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Indy native, Jimmy Buffett’s stage manager remembers the legendary artist’s legacy
Tom Battista spent summers on the road with the iconic musician who brought those chasing the laidback lifestyle together.
INDIANAPOLIS — Fans around the world are mourning the loss of the legendary singer/songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, who died at the age of 76 Friday.
Buffett’s long-time stage manager is an Indy native and is is now reflecting and paying tribute to the legend’s life and legacy… with nothing better than an ice-cold frozen concoction.
“I’m gonna bury myself in margaritas. You know,” said Tom Battista.
Battista, also the owner of Kan Kan Cinema and Restaurant, spent summers on the road with the iconic musician who brought those chasing the laidback lifestyle together.
“Jimmy had such a great life and he spread joy everywhere he went,” Battista said.
He got to know the man behind all the beach bum anthems and travel the world with a close friend, granted, Battista usually couldn’t remember the words to his songs.
“He always made fun of me because I couldn’t repeat the lyrics if I had to,” Battista said.
Regardless, he saw how the music Buffett made effected people. Battista also says the legendary artist was just as down-to-earth backstage as he was onstage.
“He at dinner with us every night. He wasn’t a ‘Prima Donna’,” Battista said. “His legacy is have a good time you know, be honest, work hard, and play hard, and that’s what he did… he played hard,” Battista said.
There is one specific show the stage manager will never forget at the Naval Academy when the power went out.
“Jimmy says ‘give me an acoustic guitar,’ and he went down, sat on the edge of the stage and did a sing-a-long,” Battista said. “One of the people threw this [his hat] up onstage so I kept it. All of those midshipmen, they’re all gonna remember it for the rest of their lives.”
While it is hard for him to say goodbye, Battista is happy to reflect on the person Buffett was.
“It’s hard, but god, what a great guy,” Battista said.
Buffett had been battling a rare form of skin cancer over the course of his career, which he sold more than 20 million albums.
He had built more than just a music presence, Buffett also created restaurants, books, beers and even a Broadway show.
The Importance of Persevering Through Professional Photography Lulls
The beauty of being a professional photographer is that you have the freedom to pursue what you love on your own terms. However, with that comes arguably its biggest drawback: the loss of guaranteed steady income and financial security. Every freelance photographer goes through lulls, and it is important to expect them and to know how to get through them. This great video essay features a professional photographer discussing the issue and offering some helpful advice.
Coming to you from Samuel Elkins, this excellent video essay discusses the issue of lulls as a professional photographer and how to weather them. No doubt, it is important to take a very pragmatic approach to this and budget for these times, but there is also the mental side of it. It can be easy to become anxious and discouraged by these lulls, and while it is important to be realistic about your abilities and chances of professional success, you also need to understand that professional work often ebbs and flows. In fact, this can be a great time to explore personal projects to build your portfolio and expand your creative palette so you’re ready when the clients start to flow again. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Elkins.
Gallery, pop-up market and art space opens
An artist from Italy has opened a gallery, pop-up shop and art space in Old Market.
L’étoile Studio on West Street will play host to creative courses, a monthly arts and crafts market and an exhibition space, aiming to give a voice to underrepresented artists in our city.
The space is the brainchild of Marta Isabella Reina (@mireinart), a visual artist and art tutor whose work is inspired by folklore, mythology, religion and magic.
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Reina, who grew up near Milan and now lives in St Paul’s, said she wanted to offer “a space that combines art and crafts with spirituality and wellbeing”.
Reina’s studio has hosted art classes earlier in 2023 but in September the space will officially open to the public with an exhibition towards the end of the month
“I could have thought about having the space for myself only or turning it into a shop or a gallery, but I love to connect people and want to share the studio with people and artists, to give them a platform,” the former graphic designer, researcher, associate lecturer and teaching assistant told Bristol24/7.
“There are a lot of arts and crafts shops in Bristol but I always see the same items.
“I’m not criticising this, but there are so many people who don’t have a space to sell their wares so I hope L’toile will help this.”
Reina arrived in Bristol six years ago and became inspired to pursue her creativity.
She said: “I noticed Bristol has a kind of creative artistic vibe which really motivated me me. I was in a good career as a researcher, but I was suffering as I couldn’t express my creativity much.”
“The idea now is to dedicate myself completely to the art as a tutor and manager of the space.”
It was during the pandemic that Reina’s art began focussing on folklore, mythology, religion and magic
The name of the studio, L’étoile, translates to star from French and comes from Reina’s passion for tarot.
