Issue link: https://artandculture.epubxp.com/i/885315
32 art&culture; "The skulls come from Basquiat's skellies, but before that he got it from Picasso's skellies," he says. "I'd pore through books when my brain was tired and let it go into my gray matter. When I spit it back out, that's what stuck." When waiting for the subject to reveal itself, Newsted says he "chases the face," seeking out eyes, bones, a figure in the abstract work, much like people see faces in clouds. "It's a simple, childlike clairvoyance; it's how you perceive it," he explains. "That's what I do.... And when it's finished and someone sees something I didn't intend or didn't see myself, I love, love, love that." Newsted's work has evolved over the years, with maybe five or six distinct styles that have transpired. In what he calls his tapestries, he uses two hands simultaneously to write a sentence, or a verse from a song, over and over again, forward and backward. He spins the canvas one quarter each time to create layer upon layer of the verse, upward of 300 times. The end result is an abstract piece reminiscent of Pollock whose lyrical basis is no longer apparent. The only people who know its true makeup are Newsted and the buyer: "I take pictures of it at ev- ery stage and give them to the buyer so they can see what it says. And once you live with it for a while, if you focus on one color and let your brain zombie out, you can find the letters or words." He has also made small sculptures and lately has been working with collage a lot, spending hours clipping words and pictures out of maga- zines while watching documentary films or Jeopardy. "It's time consum- ing and labor intensive, but I love that it's about what can be created out of something that wasn't intended to be that," he says. "It's the same princi- ple as the paintings and drawings: I never know what's going to show up." Among the breadth of his work, some of Newsted's personal favor- ites are homages he created in tribute to friends and inspirational figures he has lost: Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, film director Akira Kurosawa, and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. "The best ones come from a deep, deep place where I'm paying someone respect," he says. "The same for music: The deeper the song and what it means to me, I put that much more love into it." Newsted's many styles and phases as an artist will be on display December 1 through February 3 at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. The solo exhibit will also include some of his guitars, lyrics, a video installation, and an occasional musical performance by New- sted himself. It's his first solo show, but he's not sweating it. "There's a saying: 'Every bird has just their song,'" he says. "There are many artists greater, more advanced, than me. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still going to go for it the way I'm going to go for it. Only I can sing my song." ‡ THIS PAGE (FROM LEFT): JMB RIP (2006), ACRYLIC AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, IS NEWSTED'S ODE TO JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT; NEW SHERIFF IN ROCK RIDGE (2007), INK ON PAPER. OPPOSITE PAGE: NEWSTED WEB EXCLUSIVE MORE THOUGHTS FROM NEWSTED, PLUS SOME ADDITIONAL WORKS, AT PALMBEACHCULTURE.COM/MAGAZINE &