background. A good place to be full of harsh beauty.

The dancer

The dancer is a loose, fluid oil from 1982 on paper with oil pastels. The subtitle is 'of klaar of niet', the enigmatic either ready or not. I remember that sometimes Tony Mafia would do almost monochromatic paintings: white on white, blues on blues. This is not one of those drawings; yet he was looking for something here: lightheartedness, freedom, beauty, maybe also a simpler life. It must have been a fast drawing of a dancing harlequin, the type of work some people considered unfinished. The vet loves this drawing hanging in his living room.

The pieces all fit

That is the name of this watercolor with oil pastel and pencil. Indeed it all comes together some way: the mask, the clown, the virgin, the Arizona landscape in pencil, the words, the whimsical flowers, the half red profile. Tony liked to challenge himself by making it a bit harder to do. I seem to remember he did this drawing at the studio of Dave Huntzinger, probably enticing Dave to be a bit freer and wilder in his compositions. When in distress painting and making music would be the only thing that would calm him down. The concentration chased the bad moods. The pieces all fit in a place. That day in June in 1995 after a bad episode in the hospital the pieces did fit. So he gave Dave the drawing.

Force

An esoteric friend send me this picture of a double mixed media drawing on German etching paper done in Hoboken in 1999. It is an dreamlike drawing with the symbols of what constitutes life. You'll find a lot emotion and force and a masked deity. The stallion faces the crow and the lizard cleanses. My friend enjoys this Mafia painting as it lights up her house, infuses energy and brings happiness. Also note the katchina and the coupstick: if you have to do battle count coup, don't kill or maim... Good philosophy!

Indians - Punks

This painting the veterinarian classified as Indians. Yet they might be punks. Tony did several paintings of punks when they were to be seen everywhere. It was novel, they intrigued him and they adorned themselves which is a pretty Indian thing to do. So to me this painting is the juxtaposition of old and new Mohawks. Of traditional and nowadays Indians. Enjoy the rich texture of this oil painting.

First Young Snow

Remember the joy of first, fresh snow. Innocent, clean, white and whimsical, easy comradeship. Life as snowballs in your arms. Silly, kind, lighthearted. That Tony could be also, even in late winter of beginning 1999, he was happy the day he painted this mixed medium in Hoboken. See the abstractions of the high rises? The off green of the polder? Next time it snows, just feel good and think of beauty.

Blue soup

This mixed media drawing is a self portrait from 1982. You'll see the tattoo: The first part was a chinese dragon put on his arm when being an able bodied sailer, he turned 16 in a Chinese port. It seems he lost his virginity the same night thanks to his mates. He kept adding things to the tattoo and changing it. So one day in Antwerp he had put around the dragon: Life is a bowl of blue soup and loving. A few years later the 'and loving' was changed also in Antwerp for some flowers. He had a dog then, a Belgium shepard, called Song. It was a dark time in his life. The drawing is called a België song...

Conversation

As promised, here is a pic of the watercolor I purchased about 20 years ago at an estate sale in Santa Monica. My wife and I collect mid century modern designs (furniture, glass, ceramics and art) and this unknown (until now) piece has been a well loved piece of our collection ever since. I hope others out there will enjoy it as well. I researched Tony's work several years ago and only knew he was a musician/artist in LA. It's terrific to see how varied his work is and how well received it continues to be.

Thanks,

Gary Edwards
Sleepy Hollow, Il.

I love it when 'unknown' but loved pieces of work show up and can be shared with you all. This is clearly from the bearded, fuzzy hair flower power period. The detail of the shoe is funny.

Religious paintings

The African country I just visited is over 80 % Christian so it seemed appropriate to show a painting of Christ. Tony was catholic believing in the goodness of Christ, not being sure about his godliness. Yet he used the Christian iconography a lot in his paintings. He cared about the suffering of Christ - look at the eyes in this painting and the lines in the face - and the pain and loss of Mary Magdalen. The stories of the old testament and the new, it has all been painted. In this particular painting he combines Christ and a native sun. 'Native' obviously as in Native American, maybe referring to his own name 'Black Sun'. The portrait of Christ was painted in Chloride in 1996 and is now in the caring possession of Ken and Irene Fielder.

Rubbelsoul: please send your testimony and picure of the work you have. Tell us something about it.

On the road again

Tony used to sing on the road again... making music with friends. He cherished the phrase like band of gypsies. That is what I'll be: off line till the end of next week. I am showing this black lady since I am on my way to Africa. Also Tony was on the first march to Alabama. He told me the marchers were chased by German shepherds and he didn't like that one bit.

