Negrophile
'He leapfrogs over the things that separate us and makes it possible for us all to feel kinship.'

It's about 9:30p.m. and the curtain has come down to tepid applause for the local premiere of "Off the Wall & Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green."

Now, as he is trying to leave, the artist who is the fulcrum for the $1.25 million ballet has been recognized by an usher. She has Green pressed up against one of the many open doors to Gaillard Auditorium.

The usher, a black woman built like a dorm refrigerator, wants him to sign something, anything. With a pen she doesn’t have.

"Are you coming to the reception?" he asks, hoping to delay the penance of scrawling his name on scores of calendars, programs and posters for as long as he can.

"I wasn't invited to the reception. Could you ..." She thrusts a program at his hands, which are folded at his waist. "It's so wonderful," she gushes as Green starts scribbling with a borrowed pen. "We’re so proud."

When he smiles, the wattage is single-digit low.

| T.D. Mobley-Martinez's "A name. A painter. A brand." for The State is a thoughtful, single-camera-style take of an artist profile


posted in articles on March 6, 2005 4:28 AM | t (0)

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