Reina explained: “A lot of the iconography of the tarot can been seen in Italy in churches, buildings and frescos – everywhere – so I was pulled by the symbolism of the cards.”
“L’étoile can be seen on one of the cards which shows a woman who is throwing water into water: the archetype of the giver.”
“Like the card, I wanted L’étoile Studio to make people feel good and free.
“The idea is also to create a constellation so people who come together here work as a connected force in harmony.”
The studio is found at 18 West Street
Courses planned for autumn include creativity Creative Flow Club by Elly Hopkins, Tarot Reading Course and Vintage Still Life Drawing by Reina and Make a Macramé Landscape Tapestry by Aggy.
The next market dates for L’étoile’s pop-up shop are September 9 to 10, October 14 to 15 and November 11 to 12.
In the gallery, Reina is organising an illustration exhibition by local artists on the last weekend of September. An application form for artists who would like to exhibit their work can be found here.
The venue’s first solo-exhibition will take place from the November 23 to 26 and is called Black Paintings: Post-Pandemic Collage and Mixed Media by Ergo Phizmiz.
For a full list of events taking place at L’étoile Studio, visit www.letoilestudio.com
All photos: Betty Woolerton
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Sotheby’s to sell €11m collection from the Hydra home of Pauline Karpidas
“There is little required from you other than an engagement with art and guests, sunbathe, gossip and swim.” So read the itinerary sent to guests attending the annual summer meetings at the Hydra home of the British collector and patron Pauline Karpidas, who hosted the gatherings one weekend every July from 1996 until 2017.
The so-called workshops were, according to Sotheby’s European chairman Oliver Barker, a “who’s who of the contemporary art world at any given time”. Or, as Tate’s Gregoir Muir once put it, “a form of Annual General Meeting”.
Over the years, curators and museum directors such as Maria Balshaw, Nicholas Cullinan, Beatrix Ruff and Tim Marlow have attended, but, at the heart of the meetings were the artists whom Karpidas had collected and whose works adorned the family’s Hydra getaway, renovated under the eye of the French designer Jacques Grange. They included Jeff Koons, John Currin, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Richard Prince, Urs Fischer and Nate Lowman.
The art world great and the good would visit the Karpidas family Hydra home every summer for a weekend of workshops and gossip. The house was sold earlier this year
Hydra became “this melting pot between great collectors and the young avant-garde”, says Barker, who was among those present at the last meeting in 2017. “It felt very edgy at the time. And I think the fact that it was not happening in a cultural hotspot, like London or New York also added frisson to it. Other art world luminaries with homes on the island include the American artist Brice Marden and the Austrian dealer Thaddaeus Ropac.
Now Sotheby’s is selling around 300 pieces from Karpidas’s Hydra collection, estimated to fetch more than €11m across two sales in Paris on 30 and 31 October. Her entire collection is thought to be worth several hundred million.
Karpidas grew up in a working-class family in Manchester. She initially went to secretarial college, but ended up setting up a small clothes shop in Athens in the 1970s. It was there she met her late husband, the Greek construction magnate Constantinos Karpidas, whose collection was more traditional and included a small group of Renoirs. With the help of the late Greek-American dealer Alexander Iolas, who is credited with discovering Andy Warhol, Karpidas began to acquire contemporary art in the early 1990s, having collected and studied Impressionist, Modern and particularly Surrealist artists. “Iolas pretty much came out of retirement to help Pauline build the collection,” Barker says.
Iolas also introduced Karpidas to the LeLannes, whom Karpidas and her husband regularly visited at their Ury home and studio, outside of Paris. “Pauline was there at the very beginning when the LeLannes didn’t have patrons, they weren’t even perceived to be artists,” Barker says. He notes a revival in today’s market for design pieces—“there’s much less distinction between contemporary art and contemporary design; design is no longer this quietly nerdy collector category”, he adds. In total, Sotheby’s is offering nine works by the LeLannes in its evening sale, with the most expensive, by Claude Lelanne—Très Grand Choupatte (2008) expected to fetch between €1m and €1.5m.
Barker acknowledges that Brexit has had an impact on business, though the decision to sell the collection in Paris and not London was chiefly down to the LeLannes’ market being unequivocally located in the French capital. “These days it’s almost immaterial where we sell; it’s no secret that these works are coming from Greece and they are going to another EU country, so, yes, it’s fairly easy logistically.” Though, with only donkeys for transport on Hydra, moving the works to Paris has been no mean feat—“ironically probably harder than Brexit”, Barker quips.
