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The historical society
chose the recent work of John Graham because of his interest in the history
of El Fornio. Graham, a native Californian who was born in Santa Monica
in 1962, received his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California
at Santa Barbara in June of 2002. His thesis was based on stories he had
collected while doing research in the county as well as his observations
of the places he had visited in the area. More than simply painting landscapes,
Graham collected anecdotes and legends and sketched them, often drawing
out the story and adding narrative to the objects. Eventually, for his
final thesis shows at Santa Monica's Bergamont Station and the Santa Barbara
Museum of Art's Ridley Tree Learning Center, Graham completed a series
of large drawings, “grand illustrations” he calls them, depicting
the settings and narratives he thought the most interesting. You can also
read "The Charmed Life: A Story of a Boy Who
Changes," his fictional account of the area.
In his own words:
“I had always
heard stories about the area.The story of Jack Kennedy, the guy who
supposedly changed race, was particularly notorious if not suspect.
Many people had heard the story and there was a lot of speculation about
what was real and what wasn't. His friends continue to claim that they
could see him “change” over a period of weeks, culminating
in a few very public events until he eventually disappeared down the
coast, somewhere around Ventura. The papers covered it a bit but for
the most part it was so out of the norm that most people have always
thought that it was a hoax, like Bigfoot or flying saucers. Vanity
Fair even ran a story about it. So I thought I'd look that up and
talk to the people who knew him. That's the large drawing called, “The
Pelican Talks to Jack.” I'm still uncertain as to all the information
I gathered, but I'm pretty happy with the piece I put together, which
is based on an episode described to me by Mike Goodman, an El Fornio
High School grad and whose mother owned the gas station where Kennedy
worked.
Other pieces I did had to do with the local kids I saw one
day trying to raise a dolphin from the dead [“The Boys of El Fornio
Ready Another Dolphin for the Sea”], and a gulley I found while
hiking that just had all kinds of trash in it that seemed to me to have
a whole history of the place encoded in each bit of refuse [“The
Cliff (at El Fornio)”].
Eventually, I'd like to do more pieces. I just finished
a piece called “Dolphin Attack,” based on these people who
go on holiday to El Fornio to swim with the dolphins and then they get
chewed up by the dolphins, who it seems have a real reputation for attacking
humans and each other, despite the accepted notion that dolphins are
such peaceful creatures. Also, a portrait of Abraham Librado is in the
works. They have finally proved that he was related to Juan Bauptista
de Anza, the explorer, and I'd like to do a piece on him.”
Please click on any
of the three images below to view Graham's work as well as read up on
his explanations and the discussions of details he has included for each
piece. To see other work by John Graham, CLICK here.
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