Untitled Improvisation #19

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #19," 2014, acrylic on paper, 8" x 10".

Untitled Improvisation #18

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #18," 2014, acrylic on paper, 8" x 10".

Improvisation for Richard Fortus

T. Renner, "Improvisation for Richard Fortus," 2009, acrylic on paper, 7" x 5".

Originally posted November 16, 2009.

Untitled Improvisation #17

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #17," 2014, acrylic on paper, 8" x 10".

Untitled Improvisation #16

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #16," 2014, acrylic on paper, 8" x 10".

Untitled Improvisation #15

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #15," acrylic on paper, 8" x 10"

Untitled Improvisation #14

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #14," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #13

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #13," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #12

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #12," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #11

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #11," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #10

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #10," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5"

Improvisation for R.A. Lafferty

T. Renner, "Improvisation for R.A. Lafferty," 2014, acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14".

November 7 marks the centenary of science fiction author R.A. Lafferty.

Untitled Improvisation #9

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #9," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Happy Halloween!

T. Renner, "For Halloween," 2014, acrylic on corrugated cardboard, 10" x 24".

Untitled Improvisation #8

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #8," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #7

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #7," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #6

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #6," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5"

Untitled Improvisation #5

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #5," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5"

Untitled Improvisation #4

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #4," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 4.25".

Untitled Improvisation #3

" 

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #3," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #2

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #2," 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Untitled Improvisation #1

T. Renner, "Untitled Improvisation #1, 2014, acrylic on paper, 3" x 5".

Charlie Haden, R.I.P.

T. Renner, "Assemblage for Charlie Haden," 2008, acrylic, tape on paper, 11" x 11".

DownBeat Magazine reports that "Charlie Haden, the legendary bassist and composer, died on July 11 at 10:11 a.m. in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness. His death was announced by ECM Records."

Happy Birthday, Miles Davis

T. Renner, "Portrait of Miles Davis, circa 1975," 2008, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7". Sold!

Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926.

Resonance Records says, "American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader & composer, Miles Davis, would’ve turned 88 today. Considered one of the most influential musicians of last century, his music was at the forefront of evolving developments of jazz from bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz to jazz fusion."

Untitled Drawing #10

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #10," 2014, crayon, ink on paper, 6" x 4"

Untitled Drawing #9

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #9," 2014, crayon and ink on paper, 4" x 6".

Untitled Drawing #8

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #8," 2014, crayon on paper, 6" x 4".

Untitled Drawing #7

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #7," 2014, ink on paper, 6" x 4".

Untitled Drawing #6

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #6," 2014, ink on paper, 6" x 4".

Untitled Drawing #5

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #5," 2014, ink on paper, 6" x 4".

Untitled Drawing #4

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #4," 2014, ink on paper, 4" x 6".

Untitled Drawing #3

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #3," 2014, ink on paper, 4" x 6".

Untitled Drawing #2

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #2," 2014, ink on paper, 4" x 6".

Untitled Drawing #1

T. Renner, "Untitled Drawing #1," 2014, ink on paper, 4" x 6".

Happy Birthday to David Bowie

Happy Birthday to David Bowie who turns 66 today!


T. Renner, "Weeping Wall," 2010, acrylic on paper, 6" x 4".


T. Renner, "Warszawa," 2010, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6".


T. Renner, "Art Decade," 2010, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6".


T. Renner, "Subterraneans, 2010, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6".

These four paintings were made in response to the four lyric-less pieces on David Bowie's album Low. In 2010, I had been reading Hugo Wilcken's 33 1/3 book on the making of Low and set out to try to capture some of the feeling of the songs.

Untitled

T. Renner, "Untitled," 2010, unknown on paper, 8" x 10".

Untitled (for Don Van Vliet) #2

T. Renner, "Untitled (for Don Van Vliet) #2," 2008, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16".

Untitled (for Don Van Vliet)

T. Renner, "Untitled (for Don Van Vliet)," 2008, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16".

Halloween

T. Renner, "Halloween," 2013, acrylic on paper, 2" x 2".

"Site 3," a short film

Site 3 from Tony Renner on Vimeo.

T. Renner, "Site," 2013, digital photograph.

Dizzy Gillespie, Sharpie Sketch

T. Renner, "Dizzy Gillespie, Sharpie Sketch," 2008, marker on paper, 8" x 10".

Steve Futterman of Life writes:

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, who would have celebrated his 96th birthday on October 21, was the very model of the modern American musical genius: a brilliant instrumentalist and stylistic innovator, he was also an extroverted performer with a wicked sense of humor.

One of the primary creators of bebop in the mid-1940s and an unparalleled trumpeter, Dizzy was a populist who wanted his music to be understood, appreciated and enjoyed. Audiences may have associated him with signature visual clues – the beret and goatee he sported in the 1940s, and the trumpet with the upturned bell he began playing in the 1950s – and adored his onstage clowning and dancing, but anyone with ears could tell how seriously he always took the music. An international star until his death on January 6, 1993 (the same day as Rudolph Nureyev), Gillespie was as fervently respected by fellow musicians, as he was beloved by generations of listeners.

A LIFE spread captured Gillespie in 1948, during bebop’s glory days. Conspicuous in his absence is Charlie Parker, the avatar of bebop, and the man whom Dizzy called “the other side of my heartbeat,” but Gillespie’s vivacious personality was far more palatable to the mainstream. To see this magnificent musician in his youth, ready to convince the world that the music he and his not-yet-understood peers were making was the sound of the future, is still a glorious thing to behold.

Small X #4

T. Renner, "Small X #4," 2013, acrylic on paper, 6" x 4".

Small X #3

T. Renner, "Small X #3," 2013, acrylic on paper, 6" x 4".

Small X #2

T. Renner, Small X #2, 2013, acrylic on paper, 6" x 4".

Small X #1

T. Renner, "Small X #1," 2013, acrylic on paper, 6" x 4".

Untitled

 

T. Renner, "Untitled," acrylic on photograph, 2008, 5" x 7".

9-11-11, Art Hill, St. Louis, Missouri #2

T. Renner, "9-11-11, Art Hill, St. Louis, Missouri #2," 2011, digital photograph.