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!