Kerouac also did religious themed paintings, including Buddhas and Popes. Below is his 1966 collaboration with the Italian painter Franco Angeli depicting Jesus being taken from the cross. Douglas Brinkley, editor of Jack Kerouac: Road Novels, 1957-1960, said that when Kerouac "rediscovered his Catholic heritage, he embraced the iconography, drawing crucifixes and rosaries in his notebooks... Kerouac embraced the pageantry of Catholicism... There is no blasphemy in Kerouac.”
New American Cinema came out of, or was inspired by the beat era. Robert Frank did films where he collaborated with Ginsberg and Kerouac. Must have been an excellent time, culturally at least, to be around. Not that good things aren't happening now, but I wish I could go back into time to see these inspired moments, the Charles theatre, the whole scene with Harry Smith, Ron Rice, Jack Smith, Brakhage, Mekas etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteSo cool! Love coming to this site!!
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