Pale warrior

Tony's father was Indian. Tony traced it as Onondaga Cherokee: North Eastern Cherokee. He was proud of this heritage as being part of one of the five civilized tribes. Of course his mother was 'mixed European'. He was fair skinned, as a kid had black but curly hair and dark eyes and an elongated face with high and pronounced cheekbones. He used to tell the story that when he was in the Indian orphanage in Lawrence Hall for Boys the 'do-gooder' ladies would come by and sometimes whisper among themselves to end up pointing at him saying: "See that light one, he could be one of us". That haunted him the rest of his life. This painting is about him being a pale warrior, after some unpleasant remarks by Indians and by non-Indians. Here he claims his place: Wait pale warrior waiting. Then a space and the message goes on: Accept me.
That probably was about his painting.

What is, is always II

My Personal Tribute to Tony Mafia

Tony was a great friend of mine.
We first met up in a Flemish music shop around 1981.
I took an instant dislike to the guy. What a poser ! He was too much ‘long white haired cowboy and funky Indian’ to be true. We spent a couple of months glaring at each other across crowded bars and then we finally met up and became great friends. One of the things I really liked about Tony was that he always used to tell me to get my teeth fixed – I was a streetsinger at the time.

Then one day he did something amazing for me. He asked if I would I like him to illustrate the lyrics of my own songs ? Hey, this guy is a class artist, so of course I was really honoured. We met up the next day at a cafe near the art Academy, in the old part of Antwerp. Tony had brought a big piece of black leather, with some hide strips cut to make it a kind of carrying folder. Inside the folder was a big pile of rough torn, thick sheets of parchment. It was the most beautiful paper I had ever seen.

Tony passed a sheet over to me and gave me a nib pen plus a pot of black chinese ink to dip it into. He told me to start to write out the words, but to leave some space for his drawings. I just sat there for ages frozen, just staring at this beautiful paper while Tony got busy. After a while he noticed me and asked what’s up ? I said I was scared to start in case I messed up this gorgeous sheet of paper. Tony just reached over and grabbed the paper. He then tore it up into tiny pieces and threw them all into the air. Then, looking impishly accross the table at me, he characteristically just shrugged and got busy again.

Anyway, I got over my holy joe reverance for white parchment after that and I got started on writing out the words to the songs and so we finished the job. We did eleven songs. Then he carefully tied and ceremoniously presented me with the completed portfolio of fine black leather and parchment. It could have easily come from the 15th Century.

I left it with my family in England, but it got lost when they died. It’s probably somewhere still, as likely in pieces and maybe that’s how it should be.
I am so proud to be his friend. Tony Mafia is a brother of mine.

Bob Rowley – Antwerpen - 10th November 2007.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PS. You can hear part of these eleven songs at :
http://cdbaby.com/cd/rowley or just google my name.

Thanks Robin!

Music & friends II

Here is Robin R. with whom Tony did a lot of busking, seen here playing his latest songs in front of Tony's painting L'Homme Révolté. This painting shows the gray skies of Flanders, the sky over the polders with just a touch of yellow sunlight. This is how light and surrounding would influence his paintings. The couple is dancing in the face of fate, exuding tenderness and strength. in places the paint is thin and translucent, but the gray sky is thick and solid. He painted this piece in 1996 in Hoboken, probably after some rather wet walks with the dogs in the polder near the Scheldt. Listening with an approving and knowledgeable ear is Spookie.

Music & friends

Tony used to play music in the streets, busking. He also played gigs with friends. For a while Deroll Adams and Norris Bennett and Tony would play in bars and youth centers. In the seventies, you would find them every Tuesday evening in the St Mathijs in Antwerp. So Tony brought musicians in my life. Here you see a picture of Norris playing the dulcimer under a painting. Music was always important to Tony. He played mainly folk, country, some rock and eight bar blues in seven and a half. Some of the Dutch musicians were too precise for him: If a fly lands on their sheet music, they play it... He loved to play flamenco: bullerias, fandangos, ... He played even a few classical pieces. He owned several guitars, two banjo's, and a harmonica on which he liked to blow Irish songs. He has given away several guitars. He gave away a lot of other things too. The painting from 1999 is called She holds nothing.

The Fish

Spooky wrote that her Grandson seems fascinated and talking and listening to Tony's painting, in her words: Arend Celis is weg van de tekening van Tony. Hij is er door gebiologeerd en praat ertegen. Ik heb de indruk dat hij echt met Tony praat, want soms zwijgt hij en lijkt hij heel aandachtig te luisteren. De andere tekeningen en schilderijen hebben minder zijn aandacht. Alhoewel Colette Cleeren kan hij ook wel smaken.

