. . . you wish.
This painting is definitely going to take some explaining. It is the perfect example of our first statement. Yet in this piece he is taking something that starts off rather complex and turns it into a symphony of sophisticated visual translation. It is proof that he lives his life with an "I'll see you and raise you one" attitude.
John Lennon + Elton John + Suchiu = "Empty Garden, Hero's Garden"
Eight weeks of planning and painting, yet a long way to go...
Paul and Ringo head back across Abbey Road to visit their old friends...
John peers out of the door... "Hey Johnny, won't you come out and play in the Hero's Garden?"...
knowing suchiu
Suchiu feels that paintings should be "imagination seeds" that are planted in the viewer's mind... he will give you a starting place with a concept and tell you only as much as he feels you need to know. Then you're on your own to figure the out rest of the story. A story that is meant to grow like an entire tree; first expanding out from roots, developing a trunk, branches and
twigs then budding, flowering and bearing fruit and onto shedding its leaves in the fall... etc... etc. His paintings are intended to take on an evolving life... all of their own.
The "Empty Garden, Hero's Garden" got its start from Suchiu's earliest concept of producing paintings that interpret his favorite songs. The very first song that he committed to his soul to be painted was " by Paul McCartney, which has yet to be produced. The second song he devoted to his production conscience was Elton John's "Empty Garden". The third being "Candle In The Wind" which has a real neat Suchiu twist and is scheduled for 2006. He says there are so many painted song concepts already inside of his that he feels cursed by them at times.
john lennon
In Elton's song he speaks of "Johnny" living in a "brown stone" which is portrayed as the entire left half of the image. If you look closely just to the right of the building... off in the distance you can see a surreal image of an entrance door to the place where John and Yoko actually lived. The Dakota is a gorgeous stone apartment building located directly across the street from Central Park and the spot now designated as Strawberry Fields...
In the song Elton sings "So, I keep knocking, but no one answers. I keep knocking, for most of the day. And I keep calling hey hey Johnny, won't you come out and play". This time we catch Johnny peering out as if to say "don't worry I am still with you and I always will be"
paul and ringo
We all remember the Abbey Road album... now this is where the painting becomes surreal. Imagine you've magically jumped into the cover and have walked a block down the road. You then turn around to see Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney heading back in the opposite direction to the original cover to revisit their lost friends John and George.
but where's george
He will be here by the time Suchiu completes the painting.
Look on the extreme right hand
side of the image, about a quarter of the way
up and you will see the Abbey Road crossing marks repeated on the ground. As the painting nears completion Suchiu will be painting a translucent image of George just walking off of the canvas to the right representing the fact that he has just recently left us. He is in the same clothes and stance as the album cover. All of these parts of Suchiu's visual translation are meant to be what he calls "poetic clues of real life built into a surreal scene."
sparky... who is sparky?
Suchiu has a habit of naming his cars. The little pink and black car in the background is one that he bought for his wife Colleen to putt putt around town in and of course its name
is Sparky. It is a rare 1957 Nash Metropolitan convertible with a monster 37 horsepower engine in ... Suchiu jokes " when all four cylinders are running and it's very rare that all four are!" Sparky is slated to be in the opening scenes of a comedy movie that will be produced over the next year or two called "Your Wildest Dreams". Ron Suchiu was hired on to be involved as an art consultant for this flick.
the naked hero
Most people who know Colleen and Ron Suchiu would certainly be aware that Colleen has just successfully finished a two year
fight against a very aggressive form of cancer. She has been given a perfect bill of health and is feeling more energetic, than ever before, toward her position as Ron's soul-mate, partner, "Vice President Of Operations" and "Publicist To The Artist". When Ron Suchiu describes this chapter of their lives you start to realize just what a powerful person Colleen is.
So it makes great sense that she has been added to this masterpiece as a Guardian Angel.
Colleen had been asked to pose nude in an avant-garde picture for a cancer charity fundraiser calendar that was based around the movie "Calendar Girls". She found out quickly that politics were taking the charity groups focus off of the right reasons for doing it so she opted out. Ron thought the photo was so beautifully accomplished that he decided to use it in the Hero's Garden.
Colleen becomes a perfect hero for Suchiu to add because of the immense respect she has earned from so many people as they watched her move through this horrific struggle with unwavering mental strength, her willingness to fight and never complain no matter how much the medicines effected her. She faced everyday as a new adventure and actually managed to find many positives in what she was going through. Get to know her... she is inspiring.
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