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Rosanne Cash Can’t Resist: Dan Rizzie

CashlogoUnless you’ve spent the last 50 years cryogenically frozen in deep space, you may have heard of Rosanne Cash‘s father, Johnny Cash. When Rosanne locked in on becoming a successful country singer/songwriter, she had a formidable set of footsteps to follow. But she isn’t one to duck a challenge. Twenty of her singles cracked the top 20 in the country charts from 1979 to 1990, with 11 reaching the number-one spot. Her new album, The List (out next week on EMI/Manhattan), is a terrific reworking of country classics, handpicked from a list of indispensable songs her dad made for her 36 years ago. Having Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright appear as guest artists on the record is a nice fit. Rosanne will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week long. Read our Q&A with her.

Dan-RIzzle550Cash: Dan Rizzie is a deeply poetic visual artist. His paintings are full of graceful lines and his own symbology, and his symbols make a lot of sense to me on a visceral and emotional level. I own only one of his paintings—it has a layered black rose at the center, as if it were floating in air—but I wish I had a roomful of his art. It draws me in, and it makes me wake up and become soothed at the same time. He uses black—in roses and tulips and strange teakettles—in a way that makes black seem like the softest color of all. He can paint very densely, as with his Cedar Point, which is a crazy rush of black and red on a huge scale, and he can paint something where the negative space is greater than the content, like his beautiful Poppy (Number One), a pale poppy on a field of scattered polka dots. Dan is my friend. He’s a bon vivant and a tremendously funny guy, which is a great counterpoint to the quiet depth of his art. He lives in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and he looks like he’s the mayor of the whole South Fork, in his boat shoes and summer shirts, hanging onto his dog Vex, commenting on the melodic range of mosquitoes and rescuing random artifacts to hang from trees so he can paint them. I’m just glad there is a painter like Dan Rizzie in the world, to inspire me to look deeper and listen more closely.

4 replies on “Rosanne Cash Can’t Resist: Dan Rizzie”

Dan is one of our favorites as we.ll! We at Anne Reed Gallery had a beautiful show of his work last year and I’m still pining over “Nutty Torch.” Hope to add that to my own collection soon. He and Ms. Cash seem like two poetic souls who would certainly have an affinity for one another.

Dan is one of my favorite artists to work with here at Flatbed Press, where he brings his world of images and translates them into amazing monotypes and woodcuts. Love to see and hear the repsonses of others out there who know him and his work.

Dan is a personal friend. He never ceases to amaze me with his talent or his fame. He is very modest when it comes to both. I know the Dan that Rosanne describes yet I also know a very caring, understanding person that gives without expecting anything in return. The Dan I know is also a talented Musician yet if ask, he’ll deny it. All the best to you my friend. wishing you well in all that you do. Great article here. Made me smile!

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