IsabelNecessary, whom I don't know at all, knew Tony. She volunteered following testimony:
Thank you for making this blog for Tony. I met him in the late 1950's in Greenwich Village where he was hustling his paintings. My husband, the artist Mark Cheka, and I knew him in L.A. in the 60's and 70's. The last time I saw Tony was in the early to mid 70's at Canter's Deli on Fairfax in L.A. I am happy to hear that although we lost contact that he thrived for many more years. I don't have any paintings by Tony, although I may have a painting that Mark did of him. Thanks, everyone, for sharing all the memories.

Isabel and Mark, if you read this, please send a picture of the painting Mark did of Tony...

I am adding the drawing The Fish, property of the vet in which Tony's longing for a belonging a you is the theme. Even now he seems to find many you's.

Ja

Het is niet morgens lange voor altijd,
nooitnimmer of een gedachte van gisteren
dat dit tot leven bracht, wat dan ook,
daar stond het zeggend: “Kijk
naar mij, ik ben schoonheid, kijk naar
mij, ben ik niet iets dat
jij gevoeld hebt, voelend terwijl je
wellicht trachtte te leven, levend,
gevend.” Ik voel mijn schilderziel
zeggend, kijk naar mij, schoonheid
geschilderd.

Dit was al wat ik kon verstaan
hoewel ik mijn hand aan mijn oor hield
en luisterde. Ik kwam dichter, maar
dra leek mijn nabijheid het
veel zachter te maken, hardhoriger
en in niet kunnen verstaan
kwam de vrees, die me beklemde. Ik liep,
lopend naar iemand, iets om me te helpen bij
mijn begrijpen van de angst voor niet weten.

Ik liep langs verleden herinnering in mijn vlucht.
Vrees weerhield mij hen om hulp
te vragen bij mijn niet weten.
Trots weerhield mij mijn behoefte
tot begrijpen te tonen. Het bleef
in mij terugkomen: “Ik ben schoonheid
levend, ik voel mijn geschilderde ziel,
mijn schilderschoonheid.”

Ik liep langs een stroom scharlaken vissen.
Zachtjes zong ik voor ze: “Ken
je de geschilderde schoonheid niet?
Of laat je koude, natte huis
je niet weten van de liefde
van anderen voor hun eigen schoonheid?”
Zij zwommen slechts stroomopwaarts
en antwoordden niet eens, of
tenminste begreep ik het niet
als zij het deden. Zo doende voelde ik
mij alleen, eenzaam. Zo zeer bevreesd
liep ik snel, harder, verder en verder
want zij leken er niet om te geven
of deze schoonheid bestond
voor haar eeuwigheid. Zo loop, liep,
lopend ving de wind mijn
waaiende manen omwevend
mijn gelaat in een kant van angst
mij verblindend voor alles wat ik in mijn vlucht
ontliep om de stille klank te vinden die
ik zo wilde kennen, het geheim
begrijpen van deze schoonheid haar
geschilderde ziel die mijn dorst kon lessen,
deze blinde haast van angst zou STOPPEN,
vrees voor het onbekende, zwartste
nacht koud alleen, alle verblindende tranen
stopt. Beëindigen de onwetendheid. Ik stond
opnieuw te luisteren, door mijn harige manen
glinsterend kwam een ochtendlicht.
Mijn angstjacht was gelopen, nu getoond
de zon die licht gaf, warmte
aan het scharlaken vis vloeiende rivier
lied. Zij kenden het zingen, het is
schoonheid. Wist je dat niet?

dus nu keer ik weer naar de plaats
waar ik begon, kwam de stem zacht op
de wind. Ik luisterde, ze zei: “Ik
ben schoonheid, ben ik niet, kijk naar mij en
bemin. Kijk naar mij, ben ik niet iets
dat je hebt gevoeld, voelend hoe mijn
geschilderde ziel ja zegt. Ik ben geheel schoonheid
en ja, jou geef ik ze.”

Ze zei heel zachtjes
Ja.

Dutch: 1995. And Yes fear was a strong feeling in Tony: fear of death, fear of not being understood and loved and ofcourse a zest for life, joy and charm. It seem fitting to remembr this on this All Souls Day...

Yes

It’s not tomorrows long forever,
nownever, or a yesterday’s thought
that made this live, what ever,
there it stood saying: “Look
at me, I am beauty, look at
me, am I not something you
have felt, feeling while
maybe trying to live, living,
giving.” I feel my paint soul
saying look at me, beauty
painted

This all I could understand
though I cupped my hand to my ear
and listened. I moved closer, but
soon my very nearness seemed to make
it much softer a harder to hear
and in not being able to understand,
came fear, frightening me. I ran, running
to someone, something to help me in
my understanding the fear of not knowing.

