Live Art & Sound in Topanga Norton Wisdom & electro Soundscape Ireesh Lal

Join rebellious Artist, Performance Painter, Activist Norton Wisdom and Ireesh Lal’s “ethnotronica”–a soundscape that combines the heat of North American jazz with the meditative cool of traditional Indian sounds and sleek, synthpop –in Topanga Canyon on Sunday, Nov 2nd in Topanga Canyon. Untamed & Raw live art experience!

Wisdom is a state of mind. Norton Wisdom lives beyond NoWisdom. Supporter of peace and expert mesmerizer, to find him or track his ever-changing adventures is, as his artwork, continually moving. He travels the world, gracing the planet with his constantly changing music-inspired imagery through the live talents of musicians around the globe. Watch and listen as he profoundly interprets what he sees and hears live on stage with paint and passion.

Doors open at 6pm

FULL SUPPORT: GUARANTEED SIT-DOWN CHAIR SEATING: $20 or discount for 2 people $30

STANDING, GARDEN: $10

CORAZON ACTIVE MONTHLY MEMBERS: FREE

NORTON WISDOM began his artistic life at fourteen when he attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. A student of the luminous John Altoon (one of the preeminent artists of West Coast avant-gardism of the 50’s and 60’s), Wisdom was introduced, not only to the fundamentals of figure drawing, but also to the bold conceptual-based and humanistic thinking which would lay the groundwork for his future endeavors and Peter Voulkos, the premier Modernist ceramic sculptor and Painter.

Wisdom first began exhibiting his own work in San Francisco in the 1970s but withdrew all of his work from galleries in 1974 and spent the following eight years immersed in studio work. That same year he became a lifeguard and the endless hours he spent staring out at the ocean while working on the beaches of Malibu, Topanga and Zuma contributed to his minimalist vision as a painter. In October 1981 while in Germany for an exhibition, Wisdom painted over 150 meters of the East side of the Berlin wall during the night using searchlights to illuminate his work. He was subsequently arrested, detained, and sent back to the U.S. but the experience convinced him that he could no longer work in the static studio environment and soon he began collaborating with punk bands and working in a performative style.

Wisdom has been painting to live music ever since with bands like Panic and Banyan along with musicians such as Ireesh Lal (Artronika), Nels Cline (Wilco), Mike Watt (Iggy Pop), and Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Robby Krieger (The Doors), Rich Robinson (The Black Crows) Richie Havens, Kris Kristofferson and George Clinton to name a few. His live, improvisational paintings are temporary interpretations of music that only exist during the space of the performance.

Nels Cline and Wisdom have collaborated on the project ‘Stained Radiance’ for the last 20 years and have performed at the New York Winter Jazz Fest, The Fender 50 year Anniversary Celebration of the Jazz Master Guitar at the Knitting Factory (New York), Solid Sound Festival at Massachusetts Museum of Art, Crystal Museum of Art (Arkansas), Musik New Music Festival (Victoria, Canada) and the Big Ear New Music Festival (Knoxville).

Wisdom has performed around the world at venues as varied as the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to Coachella to the Butu Dance Company in Japan, and locally at the Walt Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Laguna Art Museum, the Skirball Museum, and more. He has been live painting with the Los Angeles Flypoet’s Showcase for over 25 years. His paintings and sculptures can be found in the permanent collections of notable museums including the Sheldon Museum of Art Nebraska, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, the Milwaukee Art Center, Wisconsin, The San Diego Museum of art and the Orange County Museum of Art.

IREESH LAL

Ireesh Lal is a recording artist and composer who combines original electronic music with exotic East Indian elements alongside the distinctly Western tones of the jazz trumpet, creating a captivating new sound. Notable achievements include features/interviews on NPR’s All Things Considered, PRI’s The World, BBC Radio, Buddha Bar Compilation (vol 12), Coachella Music Festival, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and music in dozens of television shows.

Miles Davis, Ravi Shankar and Thievery Corporation are three of Lal’s influences, and you can hear traces of each artist in his music. He’s created a unique style that Lal calls “ethnotronica”—music that combines the heat of North American jazz with the meditative cool of traditional Indian sounds and the tight, sleek, immediate delivery of smartly-programmed synthpop.