Mullen //

Tumbling Dice: An artist’s theme song for unbound creativity

Posted by David Swaebe on 06/10/09
tags: , , , ,
Jon Sarkin painting a mural for Mullen at 40 Broad St.

Jon Sarkin painting a mural for Mullen at 40 Broad

The Rolling Stones rendition of Tumbling Dice plays constantly this week in the Mullen Boston cafe.  It’s inspiration for artist-in-residence Jon Sarkin who’s here creating an original piece of frenetic genius to enliven the new space.  Mullen CD Jim Amadeo gave Sarkin our one word tagline – “unbound” – as a creative brief,  to which the artist replied,  “do you know what you’re getting into?”  Sarkin’s Mullen project is profiled in The Boston Herald. His story of how a stroke caused him to discover his true gift was chronicled in The Boston Globe. Tom Cruise has screen rights for a movie about Jon.

You can watch Sarkin’s unbound Mullen piece develop on video or see it in pictures.

  • marc

    This guy is brilliant.
    Frenetic, open, and honest enough to admit that his art is the documentation of his running thoughts and the human subconscious. You won’t understand the piece unless you see it unfold (or fold over on itself) every day. That’s why I’m glad it has been documented thoroughly online.
    One this I’m afraid of is that after it’s finished, visitors (and uninterested employees) will say, “I don’t get it”. And they won’t. Because time plays a huge role in the idea. And if you’re just seeing this piece at one moment in time rather that OVER time, you’re not feeling the momentum that he has created and is inspiring us to create.
    Just my take.

  • marc

    This guy is brilliant.
    Frenetic, open, and honest enough to admit that his art is the documentation of his running thoughts and the human subconscious. You won’t understand the piece unless you see it unfold (or fold over on itself) every day. That’s why I’m glad it has been documented thoroughly online.
    One this I’m afraid of is that after it’s finished, visitors (and uninterested employees) will say, “I don’t get it”. And they won’t. Because time plays a huge role in the idea. And if you’re just seeing this piece at one moment in time rather that OVER time, you’re not feeling the momentum that he has created and is inspiring us to create.
    Just my take.

  • Terri

    Marc makes an excellent point. I had the pleasure of spending the day with this fascinating man and we talked about how this piece is a representation of the creative process – less about the finished piece and more about what it represents. A willingness to let go of the idea of going after a specific vision at first, to let ideas evolve, to ask for and incorporate ideas from others without ego, to layer, to morph and just let it become what it wants to be.

    However, I do believe it will still generate excitement and interest from even those who have not been witness to it’s creation. As the mural is getting closer to completion Jon, his friend and I spent time today stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. He was paying closer attention to the finer details of color and composition, making sure the eye is constantly moving, that the piece has interest. We talked about the people chosen in the mural, and added another female face who is not an artist to represent the another aspect of what we do (we’ll see if it’s still there later Monday!)

  • Terri

    Marc makes an excellent point. I had the pleasure of spending the day with this fascinating man and we talked about how this piece is a representation of the creative process – less about the finished piece and more about what it represents. A willingness to let go of the idea of going after a specific vision at first, to let ideas evolve, to ask for and incorporate ideas from others without ego, to layer, to morph and just let it become what it wants to be.

    However, I do believe it will still generate excitement and interest from even those who have not been witness to it’s creation. As the mural is getting closer to completion Jon, his friend and I spent time today stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. He was paying closer attention to the finer details of color and composition, making sure the eye is constantly moving, that the piece has interest. We talked about the people chosen in the mural, and added another female face who is not an artist to represent the another aspect of what we do (we’ll see if it’s still there later Monday!)

Switch to mobile version