Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Junkhouse. LeE HARVeY OsMOND. Musician Tom Wilson has many incarnations and many creative outlets. The metropolitan Edmonton region had better get ready for one more.
The Hamilton, Ont., native – the prolific and prodigious musical prodigy that he is – is returning in an unfamiliar setting and for slightly more than a single night session. A Cast of Thousands is the name of his exhibit of new work, just being set up for a whirlwind display at Edmonton’s newest space, the Daffodil Gallery on 124th Street in Edmonton, co-owned by St. Albert’s Rick Rogers.
So, why Edmonton?
“Edmonton is a wonderful market!” Wilson remarked enthusiastically. “It’s relative to Hamilton as far as mentality goes. I find cities like Edmonton … they’re like my home. I feel very at home in them. The people of Edmonton have always been really good to me.”
“If I wasn’t an artist, if I was just a market researcher … Edmonton would be one of the flags on the map, for sure!”
He said that if he were on a music tour, he’d make sure that this was one of the venues. Well, he is on tour, stopping in Red Deer with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Now that he’s established himself as a visual artist with recognition in major centres like New York, he still makes sure that E-town gets picked up for shows of his original works.
On the other hand, he just can’t make sense of why he’s got one of the briefest exhibits ever heard of. His response, taken with a grain of salt, marks the measure of a man who has lived to beat his demons while mocking their machinations every step of the way.
“I don’t know!” he laughed, at length. “I have no idea. I just shipped nine paintings up to Edmonton for four days. You tell me.”
The headstrong painter doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but doesn’t really count Edmonton or its artistic community among the category of fools. He’s quite overjoyed to get a spot on new gallery Daffodil’s slate. It’s a good location and this is a mild winter for the stop along the capital city’s best art walk.
“I get plenty of satisfaction from my musical projects. It’s all about using that creative energy that I have… that we all have. I find that using that creative energy only enhances my life and makes things better for me, whether it’s music or art, or just writing. It’s all important to me.”
His show is a selection of new works that demonstrates both his prodigious talent and his lineage. Wilson is part Mohawk and his imagery is heavily influenced by his ancestry. Prominent heads, looking much like totem pole faces, sit stoically immersed in nature with large, all-seeing eyes that look all too sad and somber. Wilson refers to them as similar to the Iroquois false face, wooden masks meant to heal the ill.
He paints all of these with his fingertips, finishing each piece with his own song lyrics. These are intensely personal pieces from the man with the prodigious creative energy.
“The etchings that go into the face and into the sky and into the landscape are all matching, just showing that we’re all relative in this universe and we’re all one with all that’s around us. It’s something that we’ve forgotten about and something we’ve ended up mocking the hippies for,” he laughed. “I’m from Hamilton. I’m definitely not a hippy, but it’s welcoming to accept that way of thinking.”
A Cast of Thousands runs today through Saturday at the Daffodil Gallery located at 10412 124 Street in Edmonton. Wilson will be in attendance at tonight’s opening reception, performing an intimate concert (with multiple sets) for guests and fans between 6 and 9 p.m.
For more information, call the gallery at 780-760-1278 or visit www.daffodilgallery.ca.
