When I first met McCabe I was struck by his calm seriousness. He moves like a craftsman, slow and measured. He unwrapped my small paintings and he looked at them, one by one, turned them over, looked at the backs, each of his movements carefully controlled. I could tell he was like memorizing them. He was looking at each image and asking it how do I bring you to life?
He asked how do you want to do them and I answered The best way. He said yes, the best way.
And you knew he knew what that was. I didn't though. But later, when I got them back, they were astounding. He'd casually go yea all archival museum glass and hand formed spacers, archival backing and mats... But of course it was the care he took, looking at them, setting them up, choosing mats and frames then assembling them with great concentration, and giving them life.
McCabe is also a great painter himself. He had a closet in his house retrofitted to hold nothing but binders full of slides. They were all pictures of his work, some thousands of them. And it's a bit daunting when you see an entire scope of a man's work. (I want that picture of the dam in China!)
And he is also a collector of work, most of it I'm sure traded for or given to him by artists who feel they must give back for all he does. I went through his house and saw the most brilliant set of works I had ever seen, some but not all his own.
He has taken these immense skills and sensibilities and now channels them into this work he does. And the result is like an illuminated letter. We know it is just a T but it looks like a new world of tentacles and vines leaves berries small animals and winsome maids. Each image he is presented is transformed, given new life, and then sent back into the world to provide joy for us all.
And I wish I could keep him in work just framing my stuff.
the best: 734-769-5110
I am going to have to take you and Justine on an excursion to my dad's business, Armand Lee.
ReplyDeletesounds like fun.
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