by Dan Ferguson McLister (1942–2008)
January 2008
On September 12, 1938, Katherine Tweddle gave birth to John Tweddle. Little did she know that Tweddle (rhymes with metal) would go on to be a dedicated “artist”. Remote, rural western Kentucky, in a wooded speck on the planet, called Pinckneyville, is where this birth occurred – a short walk from the Cumberland River.
As a 7 or 8 year old boy, John and his brother Charlie dug natural red and white clay from ditches along the road that passed in front of their house. They molded little horses and people, “cowboys and indians” from this material.
John spent endless hours drawing people’s faces, cartoon style as he was inspired by comic books. Tweddle often created little cars and trucks from cardboard scraps like old boxes and cartons and from wood scraps. He and his siblings spent hours playing with these creations. “I always liked creating things with my hands from available materials”, Tweddle says, “so as the years went by people started calling me an “artist”. Well let me tell you , it’s been a hell of a damn trip. I suppose a great deal of what I’ve created asks the question, ‘what is this thing called ART.’ And what is this thing called life?”
“Some people say they are looking for Life out there in the universe… well, don’t look too hard. Life is everywhere. Everything is alive. Even death is living. Show me anything that’s not alive and I’ll make art out of it, ha ha ho ho hee hee hee, you can’t kill life. You can only destroy one life form and that creates more kinds of life. Of course I like to be my own life form, but not everybody does. There is no blank space and no death, only constant movement and change. Show me some empty space and I’ll fill it up……ha! just joking! It’s already full of something. Ask your local scientist. There are people in this Life who will blow themselves to bloody bits and destroy any other life forms near them because they don’t want to be who they are. There is a lot of pain in this world of living because one life form is often trying to consume other life forms. I’m sorry…..sometimes I ramble on forever”, says Tweddle.
So I asked Tweddle if he thinks there is a God. “There either is or there ain’t a God. What I think or believe won’t change that situation one little bit. Most God concepts, probably all are simply human fantasies. “GOD” is created in man’s image and from our imagination. We could sit around for 10,000 years and make up concepts of what God is or isn’t, but unless GOD itself plainly revealed its identity to most everybody clearly, then it is all just a dream world, like my “ART”. Obviously a being so magnificent and extremely intelligent, with eternal and unfathomable power could quite easily reveal its identity to us mortals. So I feel there is some grand creative force driving the Universe but we don’t have to know particularly what that is. I just hope God finds my life and art entertaining. And maybe, YOU will also.”
Tweddle is visually slicing life from a place where “art” has not yet fanned out and differentiated itself from billions of other possible levels of awareness. This is Quantum stuff! Tweddle is right there in the “BIG BANG” singing Ommmmmm as he rides the Big Wooosh! Glancing at his creations you hear roadhouse, heart pounding, truck stop, honky tonk, wind blowing, big diesel 18 wheels, flowers growing, blaring pick-ups, water rippling, fireworks, spiritual revelations, all keeping time with the heartbeat of Life.
Biased? Well, yes. Because I believe Tweddle to be one of the great masters of 20th and 21st century art.
Tweddle has influenced other renowned artist such as Julian Schnable. He was also collected and copied by Andy Warhol. [see the $$$$$ paintings].
Tweddle has exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is in their permanent collections as well as several other Museums around the world.
He was avidly collected by Robert C. Scull, who purchased over 30 major paintings.
He is also collected by Bruno Bischoffberger in Zurich, David Davies in London, and other European collectors.
The renowned art connoisseur and saintly artists promoter, Richard “Dick” Bellamy, is the guy who discovered Tweddle in Atlanta, Georgia. That was in 1967. Shortly afterwards Tweddle was doing major shows in New York.
