Mike McCreadys mother taught art for nearly three decades, and she instilled in him a great love of painting and sculpture. But even though he liked art, the omnipresence of works by Monet, Van Gogh and Warhol intimidated him when it came to making his own visual art. McCready would stick to playing guitar, something hes done for nearly 30 years in Pearl Jam. I held artists on such an iconic level that I never felt I could even try, he says. I never had the confidence.
Similarly, Seattle- and New Yorkbased visual artist Kate Neckel, whose work has been featured on billboards and in magazines, never felt like she could put herself out there as a singer. When I was in third grade, I was supposed to try out for choir, she says. I got so nervous and felt so much emotion around singing that I called my mom and said I didnt feel well.
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Now both Neckel and McCready are facing their fears together as a multimedia art duo, inspired initially by Andy Warhols multimedia extravaganzas of the Sixties. Using the name Infinite Color & Sound, the artists will debut their collaborations, which encompass painting, music, sculpture and performance, at an exhibition dubbed Sway next month. Its set to run at the Seattle gallery Winston Wchter Fine Art from March 22nd to May 18th.
Over the past four months, McCready has been trying his hand at painting (Im doing it right now as were talking, he brags) and Neckel finally sings on songs theyve written together. I feel like Ive been cracked open, she says. I feel like I now have this whole other way of expressing myself, which, at the age of 42, is the most amazing and beautiful thing.
The artists paths first crossed last year at the Seattle Art Fair. A mutual friend had told McCready to check out some of Neckels artwork, and her colorful swirls and abstract line drawings struck him. His wife, Ashley OConnor, then commissioned Neckel to paint what the latter describes as an abstracted family portrait for their home. She sat down with the couple and listened to the stories of their relationship and the adventures theyd gone on and created a six-panel representation of all the things they cared about. Neckel completed it in December but before she was done with it, she and McCready were discussing collaborating on an art project. They started creating art together last October.
Commission
Although the tipping-off point for the guitarist was to emulate something like Warhols Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows, which launched the career of the Velvet Underground alongside Warhols films, he and Neckel scaled their idea down. I dont need to rip something off that has already been done so amazingly, he says. The point turned into doing something on a smaller level, the two of us. Were pushing each other to do stuff that neither of us have done before. Ive never painted. Ive never drawn, because Ive been terrified of it. But Kate has allowed me to just go and try that. Shes started playing guitar and shes singing, and she hasnt done that before.
There are no rules, Neckel says. Well go over to the beach and take a canvas out into the water to paint or well take a guitar. We trust each other and were comfortable just experimenting and seeing where something goes.
To Neckels eyes, much of the art she and McCready have been making has had an abstract-expressionist feel alongside some dada aesthetic. Its very intuitive and very much based on feeling and action, she says. Its very raw and very connected. I follow his hand; he follows my hand.
McCready will take photos of Neckels drawings and glue them to Polaroids. The two of them will paint mannequins. Or sometimes, theyll just create in proximity to each other in the media theyre most comfortable with.
Kate will put a canvas down, and either shell start painting and Ill play to the rhythm of what shes painting in my mind or Ill start playing and shell paint to what Im doing, he says. Eventually, Ill start following her in terms of how fast the rhythm of her hand is going, in terms of turning and painting colors and how big they are. That will make me go intuitively into something thats more droney. I just have to feel it. Ive always played guitar by feel, primarily. It feels intuitive. Its very immersive.
Beyond the duos improvisational works, theyre also writing two actual songs that will accompany the exhibition. Neckel sings and plays guitar for one, and McCready sings one, which, he says, is another example of pushing himself outside of his comfort zone.
McCready and Neckels biggest problem right now is knowing when to stop. They already have a sense of what the Winston Wchter gallery will look like when Sway opens, but because theyve embraced the infinite part of their collaborations name, theyre not sure where the cut-off point is. We have deadlines, Neckel says. We have a catalog [to make].
When its installed, visitors will see large paintings (Some of them are over seven feet long, Neckel says), collages on canvas, drawings on paper, mixed-media works and what McCready describes as Polaroid pictures that are cut up and painted on.
In the front of the gallery, we have live performances, Neckel says. There will be a whole other body of work including some of the mannequins and works painted on sweatpants, sculptures weve made on the beach and guitars that we painted on. When Mike was working on the music for a Johnny Cash film, he passed me a guitar and said, Here. Start drawing on this guitar with a Sharpie. Thats how our whole process has been. Its super organic and natural. Its never serious.
Neckel at the moment is excited to learn more about performing in front of an audience from McCready. Mike obviously has a lot to teach me about that, she says. Im excited to spend these next four weeks working on our music and the performance elements.
They titled the exhibition Sway after the bluesy track on the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album. Its my favorite Rolling Stones song of all time, McCready says. He points to its refrain, Its just that demon life has got you in its sway, as having a particular meaning to him and the art hes created with Infinite Color & Sound. What does it take to get out of that? he offers up as a question he hopes their art answers. All of us as human beings experience fear, loneliness or sadness; youre swaying into an unknown territory thats terrifying. How do you get out of it? What do you learn from it? Can you get through it? Thats significant in terms of life and art for me. How do you get through those times that are hard?
I think the art probably does reflect those themes, Neckel says. It reflects the vulnerability and openness, and pushing through the fear and desire to create the work. I think the work has an honesty to it.
Although Winston Wchter has a New York gallery, they havent yet decided on whether theyll be bringing Sway there. I hope we can take it there, McCready says.
Its been a long road for McCready to get to this point, but hes finally feeling comfortable with visual art. I operated on fear for many, many years to stay away from things that arent just guitar or rock, cause Ive done that since I was 11, he says. This stuff is brand new to me. Im 52 and just starting to learn all these new things about art through Kate and how to create and how do make mixed media and to be vulnerable with that. And Ive learned from that vulnerability. Its been a really great experience, and its been very quick. I feel a freedom in this that I havent felt before.