The medicine circle and the bike

Tony had a hard time doing nothing, in 1992 he had build a swimming pool in a wooden coral. it turned out that as soon as when we went shopping kids would jump into it, unsupervised obviously. As a consequence we had to tear it down, gave the pool to a neighbor with kids and used the coral to fence in my two griffons. The pool left this wonderful impression in the dust and Tony decided to make a medicine circle out of it. He put all kinds of good stuff under the cement: salt, corn and such. The bike project was probably in 1995. He gave this bike to a dear friend Dale who unfortunately crashed with rather severe consequences for himself. Bill Hamilton found Dale in the desert and got him and the bike home.

Trail of tears

Nunna daul Isunyi

High mountans over the land of our fathers

were good to die

1838 Tears from my people

Singing "Amazig Grace" untill the end.

Saving the native future on the way to Oklahoma

Tony was partial Cherokee on his fathers side and was interested in all things Native American. His brother Bill found in Blythe,California a bunch of black and white pottery shards, older than black and white shards known before. He often felt unaccepted by other Native Americans, being rather fair skinned. He cherished his history however. This painting is a mixed medium: oil and pastels. He has done many other paintings about The trail of Tears. This wonderful drawing is in Antwerp, other pieces are in the USA.

Tony Mafia

Antwerpen 1983

Nello's dream

Tonight there is an other meeting of the Nello's dream society and Tony will once again be remembered by his friends... He has been gone for 12 years now and he still manages to touch people.
Here a picture of Indians dreaming of dancing...

No salesperson

This is little Indian panting done in Chloride for a good friend of Tony living there. The family takes good care of the work and takes pride in the work. Regularly, I am asked whether I can help with selling a painting or whether I know the venues. I am good at many things but I am definitly not a salesperson. I do not know the market situation in the US and in Europe I learned that a person will fall in love with a piece and will have to have it at any price. Those are extremely rare and far between. The others who 'like', 'adore', even 'admire' Tony's work want you to give it away for free. I spend money on keeping the collection in good shape and for moving paintings for occasional shows. I want the work to be seen and hence the blog. I am no help at selling Tony's work. I wish all of you good luck and let me know the result of your efforts. Tony was a contrarian, so he skillfully maneuvered himself out of the mainstream until he became a a cult figure for a select band of followers. He is among the great painters of last century but never was part of the established art scene.

Chloride (for Bret)

Chloride would drive Tony into a frenzy. This painting is proof of that. On a dark stormy night, rain gushing down, he got 'restless', 'crazy', 'anxious'. What the feeling was that would grab hold of him at those times. He tore out a piece of boarded fence and painted these Indians, which he gave away the same night to Ken F. Some people he took to immediately, like to you Bret. Talking and listening, joking on the back porch were good and cherished moments. I too learned from you, your voice and turning on the preacher as a demonstration... I hope you are well. If you post a comment with your e-mail, I'll reply to you and then erase the comment to keep your mail private. I hope that works for you.

Green Indians

Green Indians in the woods and water are obviously an imagined landscape, a dreamscape. Tony's brother told me that Tony identified with the West. As kids they would regularly see westerns. Also one set of grandparents was full blooded Indian. As a grown up he reflected about his identity and claimed his Indian heritage more and more. It was a recurrent theme in his life and work.

The pond

Tony painted this small painting for himself. It are his childhood memories of Laurence hall, Indian Home for Boys, in Chicago. In that period he was still Robert Lee Alderson. It was only later that he became Tony Mafia. In summer the kids would go and be out in the woods and dive for water turtles. They would play a bit with them and then let them be. The dreamlike quality of water and fire, of togetherness is the influence of that period in his life. Of course he hated it when one or other do gooder singled him out and said: See that light one, he could almost be one of us.

Flyer

Tony's work keeps touching people's hearts. This is the flyer for an upcoming music and poetry event, which is the end of year of a series of house concerts. And loving his work so much, a small house exhibition is also planned by the enthusiastic organizer. The improvising musicians are awesome, if you're not too far away come and join the festivities. Five instruments, one voice and a poet reading while Tony's work is projected on the wall.

The lizard

The lady with the lizard over her shoulder also holds, or is part of, an egg shaped form filled with people. I love the colors, the contrast between the straight, stark lines and the gentle flow of the figurative work. Lizards are an important symbol in Native American iconography. It represents purity. This is one of Tony Mafia's late works, but it bears no date and was painted in Hoboken.

Mixed media

Here you can see what I mean when I say that a drawing is a mixed medium. The basis here is water color, then a few lines are in oil pastels, a structured circle is in oil, there is some pen and Chinese ink and the drawing is finished in pencil. He did this drawing for a friend in Chloride Dave Hunzinger and Reta let me show it to you. A dream for Dave June 1997.

Indians up the wall

When Tony would run out of canvasses, he would get nervous. Many of his friends have told me he would get anxious and would have to paint. Here at my our old place in Hoboken the painting grew and grew: shields, bison, receding vanishing points, braves, Thunderbirds and Black Suns. Often his signature Black Sun was enough to know it was Tony's work.

Gebo

In the spring of 1971 Tony Mafia had an exhibition in Gebo Gallery in Antwerp. The picture on the invitation was a larger canvas with a boy in the foreground. I read it as a Native American family contemplating the plain and the river. Lots of grays and blues.

The caling of color

This was a drawing Tony cared about. The full text is: To say the calling of paint would be to tell you of them that live in and around color. It is obviously a self-portrait while at work on a canvas. It also shows his beloved nudes and the black sun that is his secret Native American signature.

Warm over the stove

After showing some pictures of murals in Chloride that have been painted over, today you get to see some murals from Hoboken. See the delightful Indian scene over the fireplace. Tony had sworn never to do mural again because they just get lost... guess what... Tony painted those over when the place was replastered... There are a lot of narrative around about Tony. That is why I ask people to share their thoughts and feelings. Some saw him as an Indian others as a cowboy. Some thought he was the starving artist who made it from rags to riches... a scenario that never came true for him. To some he was generous, short tempered, proud, a genius. He objected to the last label because the consequences of that stigma are to heavy to carry.... Some saw him as a good musician and many saw him as a good friend. Because all the narrative surrounding Tony speak to peoples heart and mind he still lives on in many different imagined forms.

Hopi 3

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.

Hopi 2

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.

Hopi 1

In the summer of 1998 I was doing a series of interviews with Indian women of different nations. Tony didn't like me being out on the road alone so we all (I mean that the two dogs went too) took a trip to the Navajo and Hopi Nation. He fell for all Hopi stood for and had a good time talking to a Hopi artist from the badger and butterfly clan. These are Hopi maidens with the typical butterfly whorl on top of the mesa, small kachinas surround them, yet they are wearing Navajo jewelry, which indeed they sometimes do.

Two fotographs

The titles suggest that both drawings go together: The bottom one is called 'What I am' and the top one 'Where I am". Note the pigeons, this suggests to me it is a European drawing, note the horses and Indians, well just his soul speaking. Who knows anything about these mixed media drawings?

Colors

Dancing in the Colors is the name of this mixed media drawing from 1998. It looks busy and overwhelming in this picture but it is just what it says peoples dancing among the colors: big Indians and small folks in a suggested landscape of a river and mountains. Think of the Colorado river with cottonwood trees along its banks and happiness, and coolness on a hot summers day...

Indian blues

Also from the dentist's collection stems this drawing which Tony called Hopi. It is fairly abstract yet the faces are clear, so maybe stylized is a better description. Part watercolor, see how the blues and blacks meet, as in most souls. That is the job of a Hopi clown. Painted in Strasbourg in 1991.