I passed past memories in my flight.
Fright stopped me from asking them for
their help in my not knowing.
Pride stopped me from showing
my need to understand. It kept
coming back to me: “I am beauty
living, I feel my painted soul,
my paint of beauty.”

I passed a river of scarlet fishes.
I softly sang to them: “Can
you not feel its painted beauty?
Or does your cold wet home
not let you know of other's
love for their own beauty?”
They but swam up stream and
did not even answer or
at least I did not understand
if they did. It made me feel
alone, lonely. So much in fear
I ran fast, harder, on and on
for they seemed not to care
if this beauty existed for
its eternity. So run, ran,
running the winds caught my
moving mane wrapping it
about my face in a fears lace

blinding me to all I passed in my
race to find the silent sound I
so wanted to know, the secret
understanding of this beauty painted
soul, that quench my thirst could,
this blind pace of fear would STOP,
fright of the unknown, darkest
night cold alone, all tears blinding
be stopped. Stop unknowing. I stood
relistening, through my hair mane
glistening came a morning light.
My fear chase was run, now shown
the sun giving its light, warmth
to the scarlet fish flowing river
song. They knew singing, it is
beauty. Didn’t you know?


So now I return to the place
I began, came the voice soft on
the wind. I listened, it said: “I
am beauty, am I not, look at me and
love. Look at me, am I not something
you have felt, feeling my painted
souls saying yes. I am all beauty and
yes to you I do give it.”

It said very softly
Yes.

Story by Tony Mafia, 1974. Yes to you I give it.

Nureyev

Dave Q.T. Betts about Nureyev and the drawing: I have always been a lover of the ballet,being raised on it having an elder sister who was a professional dancer. After the death of Rudolph Nureyev from aids,I wrote a song dedicated to him called "Dancing Man". Any way, I was staying with Ann Marie and Tony at the Lage Weg and asked Tony to listen to this new song. Tony was sitting on the sofa and behind me was a part started picture he was working on. So I started to sing "Dancing Man" it was going well,when Tony suddenly jumped up !! picked up the picture from the easel and turned it upside down and started to work frantically on it,saying "can't you see it,can't you see it ????" He finished the picture and presented it to me as a gift. Don't know if you can make it out,but in the center is a dancer pirouetting on a stage withe audience in the foreground and the stage lights and drapes framing him. The inscription reads "David Betts Nureyev dances and death - Tony Mafia 94. Here's a little after story about the song. I was staying with a friend Kurt Uhler near San Diego and he had heard the song and asked would I go with him to sing it for a friend ?? I said sure. We went down some back alleys and reached a house belonging to his landlady. Kurt knocked on the door and a little face peered out at us from behind the metal security gate."Yes what do you want"asked the old lady ? Would you please listen to this song my friend from England has written,asked Kurt. I didn't know what was happening so I start to sing to this strange lady on her back porch. Bye the time I finish,she is sobbing with tears pouring down her face ??? She was a Russian ballet teacher,had worked with many visiting ballets in San Diego and had been a personal friend of Nureyev !!!!

Ballance

Tony was often in delicate balance. A breeze, an impression, the suggestion of an attitude, could make him angry. Yesterday I was reminded of the day Tony met a colleague of mine: a nice, civilized man. He remembered after looking at the blog that the one and only time he and Tony met, within seconds it seemed, Tony got pretty upset. None of us remember what had triggered this. Tony could make friends for life in half a minute and often I would add an enemy in half a second. So this is why I show a painting where he is trying for balance. He kept going over and over it. Yes, all our lives are a delicate balance and Tony certainly was hypersensitive but he kept looking for beauty and honesty in his work. He used to say "My work is better than I am. I am just the asshole you know."

The sequel

Dave wrote: Second sketch.Not sure which bar this was,think it was in the red light area.inscription reads "Conversation cries,driving in England,Sweden was good for it or so the baird breathed,it,s not that simple.Still the baird,still the baird.

When Tony did these pen and ink drawings in a café, they were usually 'situational'. It would be the café, the drinkers and women. This one in the text refers to Dave's life, the places, the singing and finding him unchanged. He has given away countless napkins, we even once organized a napkin exhibition in Hoboken.

