Imagery is everything

Suzie Harrison

She remains one of the most charismatic artists to emerge from San

Francisco’s golden era. Her powerful and distinctive voice still

resonates through her lyrics that will remain poignant to every

generation through such songs as “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to

Love.” Though she has left her eccentric outfits and microphone

behind, she remains an artist, utilizing a canvas as her medium.

Grace Slick will be at the Fingerhut Gallery today and tomorrow

for the opening reception of her newest work, which includes

drawings, etchings, acrylics and more. Her pieces often draw from her

life as a rock legend with colorful and strong portraits of other

greats such as Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi

Hendrix. Her work also includes vivid imagery-themed art depicted

from her songs, which includes an “Alice in Wonderland” series and

meditative drawings of nudes in the classic Sumi style.

“I’m now feeling like art is what I do, really a part of who I

am,” Slick said. “I’ve had to build up to it because I’ve been known

as something else, I’m building up a new way of making a living and

having fun.”

She said she works fairly fast and her agent chooses what they

show.

“I have several band pieces,” Slick said. “I do this because it’s

my gig -- his gig is to put it in the galleries and then the

galleries sell it.”

She said it is worse than the record business with everyone

getting his or her cut, but she would still do it even if she didn’t

get paid, in fact she’d probably be a little more brave.

“It’s a lot less complicated,” Slick said. “There aren’t four huge

trucks and you get to talk to more people. The band gets so nuts you

can’t talk to people. When the art goes into the galleries you get to

talk to people, find out what’s going on and talk about strange and

interesting stuff like what’s happening in the Middle East. It’s fun

how people react.”

When asked which art she prefers and which better represents her,

she told a story about when she was a kid the only thing she couldn’t

do was ballet because she was a klutz. Illustrating to her there are

no boundaries

“That’s the only thing I wouldn’t do,” Slick said. “I like all of

the arts -- writing, painting, music, I would like acting if I had a

memory. I have reverse Alzheimer’s, I can only remember 24 hours -- I

would hold up production so badly.”

She likes the variety of arts because it allows for different

modes of expression, including some politically motivated art, which

allows for her own social commentary, which she isn’t shy to express.

“Warshak Quartet,” her latest political piece, represents strident

fear and animosity that war represents.

Her only formal art training was a semester of Art 101 at the

University of Miami in 1958.

“101 is easy, I don’t think I’m a great artist, but people

identify with it and look at connecting somewhere,” Slick said. “I do

pop art, just like music, with an image I hope connects with someone

else on a personal basis.”

She said her art is like her music and the words or the picture

can be interpreted in many different ways. Slick said she generally

likes to use brilliant colors or black and white and doesn’t do

flowers or landscapes because she likes the real thing better.

Slick’s favorite piece is always what she is working on at the

moment.

“You work on them, then they’re gone -- you gotta let it go if

somebody wants it,” Slick said.

What her future plans are she can’t say for sure.

“The future I don’t plan that far,” Slick said. “In rock ‘n’ roll

you had to think ahead in a year’s time, so to think about a year in

advance -- I’ll paint ... have people over, tell lies, feed and loaf

and during the week I’ll work. I hesitate to call it work, I consider

brushing my teeth work.”

Slick will be at the Fingerhut Gallery at 210 A Forest Ave., from

7 to 9 p.m. today and Saturday. The exhibit will run through April

12. For information about the show, call (949) 376-6410.

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at 494-4321 or [email protected].