When it comes to the contemporary art in Karpidas’s collection, Sadie Coles has been pivotal. The London dealer has supported the collector’s acquisition of younger artists; as Coles puts it: though buying artists at the start of their careers is “more high risk than blue-chip options […] it gives her pleasure and stimulation, and she is extremely savvy about the choices she makes”.
Indeed, Karpidas was often the first to acquire works by many of the artists she collects. As Barker says: “She would be the first to admit that she didn’t necessarily have the financial means to buy Koons when he was a $10m artist but she could when he was a $1m or $2m dollar artist.”
Karpidas was an early champion of the YBAs. In 1997, for her second ever Hydra gathering, she hosted a mini-YBA show. Barker notes how Karpidas and one or two others including Janet de Botton “had ringside seats to what was going on in London in the early 1990s”. He adds: “Many of the artists really sought her out; Damian [Hirst] probably spearheaded this. They knew the principal collectors at the time and made a beeline for them to come and see their shows.”
Among the works being sold at Sotheby’s evening sale are Damien Hirst’s Wretched War (2004; est. €100,000-€150,000); while a work on paper by Tracey Emin (approximate est. $4,000-$6,000) and four photographic works by Sarah Lucas (approximate estimates range from $5,000 to $9,000) are in the day sale.
Meet the Artists Behind the New York State Fair’s Butter Sculpture
The New York State Fair’s butter sculpture is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year.
Dine’s striking skull sculpture is now indoors
“Ancient Fishing,” a sculpture by artist Jim Dine, is moved from its former location outside the Chazen Museum of Art to an inside gallery.
DarkSky names photography winners
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Tucson-based DarkSky International recently hosted its fourth Capture the Dark Photography Contest, presented by Visit Utah, to celebrate photography’s important role in the dark sky movement. The contest received 494 entries from participants worldwide to the 10 categories:
• Connecting to the Dark: Experiencing a natural night provides perspective, inspiration, and leads us to reflect on our humanity and place in the universe.
• International Dark Sky Place: Now over 200 protected lands and municipalities worldwide have been certified by DarkSky as an International Dark Sky Place, creating havens for astrophotographers.
• The Impact of Light Pollution: Light pollution can significantly impact the environment, human health, and our access to the night sky. This category also includes images of terrible lighting, glare bombs, etc.
• The Bright Side of Lighting: Light pollution can give artificial lighting a bad reputation, but lighting that follows DarkSky’s Principles for Responsible Outdoor Light can be beautiful, healthy, and functional.
• Creatures of the Night: Light pollution doesn’t only erase our view of the stars; scientific evidence suggests that artificial light at night has adverse and deadly effects on wildlife, including amphibians, birds, insects and mammals.
• Deep Sky: For thousands of years, humans have looked to the night sky and wondered what is out there. Today, we can take photos of deep space objects from our own backyards.
• The Mobile Photographer: No big camera? No problem! A photo from any of the above categories that was taken with a cell phone, tablet, or GoPro. No DSLR, mirrorless camera or drone shots.
• Youth: A shot for any of the above categories taken by someone 17 years old or younger.
• Utah Dark Skies: A photo taken in one of the most popular destinations to capture dark skies — Utah
• People’s Choice: Voted on by the public.
“This year we saw some of the most beautiful photos from around the world that we have ever seen,” said DarkSky International Program Associate Michael Rymer. “These brilliant views of the night sky show how our place in nature does not stop at the horizon, and that the sky above is as much a delicate and beautiful resource that we must protect and reclaim.”
“Congratulations to this year’s Capture the Dark Photography Contest winners and the awe-inspiring photos,” said Vicki Varela, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism.
“Astrotourism and dark sky messaging complement our Red Emerald Strategic Plan, which aims to elevate life in Utah through responsible tourism stewardship. Preserving dark skies helps communities establish long-lasting tourism economies and keeps our places Forever Mighty.”
A global panel of judges composed of Imma Barrera, Ian Lauer, Jeff Dai, Parisa Bajelan, Ben Coley, Dr. Lin Qing, reviewed the photos using criteria that included technical skill, composition, connection to the category theme, and “wow” factor.
Winners of each category will receive a prize package that includes a feature in DarkSky’s Nightscape publication, DarkSky’s blog and social media, a DarkSky membership, DarkSky and Visit Utah swag, and a Peak Design Field Pouch.