Bar art

Story to go with pictures.-------I knew Tony from the late sixties in Antwerpen,Belgium, we were good buddies then, always play fighting verbally and teasing each other about our language differences,(he was still trying to master English !) anyway we lost contact over the next more than twenty years and only met up again in 1991 in dear old Antwerpen.It was like we had never parted!!The war of words and wills continued,but in the best of humor (usually)This first sketch was done when we were out on the town doing the bars,on that day of reunion.It was drawn in the "Pelikan" bar on the corner opposite the "Muse".The bearded character is Montana Bob, no longer with us and that's his daughter with him.As per usual there is a Tony inscription on it,that reads "Love,time and not many left in a bar of forgotten memories,this is the trouble"

This is a Dave Q.T. Redheart F. Betts memory of Tony, more to come.

Three women

I want to warn you all that I am a wanderer, often on the road, like these three lovely ladies in this small canvas Tony painted in Chloride. See their boots? See the turquoise they wear? Turquoise is a good, healing and protective stone and the Navajo say it is a piece of the sky you are wearing. Tony was partial to turquoise, often wore rings, his concho belt and of course cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. The big pale blue sky is so Arizona, as is the wide expanse, the summer desert. The looseness of this painting is its charm: two stick flowers, a stripe for a bracelet, a dot for a ring... Yet it is all there.

What is, is always

I tend to smile a lot,when I think of Tony,
We used to keep each other sane.
Somtimes just as mean as sin,sometimes lost and lonely,
Shining like a black sun in the rain.

Chorus. Hoboken in the rain,Chloride in the sun.
We'd sit and shoot the breeze,till the day was done.
It just won't be the same,goodbye silver hair.
Mohave take him home,I wish that I was there.

Like a maniac at times,fighting with the colours,
Dancing with a paintbrush in his mouth.
In the middle of the night restless as a demon,
Searching for the truth despite his health.

Chorus.

Onondaga Cherokee,of Irish dancing mother,
Cowboy of the sea and desert wind.
Out of time flamenco mind,voyeur of the spirit,
Standing on the outside looking in.

Chorus.

He would stand rod in hand,fishing for an answer,
Fishing helped to keep the dark away.
Casino lights and Vegas nights,kept his mind distracted,
Helped to keep his shadow land at bay.

Chorus.

We would often sit in silence,staring into nothing,
No need to speak,no words to say.
Then he'd just look at me and raise his eyebrows lightly,
Saying "What the hell we going to do today".

Chorus.

Words and music David F Betts, May 1999. Click on the link and you can hear other songs by Dave as well. Picture of Tony in his forties.

What stands behind

It is a good thing we don't know What stands behind. Yet when it is such beauty as in this drawing I wonder whether the fear is less of the unknown is less. Or would the joy be greater because of desasters not yet happened, dignity not yet lost. Life and living to the fullest is the message here before the last betrayal in accepting the silver coins. Tony painted this in 1984 in Antwerp. Well maybe the guy is just a heavy tipper, like Tony was when he had money.

Unaware
he put the money
in her apron
Buying a smile
and gratitude
a moment’s understanding
a rapport
a touch of black and silk
a spark of youth

Unaware
she took the money
and surprised
she sold her
smile

Monsters

I was gently rebuked about Tony's dark episodes. His friend is right: Tony always seemed happy and bubbly; but exhaustion, not feeling well and general disgruntlement with the world would take over as it tends to do with us all. In his happy moments he painted on everything and when the decor no longer suited him he would change it, paint it over. Although he was mortified when some else painted over a piece of work in their place. This animal started crawling on the bathroomwall on a happy day... more of those excepts of murals, existing and non existing are to come. Obvious a lizard is an Indian symbol for water and purity and growth.
Well this one could be a Gila monster, living in the Mojave desert, are pretty but poisonous making his way on a wall in Hoboken.

Mother

This particular drawing, mixed media on paper, was done in 1991 when Tony learned in Antwerp that his mother had passed away in Nevada. She was had been a very pretty woman en had been a dancer till her early fifties in the old Thunderbird Casino in Las Vegas. He thought the world of her and cared about the painting, so it happened he gave it to his friend the veterinarian for safe keeping. Do you see the stained glass windows of the cathedral? The right one is a crucifixion. The text reads: A lady of deepest love has passed I cry...

Red Egg

Tony, by many, is seen as an always happy camper. He was not: he was troubled, fearful and often severely depressed. Not being a saint, I was often over the brink of exhaustion and exasperated. Tony saw a shrink, who once told me: you could walk on foot to Scherpenheuvel and walk three times around the basilica, and still you couldn't do things right for him... He felt it as a load to be called a genius and to have to suffer the 'consequences' while others happily and carelessly went about their life. Sometimes he would long for a God, for divine intervention, but could not really believe. This 1997 painting, actually two self-portraits and a text presented as a tryptic, was shown at his Retrospective in Hoboken. Red Egg is a clear expression of such a mood.

