Art Unboxed Benedetto
Artists can inspire people they will never meet. This has been the case for me with a number of them, but there are a few that stand out. This past week as many have seen, one of those was a painter named Anthony Dominick Benedetto, whom we all knew as Tony Bennett. I was a huge fan of his music, and of his paintings, beyond that he helped inspire me to make art of my own.
The irony is I can’t sing, I don’t play an instrument. Yet the fact that this man who could sing incredibly also wanted to draw and paint helped encourage me to do so. When I first started, after years of not drawing, I had a lot to learn. While I still do, I have been blessed to learn a lot. While I’ve written about him before, I would like to share some thoughts on how and why he inspired me to do so.
First I will say that there have been several people who helped me on this art journey. It’s something that has become part of my life, my ministry, and my family. My four year old wants to paint watercolor with his Dad and I love that. What makes it even more special is that my wife Ashley was a major catalyst inspiring me to pick it up again.
So was Tony Bennett, early on I looked at his paintings for inspiration. Somehow I felt if he could do it, I could too. That’s also my first point, don’t just find someone to inspire you to try, let it confirm to you that it is doable.
My second point is that art for Tony wasn’t about an additional revenue stream. While one museum curator put a high figure on his paintings in an interview, that’s not why he started. It was about learning, not achieving. Strive to learn,. None of us will learn everything and that’s part of the joy, to keep learning something along the way.
The third point is use your art to inspire others. There is an arts high school in Astoria founded by Tony Bennett, which does not bare his name. He refused to let them name it after him, but he did get to choose the name of it. It’s named after another painter not famous for his canvases, it is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts.
Frank Sinatra was a friend, hero, fan, and promoter of Tony Bennett’s, Tony deeply admired him. Sinatra was also a painter himself, and though in art alone the world may know more about Tony Bennett than Sinatra, even in his art Tony gave something back. Something back to Sinatra’s memory, but also added a piece to his legacy.
Every young person who goes through that school may be there because of Tony Bennett, but they will also be attached to the legacy of Sinatra. It’s important to note this because art isn’t about the artist alone. Who we inspire and honor is so much more important than who we are.
In all the interviews I’ve heard about Tony Bennett, I never heard him say that he was a great painter, but I did hear him say how great many of the painters he knew were. Tony Bennett mentioned artists I never would have heard of if he hadn’t spoken about them. I think that’s one of the main reasons I enjoyed him, he was a promoter of others.
In all areas of life including art, the greatest people I’ve ever known spent their time talking about everyone but themselves. As for my favorite piece of Tony Bennett’s art, it wasn’t a painting at all. It was a drawing of clarinetist Jack Mayhew.
This drawing reflected a concept I heard Tony Bennett talk about. He said once about art what you left out was more important than what you put in. In this piece there is enough to be beautiful, but enough left out to be impactful.
Above the drawing, written in uppercase letters is the name JACK MAYHEW, at the bottom simply signed Benedetto. In his actions and his art forms, Tony spelled out others prominently while signing his work with humility. May we all practice that form of art.
