- Vali Myers
Vali Myers (
August 2 ,1930 ) – (February 12 ,2003 ) was anAustralia n artist who specialized in finepen and ink drawings, born in Canterbury,Sydney .Vali was a flamboyant artist who divided her life between her adopted home of
Melbourne , theHotel Chelsea inNew York City , and a 14th century cottage in her valley near Il Porto (Positano ),Italy . She was acquainted withTennessee Williams ,Salvador Dalí ,Django Reinhardt ,Jean Cocteau , andJean Genet , among many others. Vali died in Melbourne after a short battle with cancer at the age of 72.On the 18th January 2003
The Age newspaper printed an article about the artist's life. The article concluded with the following quote from Vali Myers:"I've had 72 absolutely flaming years. It (the illness) doesn't bother me at all, because, you know love, when you've lived like I have, you've done it all. I put all my effort into living; any dope can drop dead. I'm in the hospital now, and I guess I'll kick the bucket here. Every beetle does it, every bird, everybody. You come into the world and then you go."Filmography
* "Vali" - 1965. A film by Shelton Rochlin. Co-Produced by
George Plimpton . Winner, Documentary Film Category, 1965 Mannheim Film Festival. (Duration: 65 minutes)* "The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda - 1968. Experimental film by
Ira Cohen . (Duration: 22 minutes)* "Vali: Death in Port Jackson Hotel" - 1971. A film by
Ed van der Elsken . Features Vali in her "savage paradise" Il Porto, the canyon nearPositano where she created her artwork. (Duration: 36 minutes)* "Patti and Valli" - 1973. A short film/documentary by Sandra Dailey. The film shows
Patti Smith having her knee cap tattooed by Vali, and also features an off screen commentary by Smith. (Duration: 30 minutes)* "Vali: The Tightrope Dancer" - 1989. A documentary by Australian film-maker Ruth Cullen. (Duration: 58 minutes)
* "Painted Lady" - 2002. Ruth Cullen's follow up to "The Tightrope Dancer", a documentary that follows Vali at her studio and with friends like Lee Fuhler. (Duration: 27 minutes)
Trivia
*"Love on the Left Bank" is a 1954 book of photographs from Dutch photographer
Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990), documenting the bohemian life on theRive Gauche of Paris. Vali Myers is shown throughout the book, along with some of her early drawings.* Vali Myers was a huge inspiration to the young Patti Smith, whose walls were covered in pictures of and by Vali Myers. When they met in New York, Vali tattooed Patti with a lightning bolt on her knee cap. This was filmed by Sandra Dailey who also filmed the infamous piercing of
Robert Mapplethorpe 's nipple. This information is from Patti Smith: A Biography (1997) by Nick Johnstone Omnibus Press, UK ISBN 0-71196-193-X paperback.References
* cite book
last = Smith
first = Bernard
coauthors = with Terry Smith & Christopher Heathcote
title = Australian Painting 1788-2000
publisher = Oxford University Press
date = 2001
location = Melbourne, Vic
pages = 630p
id = ISBN 0-19-551554-4
* Online article and interview : [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/17/1042520776185.html Final dream of a bohemian priestess] from The Age, January 18, 2003.
* [http://www.skinandink.com/old/Past_Issues/2004_Past_Issues/March2004/Feature_Article_March_2004/body_feature_article_march_2004.html Obituary] by Clayton Patterson from Skin and Ink magazine, 2004
* [http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/bio/vali.htm Information] on the relationship between Vali Myers and Patti Smith
* [http://www.ruthcullen.com/ Director Ruth Cullen's] official website
* Work with [http://www.euronet.nl/users/fuhler/lee.htm poet Lee Fuhler]
* Official Website of [http://www.edvanderelsken.nl/index.php?page=home Ed van der Elsken] .External links
* [http://www.valimyers.com/ Vali Myers Studio Gallery]
* [http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen9/vali.html Multimedia magazine Aspen no. 9, published in 1971] Features a letter to friends Diane & Shelley from Vali, with photographs
* [http://community.livejournal.com/vali_myers/ A LiveJournal Community dedicated to Vali Myers]
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