The Rain

It has been raining constantly and heavy. That happens once in a while here in Belgium. Sometimes it leads to flooding field and houses. This happened to our house in Hoboken, in autumn 1998. (He had to go in the house and safe our two Brussels Griffons who were on top of a floating armchair). Being hypersensitive, the weather and events around influenced Tony. His images and subjects where always in one way or another connected to his life. They also were a bid for immortality. Under my reign is one of such paintings. Of course he always allows in his canvasses for an escape, a resting place. We talked long whether it had to be 'Under my rain' or not... By the way, there is a double portrait in here of Tony and myself, hidden in the masses.

On the road

Tony enjoyed being on the road. He would take his guitar and his brushes and could survive that way. I am on the road now. Give me a few days and I'll be back. I choose a small etching done in 1984 because sometimes he would sell those while traveling. A few times a bunch of friends gathered money to buy an etching press for Tony in exchange for a set of prints... This is one of those.

The Cabaret

It would happen that Tony had to paint. Many have noticed that. He would get agitated and nervous and only painting or playing the guitar would help. In those instances he used anything to work on: heavy cotton, boards, napkins. I wonder how many of the napkins he gave away are still around. It would suffice that somebody noticed him working and watched him work for him to give them the piece he was working on. He has regretted giving away a few extra nice pieces that didn't get the respect they deserved. An example? Tony carefully hands over a beautiful nude, rather large and the guy just folds it and crumples it in his coat pocket. He later tells us he hung the drawing in his bedroom but that his wife felt intimidated by it and destroyed it... The Cabaret is on cotton primed with a green flat paint and nailed to some fence boards picked up in the desert, probably done in 1994.

Least he be judged

Yesterday's comment was right on: Tony did not want to be judged. When in his private live things got muddled he held up a painting in self-defense. One sees that gesture in several of his works. In his self-portraits he also often surrounded himself with his canvasses. In this painting he portrays himself without frills as a small, vulnerable man, at home on his slippers, dancing as he would in front of the canvas. Here he combines frailty, being Indian and an artist and a husband. This painting still breaks my heart as much as it makes me smile. The honesty of his work is part of what makes it great, yet we should not forget it is a self-definition: showing whom he was and how he wanted to be seen. Tony named this canvas: Paintdance for Annmarie, painted December 6, 1997.

The art critic

I wrote before that Tony didn't cherish art critics. Here the art critic is shown as the emperor without clothes contemplating paintings in a gallery, signed Tony Mafia. In the later period of his painting and life he often painted paintings in a painting. I knew he usually like big canvasses. So I asked one day why he did this kind of cutting up of the space he had at his disposal. His answer was: I won't have time to paint them all. I guess he thought them too intellectual, too much part of creating the establishment, not really being creative but judgmental. I like the strange forced perspective, the painted sculptings and the flat and three dimentional figure. I would call this a humorist's painting, a naughty child's superior prank.

The Horse

Tony used to say he was the fastest brush of the West... yet some paintings he would go over and over again. The horse is one of those. It was first a carousel horse with children and after many changes, using part of what was there, it became this Chagalesque canvas. Sometimes he would change a painting because it was too easy, too sweet, too decorative. He would be offended by the fact that people would imply that he painted in the style of Chagal... He saw the similarities but had been doing the dancing figures in the sky and the strange color animals before he had seen a Chagal. The horse was painted and signed in Antwerp in 1982 and the vet is the proud owner of it. See how the lady hides the carousel horse and how the skull and the fear of death is in the harlequin's despairing hands?

Chaotic life

This double piece, with a double portrait and Indian iconography, was bought by Frans Schraeven from Tilburg in Holland, through a friend of us. I had never seen the piece since Tony painted it while I was in hospital early 1992. It is a wonderful testimony to our chaotic life. I recognize Tony's different ways of representing me... Also see the signature 'Black Sun' in the painting. He painted in Antwerp January 92... Tony often put different pieces of paper together, reaching for a different size and shape.

Does anyone know?

There are many drawings and paintings of Tony out there: love, lost, acquired, received as a gift, lost again and found by someone who cares. This is one of those paintings. Zan, the proud owner, would like to know more about it, can anybody help him/her out? he tells me the canvas isn't in good shape and suspect it to be fairly old. As far as I can tell, I think it stems from the late fifties. In that period he lived on and off in Tijuana and Frank Sinatra asked his chauffeur George to go and find Tony and bring his portfolio. Tony told me Sinatra owned about 17 of his drawings and gave two to Queen Elizabeth when he was received at her palace. The painting has a clear Mexican iconography. It could be early sixties, briefly after he met his Danish wife, if the one female with the sleek hair has blue eyes. My bet is however on his Mexican period. I love the little sun and of course the telltale Tony flower.

