This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lurielurie (talk | contribs) at 19:45, 12 February 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 19:45, 12 February 2011 by Lurielurie (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)John Lurie (born December 14, 1952) is an American actor, musician, painter and producer.
Biography
Lurie was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, moved to New Orleans at the age of 6, then moved to Worcester, Massachusetts.
In 1978 he formed The Lounge Lizards with his brother Evan Lurie. The Lounge Lizards exhibited the talent of artists such as Calvin Weston, Billy Martin, Oren Bloedow, Steve Bernstein, Marc Ribot, and Erik Sanko, among others. The band continued to make music for 20 years. During this time, Lurie recorded 22 albums and composed scores for over 20 movies, the most notable being Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, Mystery Train, Clay Pigeons, Animal Factory, and Get Shorty, which earned him a Grammy nomination.
During the 1980s he starred in three films directed by Jim Jarmusch, Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, and Permanent Vacation. He went on to have roles in other notable films including Paris, Texas and The Last Temptation of Christ. Lurie also starred, during 2001-2003, on the HBO prison series Oz as inmate Greg Penders.
His 1991 TV series Fishing with John, which he wrote, directed and starred in, was a cult success. The critically acclaimed series aired on IFC and Bravo. Episodes included guests Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe, Matt Dillon, Jim Jarmusch, and Dennis Hopper. It has since been released on DVD by Criterion.
In 1993 Lurie, with Howard Shore, composed the theme to Late Night with Conan O'Brien which was also used as the theme to The Tonight Show when O'Brien hosted.
In 1999 Lurie released the album The Legendary Marvin Pontiac - Greatest Hits, which was purportedly a posthumous collection of the work of an insane African-Jewish musician named Marvin Pontiac (1932–1977). Pontiac, however, was a fictional character, and the music was actually written by Lurie, and performed by Lurie, John Medeski, Billy Martin, G. Calvin Weston, Marc Ribot, and Tony Scherr. The album included praise from David Bowie, Angelique Kidjo, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, and others, who were in on the joke, and a fictional "biography" was published by Allmusic
Since the late 1990s, Lurie claims to have been diagnosed with a number of diseases, including advanced Lyme disease, mercury poisoning, a rare form of epilepsy, a rare form of multiple sclerosis, malaria, basilar migraines, and an autoimmune disorder stemming from chronic hepatitis B.
Lurie has said that his illnesses have kept him from acting or performing music. He now spends most of his time in his apartment playing online poker, or traveling to disseminate his conjecture that the painter John Perry is stalking him. Though Lurie has produced no evidence to support his claims, he states regularly in the press that Perry intends to murder him.
Painting
For the last six years, Lurie has been exhibiting his paintings, and credits painting with "saving his life", referring to his illness and seclusion.
In spring 2004, he had his first exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Within 10 minutes of the opening night, all the pieces were sold. His subsequent exhibitions at Galerie Daniel Blau in Munich; Galerie Lelong in Zürich and Galerie Gabriel Rolt in Amsterdam were all met with equal success. Lurie was represented at the Basel International Art Fair in June 2005, 2006 and will be again this year. In January 2005, Lurie exhibited his second show in New York at Roebling Hall's new Chelsea location. On April 30, 2006, Lurie opened his first solo museum show at P.S.1. Contemporary Arts Center, New York. In 2007, his work was showcased at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Lurie continued to exhibit in domestic and international venues in 2008. A collection of work was displayed at the NEXT Art Fair Chicago and Luries work was exhibited at the Mudam Luxembourg from October through December in 2008. In addition, The Museum of Modern Art and The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford have acquired his work for their permanent collections. .
Lurie has also made his work available to the public via two art books. In June 2006, Lurie released his first book, Learn To Draw, a compilation of black and white drawings published by Walther Konig. In May 2008, Lurie's most recent release, A Fine Example of Art, a hard cover, full color book of over 80 reproductions of his work, published by powerHouse Books, was made available at select domestic and international book stores as well as on Amazon.com.
