4/16/14: Lonnie Holley X Will Glass @ Word Up Books

Posted on April 14, 2014

(Photo: Kendrick Brinson | Fader)

The amazing and renowned sculptor and musician from Birmingham, Alabama, brings his improvised song world to Word Up, where he will be accompanied by Word Up volunteer Will Glass on drums.

LONNIE HOLLEY

w/ Will Glass

Wednesday, April 16, 2014 @ 7 PM

Word Up Community Bookshop

2113 Amsterdam Avenue @ 165th St.

$10 suggested donation at the door

Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley’s sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events.

Holley did not start making and performing music in a studio nor does his creative process mirror that of the typical musician. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording. In Holley’s original art environment, he would construct and deconstruct his visual works, repurposing their elements for new pieces. This often led to the transfer of individual narratives into the new work creating a cumulative composite image that has depth and purpose beyond its original singular meaning. The layers of sound in Holley’s music, likewise, are the result of decades of evolving experimentation. “Just Before Music” features Holley’s first studio recordings made in 2010 and 2011.

Lonnie and Will will also be performing at Baby’s All Right on April 15th, and at the Studio Museum in Harlem on April 19th.

Check out: Lonnie Holley at Word Up next Wednesday | Word Up Books.