Hoboken Nights

Tony and I held for several years something known as 'Hoboken Nights'. Josée in the post before refers to them. Tony didn't belong to the establishment, although he had usually one or two avid collectors. he liked to share his work and craved recognition. At the Hoboken Nights everybody who was active in the arts was welcome. The idea was not to have an audience but to be under colleagues and to discuss paint and turpentine and colons and metaphors. Art critics were not welcome I guess. They tended to write more about the man and his fascinating lfe than about his work and Tony did not like that. The Painting above is called Zwarte Panter, the name of a well liked modern gallery. Well liked by the elite that is. So this mixed media drawing of oil and pastel on paper is part of Tony's critique of the art world. Note the double portrait in the right hand corner. Painted in Antwero, in the Kloosterstraat.

Josée's testimony

This is a post by Josée, in Dutch. One of these days I'll put in a comment, paraphrase in English for those who don't read Dutch: enjoy her irony and wild style.
Het moet ergens halfweg de jaren tachtig zijn geweest dat ik Tony Mafia en zijn echtgenote Annmarie leerde kennen De aanleiding zal wel 'gedichtjes' zijn geweest. Wie bracht ons in contact? Geen idee!!!! Maar op een keer werd ik uitgenodigd op een onderonsje van artiesten. Men wist dat ik wat rijmseltjes-zonder-rijm schreef en ik moest er maar een paar meebrengen, wat ik ook braaf deed.
Aanvankelijk voelde ik er me niet zo thuis: wat muffe burgerlijke vrijetijds artiesten. Amateurs dus. Een beetje zingen, wat gedichtjes voordragen.... Veel geleerd volk was daar verzameld. En daartussen stond ik dan als professioneel' muzikantje dat het zout op de petatten niet verdiende en op dat ogenblik niet eens een diploma hoger onderwijs had maar vooral een hekel had aan intellectuele artiesten die van zichzelf vonden dat ze bijzondere wezens waren. Ik vond het zelfs wreed ambetant dat ik als 'poweet' werd bestempeld terwijl ik feitelijk 'musicus' was.Enfin je vond er vanalles: univ-proffen, tolken, dierendokters, fotografen, gitarentokkelaars, een schyzofrene landloper enz. Sjiek volk dus.
Men sprak er alle talen, vooral Engels en soms zelfs Vlaams. Op dat ogenblik had ik nog nergens één gebenedijd woord Engels geleerd, laat staan gesproken.
Maar tussen al die vreemde wezens waren er twee die ik begreep : de hond Toots en de schilder Tony met de maffe naam en een heel klein beetje de echtgenote van Tony (dat laatste zet ik er bij om te vleien want anders wordt mijn tekst niet in het blog van Tony opgenomen).
In 1997 kreeg Toots een nest jongen waarvan ik later het meest speelse beest kreeg. Ik mocht niet kiezen.Tony zocht de puppy voor me uit. Hij wist blijkbaar perfect welk spookie het best bij me paste. En door omstandigheden werd ik een paar jaar geleden ook tot 'honden-baby-siter' gebombardeerd door Annmarie na het overlijden van haar echtgenoot die 'verzorging' nodig had voor haar kroost honden want ze was nogal veel 'in het buitenland'. Ze wou me betalen voor het verzorgen van haar monsters, maar intussen was ik een gesetteld en goedverdienend muzieklerares geworden en weigerde dan ook het geld :haar mormels betaalden wel met hun gekke snuiten. Annmarie vond dit zeer gênant. Nee niet die gekke snuiten, wel dat ik geen geld wou. En toen vond ze een oplossing die me diep in mijn vanbinnenste trof: ze zou me betalen met een tekening van Tony! Awel dat was schrikken! Ooit een echte 'Tony' in huis hebben ... nee dat kon een zelfs een rijke muzikant zich niet voorstellen.
Dus na veel hondensitten had ik de helft van de tekening 'verdiend' en mocht ik komen kiezen. Het leek me een verhaal dat niet moest onderdoen voor de beste Van Gogh mythe.
Een aantal tekening waren niet beschikbaar omdat ze een bijzondere betekenis voor Annmarie hadden en dat respecteer je natuurlijk zelfs al bloed je hart omdat er zo'n toffe dingen tussen zaten.

