Catastrophic loss to Maui fire doesn’t snuff out Ruby Mazur’s passion for painting
Ruby Mazur has always fashioned himself as a survivor, so it’s no surprise that he titled his autobiography after the words he lives by: “Get up … and move on.”
The renowned rock ‘n’ roll artist has dealt with all kinds of adversity throughout his life, from serious illness — cancer and childhood polio — to seeing his work go up in smoke on more than one occasion.
In this journey filled with twists and turns, Mazur has found himself in Southern California, back to painting after losing his gallery on Lahaina’s Front Street to an Aug. 8 wildfire on the island of Maui.
Mazur is now appearing regularly on Sundays in the Bill Mack Gallery in Laguna Beach, where his work is being displayed and sold. In between, he said he is painting 16 hours a day — in a pitch-black room with an LED light and fluorescent paint.
Best known for his iconic mouth-and-tongue design that graced the cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice” album, Mazur said he now includes an original mouth-and-tongue with a dedication on the back of the work he sells.
Mazur, who played clarinet and saxophone, was always surrounded by music in his youth. As the packaging for music became more compact, Mazur found his calling.
“When I started doing album covers and then it went down to CDs, it took my canvas away,” Mazur said. “That’s when I decided, ‘You know what, I’m going to paint classic rock artists’ because that’s my love. Like Toulouse-Lautrec used to paint the cabaret dancers and the show girls, I’m going to be painting classic rock artists, which will go down in history, and I will be the classic rock artist. I’ve built that genre and collectors from all over the world.
“I’ve got my own niche. I don’t paint dolphins. I don’t paint whales. I don’t paint tikis. I paint classic rock, and when I do a painting, I want the people to hear the music that I’m actually painting.”
Those who purchase Mazur’s work receive an LED light bulb and a remote control, bringing the work to life with a color-changing experience.
“You’re getting high without doing drugs,” said Mazur while demonstrating the phenomenon.
Mazur recalled losing 30 paintings in an apartment fire in New York just ahead of an exhibition decades ago. His resilience showed up then, too, as he painted all day for two weeks until he had enough pieces to still put on the show.
When the Lahaina fire broke out last summer, Mazur, his three sons and four dogs lived out of two U-Haul trucks in an airport parking lot before learning that the area was gone. Mazur later went back to his home to see if it was still there.
“I’m driving up, and there’s smoke from the trees, embers,” Mazur said. “I was thinking, ‘This is dangerous, but I got to see.’ I drive up to my house. The fire stopped right at the fence. … Everything was burnt right up to the fence, and the house was standing. I walked into my house, and there was the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Last Supper’ hanging on the wall and the rest of my paintings.
“For a month, I sat in my living room and just cried every morning and said, ‘How can I live here? Lahaina’s gone.’”
David Michael Vaughn, an art consultant at the Bill Mack Gallery, has struck up a friendship with Mazur, who referred to the former as a younger version of himself, a “sponge” eager to learn. Their connection has grown out of respect for each other as survivors and as lovers of music.
“You see somebody that has been incredibly successful with their career,” Vaughn said. “All of that glitz is super awesome, and it’s what you aspire to, and you hope that you have those things, but to me, what was so important was to see the underside of it. I read Ruby’s book from cover to cover, and after reading that, [I am] really understanding that Ruby is a survivor.
“He’s been through so many points of adversity in his life, but it was his art, and his passion for making art and bringing happiness to people that would continuously bring the next angel around, and the next good experience would come.”
The joy of being in a gallery, in part, comes from hearing the appreciation of his work from potential customers, said Mazur, who likened those interactions to a standing ovation for a musician.
“The greatest thing is when people walk away and say, ‘Wow, I not only bought that piece of art, but I got rock ‘n’ roll history stories,’” Mazur said of his interactions with the public. “We chat and have a great time, so they’re getting an experience in buying the art.”
Cristi Olson, the owner of the Bill Mack Gallery, said she opened the Laguna Beach location — at 574 South Coast Highway — in February last year.
“I just decided to open up down in Laguna Beach because we love the town,” Olson said. “I love the city of Laguna Beach, and we want to be part of it and add some beauty.”
Olson, who met Mazur in Maui years ago, called him “the best storyteller,” adding, “He knows all these rock stars. He’s got stories.
“His poor gallery burned down on the day he was opening,” Olson said. “That was just so sad. That was just horrific. I had mourned for them so long. It was horrible. So many of my friends lost all their galleries.
Vaughn, who exhibits eclectic mixed-media art in the gallery that incorporates musical instruments among its materials, is grateful to Olson for including him among the team.
“She has been an amazing spirit and supporter and mentor,” Vaughn said. “I feel incredibly lucky to be learning the nuts and bolts of the art business. It’s like the old saying, ‘Give them fish and they can eat for a day. Teach them how to fish and they can eat for a lifetime.’
“Cristi is doing that with me, in some ways, and I feel incredibly blessed. That blessing — I want that to come through in my art. I know it comes through in Ruby’s art, and it also comes through in the way that we do business in this gallery.”
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