Sunday, May 24, 2009
Man with Dog
This self portrait was done by John Noonan in the early 80s, when he and Marie-Line were living on the Lower East Side. We were all in New York, and it was a great time to be there. It was still affordable, and all our friends were laying the foundations for their careers. We were working hard and having a blast---there was no other place to be! Of course, John was only 29 or so when he did this painting, but he ended up looking EXACTLY like this. It's such a wonderful piece of folk art, and is so very John. He had a big mixed breed dog named Weezer in San Francisco that he loved very much, and the poor pup was lost in the park by a flakey friend. John never got over this....and I think Weezer was immortalized here.
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Having known John for over 30 years, it was my impression that here was a man who definitely marched to the beat of his own drummer. Of the Noonan brothers, John was surely the coolest cat. He turned the earth on its side and made his life anew in Paris; not the quintessential beatnik-gone-bistro, but insinuating himself and his talents into the French culture, and raising a family as he did so. And with that, he still was profoundly interested in what paths others followed; even in the midst of his illness during a trip back home, he managed to push the focus off his own battle and be genuinely intetested "what was up". Bon soir chat.
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