Ik koos dus voor een portret (volgens Annmarie vrij zeldzaam in het oeuvre van Tony). Ze vond het een goede keuze, maar ik geloof niet dat ze het meende. Ik dacht het een soort zelfportret was van Tony. Het bleek geen 'echt' portret te zijn maar een soort hybride tussen man en vrouw, wat Tony wel meer deed. Wat mij het meest intrigeerde waren de vissen in het haar en rond de hals van de Heer(lijke)-Dame. En ik die dacht dat er in heel de woestijn van Arizona geen vis te vangen viel....
De persoon heeft een blik die schuin neerwaarts is gericht en in zichzelf gekeerd is. Is de figuur droef, de wenkbrauwen doen vermoeden van wel? Of mijmert het over iets uit het verleden dat geen mens hoeft te weten? Ik gun de dubbele persoon zijn zeer persoonlijke gedachten.
Je herkent zo de stijl van Tony en toch is het koloriet bijzonder fijn, bijna pastel, en is de spontane bijna fauvistische manier waarop Tony werkte nauwelijks te vinden, tenzij in de donker blauwe achtergrond en de zelfverzekerde groene strepen waaruit het haar van de man werd getrokken en misschien ook in de cirkels die natuurlijk niet rond zijn maar als opstijgende bubbels in water lijken.

Mijn mooiste herinnering aan Tony dateert uit de tijd dat ik nauwelijks Engels sprak.
Tony was aan het schilderen in de tot atelier omgetoverde woonkamer op de Lage Weg in Hoboken waar hij toen woonde. Het doek stond op een ezel opgesteld pal in het midden van de kamer en deed de meubels verdwijnen alsof ze nooit hadden bestaan. Tony vertelde honderduit met een bijzondere bevlogenheid. Ik hoorde hem vertellen over de buffels, de paarden en de indiaanse symbolen die hij kriskras spontaan in het doek verwerkte. Heus ik heb het allemaal verstaan.

In het putteke van mijn ziel geloof ik dat Tony vanuit een voor ons niet te begrijpen dimensie mede mijn keuze heeft beïnvloed.

Bedankt Tony en Annmarie.

Respect

Fred Bervoets, a painter whom Tony respected and who respected Tony’s work, has an exhibition called ‘Welcome Home’. Their work has many points in common: the crowdedness, the difficulty in describing the style or direction. One description goes for both Tony and Fred: a narrative expressionist. Also both do a lot of self-portraits and to be honest, most of their works are autobiographical. You’ll find pain, despair, love and sex, art critics and the icons of friends and family. The main difference is their use of color. Fred goes mainly into dark somber tones while Tony uses the whole rainbow like in this mixed medium oil and pastel on paper from 1996. Here he also mixes his Indian heritage with his love of all things Spanish and his life in Mexico with the Matadora…

Tears

Tears is not easy ‘surface painting’, which is just a rendering of the appearance and can never fulfill all the exigencies of multiplicity and of unity that Tony felt he could show us in his unique crowded rendering. So his paintings are no imitations of nature, or hard etched, austere abstractions but he expresses his relationship with the piece of land and the people in it and he expresses his own feelings. These magical worlds with vision and soul, seem sometimes unacceptable to those that only can see the familiar and accepted. Of course those who know will recognize the shields and coup stick and the work done on the feathers. This is a fairly realistic rendering of a group of warriors...

The apocalypse

You have seen quite a lot of paintings owned by Arnold, our veterinarian friend. I introduced Tony and Arnold to each other late in 1981 at Tony's 50th birthday in Antwerp. After the party Arnold took him to Etienne's Musiekdoos where he MC the hootenannies for a long time. Tony had had an open heart operation I think in 1975 and had been told he had five years... My family visited Tony in 1980 in the States. After breaking up with 'Sue' he came to Antwerp. He needed a lot of expensive medication. At a certain point Tony became a very 'expensive' friend and Arnold could get him the prescriptions and some of the med's at a better price... Tony 'paid' in paintings. He has done many paintings and drawings about Death. The apocalypse depicts death as afair maiden on a unicorn...

Buffalo

In his approach, although his technique is radically different, he inscribes himself in the tradition concept of Native American abstractions. “Pictograph, petroglyphs or elk or antelope draw their magic in part from the process wherein the focus of all prayer and concentration is upon the thing itself, which in turn guides the hunters hand. Connection with the spirit dimensions requires a figure or form that is all inclusive. A realistic rendering of an elk is too restrictive. Only the elk is itself...” writes Leslie Marmon Silko And she is right. The thing itself guides the painters hand. A cave painting by Tony: Buffalo.