Featuring:

Debe ARLOOK, Cat BALCO, Sharon BUTLER, Max KELLENBERGER, Amanda MARCHAND, Tom MCGLYNN, Jill MOSER, Stephen MUELLER, Andy RICHTER, Alyse ROSNER, Wendi SCHNEIDER, Andrew SCHWARTZ, Mary SHAH, Barbara TAKENAGA, Alex TURNER, Lydia VISCARDI, Nicole WASSALL, Tenesh WEBBER, Alex YUDZON

"….Love Devotion Surrender is a guitar summit meeting pairing Carlos [Santana] with his friend and fellow Sri Chinmoy devotee John McLaughlin in what can be viewed as both a tribute to John Coltrane and a musical expression of spiritual consciousness…. Notwithstanding the reverence and esteem in which John Coltrane was held by his fellow jazz musicians, almost none dared to express this respect by performing his "A Love Supreme." Perhaps it was too daunting a challenge, one which could hardly survive comparison to the original….

-Hal Miller, from the 2003 re-issue liner notes of Love Devotion Surrender

Rick Wester Fine Art is very pleased to present Love Devotion Surrender Dedication, a group exhibition inspired by, and dedicated to, the 1973 album Love Devotion Surrender by Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. That collaboration in itself was specifically an homage to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane's late, spiritually endowed tonal poem recorded in 1964. Universally recognized in the world of jazz, as Carlos Santana described him, "an Archangel of the highest order to bring healing to this planet," his life was tragically cut short as he passed away just five years prior to the Santana/McLaughlin recording. The exhibition's artists also aim for higher planes of consciousness and awareness, by allowing themselves to be guided by what their creative processes inform them to do. Meditative and reflective, their work offers a respite from the hard-edged reality the world has served up since the advent of the scourge in early 2020. The exhibition is co-curated by artist Mary Shah and Rick Wester.

Mary Shah: Was there a significant event that launched the concept of the show for you?

Rick Wester: There wasn’t any single one but a confluence of factors acting in harmony that drove the idea home. In March this year I was asked to participate in portfolio reviews for Medium, in, naturally, online sessions. I was fortunate to work with Debe Arlook, Amanda Marchand, Andy Richter and Alex Turner, all of whom struck me as using photography in an otherworldly manner. As in so much these days, it was also partly due to the pandemic and facing re-opening to the public. I asked a lot of questions, like what would people want to see after all this time? Can art really help heal a wound like the effects of Covid? What can we do to contribute to the shape of recovery? You were so tuned into this immediately. What was it that made you want to jump in?

MS: First of all, I love that you were asking those questions. They are the same I'd ask myself despite a global pandemic, but especially in light of one. Secondly, your concept is based on music, and you know how important a role music plays in my creative process for inspiration. Learning about and listening to Love Devotion Surrender by Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and then making the connection to Coltrane opened my mind up to the possibilities. I know many artists who worked extensively during the pandemic, and this seemed to me to be the way to make a statement about what had happened. The artists I invited to exhibit all seem to be working towards a quiet, meditative quality that might otherwise go unnoticed. I am drawn to contemplative art, pictures that take me on a journey in my mind, that speak to the deeper, quieter parts of this human experience.

RW: It’s always enlightening to let ideas bloom into something and see them change into something unanticipated. I think that’s the essence of Love Devotion Surrender. I doubt Coltrane would have predicted such a treatment to A Love Supreme but it works and is just one step in taking the music forward into unknown territory.

MS: I completely agree, and that's the beauty of art, in all its forms, and collaboration - after all, isn't that what this life is? A multi-layered collaboration, a tapestry and a song of shared experience? The pandemic united people in a way; we united to support and survive an unprecedented circumstance. I view artistic practices as acts of love, devotion, surrender, and dedication, so the title is fitting for a show comprised of works made during a profound time of introspection, a desire to stay connected and to tap into a kind of "love supreme."