Lurie's watercolor painting Bear Surprise achieved enormous popularity on numerous Russian websites, in an Internet phenomenon known as Preved. Lurie combined text and images in unique and interesting ways creating a personal mythology that breaks down the distinctions between real experiences and the imaginary. Lurie has showed his works at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Roebling Hall, and Anton Kern gallery in New York, and Galerie Daniel Blau in Munich. They were on show at the Mudam museum in Luxembourg from October 11, 2008 to December 8, 2008. John Lurie's show The Skeleton in my closet has moved back out to the garden, was on view at Fredericks & Freiser (536 W. 24th St. betw. 10th & 11th Aves.) from October 10 to Saturday, November 7, 2009.
From January 30th through May 9, 2010, the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo dedicated their entire museum to exhibiting hundreds of Lurie's works.
Filmography
- Underground U.S.A. (1980)
- Permanent Vacation (1980)
- The Offenders (1980)
- Subway Riders (1981)
- Stranger Than Paradise (1983)
- Paris, Texas (1984)
- Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
- Down by Law (1986)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
- Il piccolo diavolo (1988)
- Wild at Heart (1990)
- John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards Live in Berlin 1991 (1992) (concert film)
- Smoke (1995) (uncredited)
- Blue in the Face (1995)
- Just Your Luck (1996)
- New Rose Hotel (1998)
- Sleepwalk (2000)
Discography
John Lurie
- Berlin 1991 Volume One and the Lounge Lizards (1991)
- Men With Sticks: John Lurie National Orchestra (1993)
- The Days with Jacques
- The Legendary Marvin Pontiac (1999)
Lounge Lizards
- Lounge Lizards (1981)
- No Pain for Cakes (1986)
- Voice of Chunk (1988)
- Big Heart: Live in Tokyo (1986)
- Live: 1979-1981 (1992)
- Live in Berlin, Volume One (1992)
- Live in Berlin, Volume Two (1993)
- Queen of All Ears (1998)
- Big Heart: Live in Tokyo (Import) (2004)
Soundtracks
- Stranger Than Paradise and The Resurrection of Albert Ayler (album released in 1986)
- Down by Law and Variety (album released in 1987)
- Mystery Train (1989)
- Get Shorty (1995)
- Excess Baggage (1997)
- Fishing with John (recorded in 1991, released in 1998)
- African Swim and Manny and Lo (1999)
References
-
Robins, Wayne (2008-04-21), Behind The Legend of the Legendary Marvin Pontiac: A Conversation with John Lurie, Emusic Magazine
{{citation}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - The Legendary Marvin Pontiac - Greatest Hits, Emusic.
- Marvin Pontiac, Allmusic.
-
"John Lurie's Works on Paper". The Leonard Lopate Show. 2006-06-14. WNYC.
{{cite episode}}
: Check date values in:|airdate=
(help); Unknown parameter|city=
ignored (|location=
suggested) (help) - "John Lurie: The Erotic Poetry of Hoog"
- MoMA permanent collection search
- CONTEXT - This Week in Arts and Ideas from The Moscow Times
- John Lurie at P.S. 1, ARTINFO, May 5, 2006, retrieved 2008-05-20
- John Lurie in Chelsea, Basquiat Blog.
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
- http://staires.org/audio/1937
- http://hectocotylus.blogspot.com/2010/08/sleeping-with-weapons-why-did-john.html
- http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/is_john_perry_a_phantom_in_john_luries_head/
- http://www.juxtapoz.com/Features/an-artists-lost-fame-john-luries-fall-from-grace
- http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/pesadilla/John/Lurie/elpepicul/20100904elpepicul_7/Tes
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tanja-m-laden/speaking-with-john_b_640096.html
- http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/audios/20101006/carne-cruda---pescando-john-lurie---
- http://www.nypress.com/article-20515-conversations-with-john.html
06-10-10/895457.shtml
- www.strangeandbeautiful.com (official website of John Lurie's music)
- Leonard Lopate interview with John Lurie
- Interview in Philadelphia City Paper regarding Fishing With John
- December 2006 Interview in Perfect Sound Forever
- John Lurie art
- {http://www.jambands.com/features/2011/02/01/john-lurie-sustains
- {http://theartblog.org/2011/01/john-lurie-from-another-perspective
- {http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/16988/john-lurie
- August 2010 New Yorker article on Lurie (abstract)