Paintings by Sam Robinson
Blind Willie Johnson
1903 – 1947
The music of a
destitute blind man who sang and played his guitar on street corners for a
living is now traveling to the stars. The 1927 recording of “Dark was the
Night” by Blind Willie Johnson and music by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and
Stravinsky is aboard the Voyager spacecrafts.
Johnson was a
deeply religious man who was a virtuoso slide guitar player and had a unique
singing voice. He was blinded at age 7 when his stepmother while fighting with
his father threw lye water in his face. He recorded 30 songs from 1927 to 1931.
He was so poor when he died that he was sleeping wrapped in newspaper in his
burnt out house.
It is almost
incomprehensible that a man who is all but forgotten would have one of his
songs chosen to represent the music of mankind. Perhaps in a billion years a
space traveling race will discover one of the Voyagers and listen to the sounds
and music of a planet that may no longer exist. And, once again the beautiful
music of Blind Willie Johnson will be heard.
In my painting I
have tried to pay tribute to the music and memory of one man while also
contemplating the place of our world and mankind in the cosmos. Both Voyagers
have sent back many beautiful photographs of neighboring planets as they have
journeyed through our solar system. However, the most thought provoking picture
is that of planet earth.
The blue dot in
the lower right corner of the painting represents our world as seen from 4
billion miles away. Upon Carl Sagan's urging on Feb. 14, 1990, Voyager 1 turned
its camera around for one last look at our home planet. Sagan wrote in his 1994
book A Pale Blue Dot:
“Look again at that
dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you
know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out
their lives.”
“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great
enveloping cosmic dark.”
“There is perhaps
no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image
of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly
with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've
ever known.”
Listening to the
music and reading about the life of Blind Willie Johnson was and continues to
be deeply moving to me. I wanted to include the Voyager spacecraft and the
small dot that is our home in the universe. I hope my art will someday tell
people that I too was in this world and left something worthwhile behind.
Art transcends
the artist’s disability, economic status, gender, race and planet of birth.
And, while it surely must feel good to create great art, it likely feels even
better to graciously share that art with others. However we treat people during
our time in this world forever shapes how we are remembered.
Reproduction
rights remain with the artist.