John Phillips

hi Dennis
here's some stuff on the McCormick Place thing - it's like having a
Lava lamp in the lobby...


text from the wall plaque:

Big Red    2007
acrylic/canvas
174” x 138”

This painting is dedicated to Red Saunders; a composer, drummer,
bandleader, consummate session man and unsung hero who helped shape
the jazz and blues music associated with Chicago in the pivotal post
war years. In Chicago, the boundaries between jazz and other forms of
Black Music were highly permeable - the same individuals moved from
jobs in refined jazz combos to dates with wild bar-walking R&B
players. Red Saunders transitioned back and forth with the best of
them. Red could play adventurous and sophisticated big band jazz with
Sonny Blount (aka Sun Ra) on a Tuesday night and back up the sexy
guitar-driven urban blues of T-Bone Walker on the weekend. This
duality is one of the concepts informing this painting. Jazz and R&B/
Blues have many similarities and many differences. The painting
presents a mirrored image promoting a back and forth read – jazz on
the left and blues on the right.