Tico in Asbury Park Press
MCD LANCER
Published in the Asbury Park Press 11/06/98
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THE ARTWORK OF TICO TORRES
7-10 tonight
Bookbinders
125 Walnut St., Philadelphia
(215) 925-7027
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By KELLY-JANE COTTER
Music Writer
Tico Torres, drummer for the New Jersey-based supergroup Bon Jovi, says
he accidentally became a rock star.
Torres, who lives in Colts Neck, studied art in high school and had
hopes of becoming a painter. He was also a self-taught musician -- who
one night found himself at a party or a battle-of-the-bands or some such
event and there was a band on stage whose drummer hadn't shown up. They
asked Torres if he could help out.
"I took pliers and half a drumstick and I filled in," said Torres.
How much of that story is hyperbole, only those long-ago teen-agers can
say. But it reveals Torres' willingness to use any implement in the
pursuit of art.
Drumsticks, paintbrushes, golf clubs and tennis rackets all have found
their way into Torres' hands.
"To me, the hands are the most interesting part of the anatomy," he
said.
Just as Alfred Stieglitz photographed Georgia O'Keefe's hands, Torres
has focused on the hands of athletes who inspire him. His most recent
sculptures replicate the grip of golfers and tennis players.
"The grip is an integral part of who they are and what they can do,"
Torres said. "No one's paid homage to the grip before."
A collection of Torres' sculptures, portraits and paintings will be on
display tonight only at the original Bookbinders restaurant, 125 Walnut
St. in Philadelphia. The exhibit, in the restaurant's banquet room, is
open to the public from 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is free and the work is
for sale. For directions, call (215) 925-7027.
In August, Torres attended the Citibank Champions' Tournament in
Purchase, N.Y., where he made casts of some of the world's best players,
including Guillermo Vilas, Henri LeConte, Johan Kriek, Mansour Bahrami,
John Fitzgerald, Tim Wilkenson, Mike Pernfors, Toru Yonezawa, Peter
Fleming, Andres Gomez, Gene Mayer, Shlomo Glickstein and Mel Purcell.
The resulting sculptures, grouped as Torres' "Seniors Collection," were
unveiled at a party during the 1998 U.S. Open.
To complement the sculptures, Torres painted acrylic portraits of each
player. He incorporated some of the portraits into the sculptures, for
example, framing the portrait on the face of the racket.
Torres has also made life-size bronze casts of the grips of golfers such
as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman,
Nick Price, Seve Ballesteros and Ernie Els.
"The reaction from the players varies," Torres said. "Some of them are
surprised that I'd want to make sculpture from their hands. Nicky Price
found it strange holding his own hand."
The process is a quick one, at least for the model. The athlete dips his
hand into a bucket of wax, which hardens in a few minutes to make a
mold. The resulting bronze sculpture is either displayed on a base or is
attached to a tennis racket, its handle wildly twisted and stretched out
of shape.
In the back yard of his home in Colts Neck, Torres has a studio not much
bigger than a child's tree house. Torres spends hours in this
paint-spattered nook, armed with a cellular phone and a radio, where he
constructs his elongated sculptures and paints his thick, vivid
pictures. ("Being Latin, I like the bright colors," Torres said).
Torres isn't the only rock 'n' roller to turn to visual art. John Lennon
did so with wry cartoons and sketches; Jerry Garcia's artwork became a
line of ties. But Torres says that visual art has always been his
primary love.
"Art's been with me longer," he said. "Music took over for 30 years, but
I really crave the solitary creativity of painting and sculpture."
Torres is friendly, but soft-spoken, and it's hard to imagine him
playing cavernous arenas when he seems so at home in his quiet, cozy
studio. He recently painted "Mr. Munn's Blue Christmas," which depicts a
lanky, cobalt-colored man bent over a piano, for the cover of an
upcoming VH-1 holiday CD.
He avoids any kind of rock music while painting, preferring to use
instrumental jazz and classical music as background music in his studio.
"Anything else is too rhythmic," he said.
Still, there's something percussive about the drummer's painting style.
Torres dabs on paint with rapid jabs of the brush and uses a bunched-up
rag to deliver a cymbal-like thwack to the canvas.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: November 06, 1998
Sending postcards from the edge,
Mary Beth
~*~ Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat
you with experience. ~*~