Although politically outspoken and a card carrying democrat, Tony couldn't be squared away in one or another political or stylistic direction. He was neither left nor right, he was catholic, needed a god but didn't think there was one, and stylistically he couldn't care less about directions in contemporary style. If he cared just a bit about something, then it was to bend the rules. I think in many instances he stayed close to the iconography as one finds in the Indian petroglyphs and on the ledgers of Plains Indians. He would always try to capture the soul, rather than the faithful 'realistic' image. Just as he did in this horse.
Tony often combined the figurative with the abstract, like here in the drawing Two guys. The front is, yes, a shirt but no it is just an abstraction for you the viewer to fill in. The second drawing is one of the few total abstractions you'll find among his work.
For those who read Danish, an article from 1970. You'll find some of the names of famous owners of Tony's work and some information about his life and work. Tony had a dual relationship with the press: he enjoyed the attention but felt they should not write about the man -although he was flattered and needed to be liked- but the articles should be about the work. As you can tell in full Vietnam war, he did drawings about peace and never soft on his words his message still is: Fuck Hate!
In this third drawing of the series of three, Tony shows a few telltale details of the constructions in the old pueblo's. The three generations, the maiden with her typical hairdo, the old woman and the grandchild express a continuity of culture. In the background he drew the Arizona canyons he loved. If I remember correctly these three drawings stem from 1998, after his last summer in Chloride.
In the background you see the pueblos. The women wear the heavy dress and boots for dancing. They dance elegantly and the dress is heavy because they have to be reminded that they are not gods but from this earth... All that Tony Mafia put into these Hopi drawings.
Indeed did I ask everybody who really knew Tony to write down their testimony of him. Here Daisy expresses the difficulty to catch Tony in one short story: With Tony there was no in between; it was love or total indifference. We were lucky it clicked immediately. We were received with grand hospitality in the "cornerhouse" in Hoboken: he would explain at length why on a canvas the sun was painted just there and not in another spot. He had an angel's patience in working with Sara on a big piece of paper and her drawing apples upside down which tot Tony was quite ok. I remember making music with the weirdest instruments...
Our bed was made (thanks Annmarie), we got the tour of the town and were introduced to the other inhabitants. In the evening in the rocking chairs we enjoyed the endless starry sky; sometimes softly talking, sometimes just watching quiet as a mouse. With truck to the Hualapai reservation, driving to Oatman, buying a cowboy hat for Sara so that he could be a real cowgirl. A person hasn't died when he is remembered and Tony's name is often heard in our home. Last year we were painting a wall in our living room and the paint kept not taking to wall. So we bought another color and everything was fine. My husband said to each other: Tony mustn't have liked the color... Or when the electricity acts up, we know we have to think again... I I'll forever be gratefull for the fact that he gave me a wonderful friend, his wife...
Op bezoek in Chloride:
Vorig jaar schilderden we een muur van onze living... de verf brokkelde steeds af...Marc ging een andere kleur halen, die bleef direct...al lachend was ons oordeel: Tony zal dat vorig kleurtje niet goed gevonden hebben.
I am showing these two clowns from the DL collection. Tony liked clowns and harlequins and jesters because it gave him space to invent costumes and colors. He did many for DL who worked in one of the biggest circuses in the world. Why do I show this? Well look at the different way of handling the material, the different 'style'... once you understand it is all Tony Mafia you'll understand why it would be hard to imitate him. Yet it would be easy to fool people because Tony could do almost anything in painting.
Having lived in Amsterdam and Antwerp where there is a large Hasidim population, Tony was captured by their traditional way of dressing. In Antwerp they are very visible and have a large influence in the diamond trade and yes, Tony loved his diamonds. Here you see two drawings from the early 70's: one in stylized lines and the other in delicate colors, probably from the same period as the drawings in the last post... Just showing how different he would use several techniques.
Doing these easy, romantic, saccharine drawings came easy to Tony. These are prints: the signature is also in ink which he would never do. These little drawings kept him afloat in hard times selling them for a couple of dollars and selling enough to pay the rent. He would go from bar to bar in the red light district in Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam... His folder would be filled with real drawings and these prints and he would hope that the real good work could find a loving home. People loved these sweet nothings, yet good drawings as he himself considered them. Later, as a mature painter, often when he did something too easy he would change it going from the slick to the rough and real feelings.
Doug, our collecting fiend, had the foresights years ago to take a lot of pictures. He send 13 cd-roms on which he had transfered the negatives of those times. You'll get a lot of young Tony's work. I start out with a fine pen and ink drawing from 1966. The oldest drawing I have found up to now. He stayed for six months in Casares in Andalucia, Spain painting drawing and putting a show together in the rue Saint Honoré des Arts for the gallery of Madame Besnard. Casares is like on the drawing: the church on top with the cemetery around it and the field fertilized by the rains under the overhanging cliff... He sold out the show: true! I heard Tony and Madame Besnard speak about in when they met again in Paris early 1990's. She had two paintings of Tony in her living room... He revisited Casares often in his paintings. Even the big painting in the European Parliament 'The tearful eye of god' is inspired by his stay in Spain that long ago.
This Tony lithograph press is titled "Four O'clock Red Sun." Its number 11 out of the series of 12. My father bought Tony a lithograph press years ago, as I have found out, it was one of three presses Tony had. For Tony to live he would sell a drawing or painting and buy a bag of food. My dad has always been a kind man. After their initial meetings my dad started to pay for some of Tony’s painting supplies that Tony could not pay for, like the press. Tony had no job…he was an artist. That was what he devoted his whole being to. To my father, Tony showed a pure devotion to a craft. He had never met anyone in his life then or now who had such a vision. Tony would just sit by the window, letting the warm sunshine dance on his white hair while gazing at a fresh stroke of color etched by a master onto a piece of canvas, giving birth to his artwork.
