Tim McAvin defies gravity with paint and canvas

Tim McAvin has completed his painting for the 2008 Poetry Scores Art Invitational on Friday, Nov. 21 at Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, 3100 Sutton Blvd. in Maplewood.

The title is In Defiance of Gravity; this picture is a detail.

Tim's title, like the titles of all of the pieces in the show, is drawn from K. Curtis Lyle's great poem about 9/11, Nailed Seraphim. That's the idea behind a Poetry Scores Art Invitational: artists respond to the same poem, title their work with a scrap of language from the poem, then we hang their pieces in the space according to where in the flow of the poem the title appears.

Tim picked a moment early in the poem when it's first hinted that the prodigious (anti-)hero, Mortice Juwan Menifee, stumbled down eighty-six flights of stairs in Tower One of the World Trade Center before it pancaked.

Looking at the poem, I see Tim's title is not quite verbatim. The poem actually reads:

From here to there was eighty six flights
Of defiance
Of the laws of gravity

I'll have to talk to Tim and the other folks in Poetry Scores about whether or not we want to let the discrepancy slide or ask him to adjust the title to stay verbatim, as per the rules of the game. At any rate, Tim's title is very early in the poem so will be hung very early in the show.

Tim is one of my very favorite local artists. I have bought a number of his paintings which I proudly display in my home and am certain to bid on this piece on Friday. (All work will be on sale on silent auction, with the opening bid set by the artist.)

Tim also is a talented songwriter and musician. I've been fortunate to play in bands with him on and off over the years, and he appears on the last two Poetry Scores CDs we produced, Blind Cat Black and Go South for Animal Index. (Both records and all of our projects will be on sale at the opening, hidden on some corner table no one will notice.) At the moment, Tim is playing in local power pop favorites Tight Pants Syndrome.

The opening will run 6-10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, with free beer partly donated by Schlafly. Last year's invitational was something of a smash, with a large and feisty crowd. Hoping for a repeat!