Additionally, one photograph will be presented with a “People’s Choice Award” based on votes by the public. This winner will receive a prize package that includes a $250 gift card to B&H, a feature in DarkSky’s Nightscape publication, the DarkSky blog and social media, a DarkSky membership, and DarkSky and Visit Utah swag.
To see the winning photos, visit the official website for the photography contest at capturethedark.darksky.org and check out the official announcement on the DarkSky blog.
DarkSky International is a recognized global authority on light pollution, empowering a global movement to protect the night sky. DarkSky restores the nighttime environment and protects communities from the effects of light pollution through outreach, advocacy and conservation. Since 1988, its global community of dark sky advocates have protected more than 200 International DarkSky Places, enacted dozens of responsible lighting policies, and raised awareness of light pollution on every continent.
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The big picture: an image that defined Chile’s brutal 1973 coup
When news broke of the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s elected government in Chile, 50 years ago this month, the Dutch photojournalist Koen Wessing took the first plane to Santiago. He was one of the few journalists on the ground to witness the mass arrests of Allende supporters and book burnings in the aftermath of General Augusto Pinochet’s CIA-backed coup. This picture shows groups of Allende supporters forced at gunpoint to remove democracy slogans from city walls. The man walking by, hands in pockets on the deserted street, completes the scene. He may affect indifference to what he is witnessing, like some parts of the international community at the time, but the automatic weapons of the trio of Pinochet’s henchmen are still aimed casually at the back of his head.
Wessing was 31 when he went to Chile. He had become famous in the Netherlands during the student riots of 1969 when he evaded a police cordon around the University of Amsterdam by creating a high footbridge between two buildings to make sure his film of the protests got out. Fearing the seizure of cameras in Chile, he employed similar determination and cunning to get his story to the world, enlisting the help of an air hostess to smuggle his film back to newspapers in Europe. A book of 24 of Wessing’s images, Chile, September 1973, printed without introduction or captions, became a definitive document of the initial repression of Pinochet’s regime, graphic evidence of the brutality of the dictator’s methods. Wessing was due to attend the first public exhibition of his work in Santiago when he died in 2011. By then, the accepted figure for the number of political prisoners tortured or killed by Pinochet had risen to 40,018. The Santiago exhibition of Wessing’s work was titled Indelible Images.
Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition Returning to Public Market – The E’ville Eye Community News
Emeryville’s celebrated Art Exhibit will return to The Public Market for their 37th annual exhibit. For the second year in a row, the Public Market’s owners have generously offered the vacant brick warehouse space that was most recently Urban Outfitters.
The juried show featuring nearly 200 artworks created by 126 Emeryville artists and open to artists of all media and includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, prints, ceramics, textiles, and furniture.
“In this year’s enormous show, there are over 40 artists new to the exhibition which translates to an infusion of new artwork in addition to the work of artists who have made Emeryville their home for decades,” said Sharon Wilchar, exhibition coordinator. “We look forward to getting to know these new names and talents as our arts’ community extends a welcome.”
Blue Sky Milk Way, 17”x11”, paint and paper, 2022by Sansu (Sungyeon) Joh
Dedication to Tree Frogs, 12˝x12˝, mixed media paper mounted on board, 2023by Juliet Mevi
Iron, 30″x24″, digital pigment print, 2020 by Richard Greenstone
Viking | Predella, 45˝x36˝, oil on canvas, 2023 by Steve SenterThe 2023 guest jurors are Emilee Enders, curator of exhibitions and programs at Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek and Jan Watten, founder and curator, at Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland.
“I had a wonderful experience meeting the artists who applied to this year’s Exhibition.” said juror Emilee Enders. “The process reminded me of the incredible community of artists we have in the Bay Area – specifically Emeryville, and left me inspired and grateful.”
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The opening night reception on Friday, October 6 at 6.p.m. offers the opportunity to meet the artists and get the first look at the artwork on display, with music by The doRiaN Mode: Vintage Jazz & Blues; no-host bar raises funds for the Emeryville Youth Art Program.
The exhibition will also include contributions of poetry and dance including Nancy Karp and former Emeryville Poet Laureate Sarah Kobrinsky.
The Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition is sponsored by Emeryville Celebration of the Arts, Inc. Admission to the reception and exhibition is free. All works in the 37th Annual Art Exhibition are for sale.
Dates: October 7 – 29
Times: Wed- Sun from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Address: 5905 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
For schedule, details and Emery-go-round stop information, go to emeryarts.org or call (510) 652-6122.
Feature Image: Mylene Stolpe Charismatic Photography
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