Arts & Entertainment
Masters of 19th-Century II
f^jj$fo*ussian Painting ||
Wanderers exhibit at Joslyn
By Michael Stock
Staff Reporter
"It is the people I want to depict; when I
sleep I see them, when I eat I think of them,
when I drink, they appear to me—integral,
large, unvarnished . . . What an inexhaust
ible ore for grasping everything that is real
in life.” —Modest Mussorgsky, Russian
composer (1839-1881)
In 1870, a group of young Russian paint
ers violated the cultural, social and political
norms to depict the truth about their coun
try. Through a series of realistic paintings
about Russian life, the “Itinerant Society for
Circulating Art Exhibitions” decided to share
its vision of everyday life — through accu
rate visions of nature and images of living
conditions.
Right now, this exhibition of 97 paint
ings has reached the United States. Most of
the paintings are entering the country for the
first time. Curiously enough, the exhibition
is only beihg shown in two cities — Dallas
and Omaha.
The exhibition only recently reached
Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum, and will remain
until March 24th.
Many of the paintings feature a pastoral
sense of serenity, which at times seems sur
prising to see, considering Russian econom
ics in the 19th century.
Portraits call great attention to gritty, re
alistic details. Many of the eyes of the men
and women in the paintings seem stricken
with concern — presumably representative
of the artists’ concern — as is especially
apparent in the paintings of Ivan Nikolae
vich Kramskt: /.
Calling themselves the Wanderers (“pere
divizhniki” in Russian), the group defied
government attempts to stifle the artists’
efforts, and successfully circulated the exhi
bitions throughout the country.
Ilya Repin, the most significant member
of the group, said that “the artist must be
lieve in what he paints. . ., the viewer. . .
should be captured by the image, the live
people, and the drama of life.”
The Wanderers embraced the notion of
the Romantics, creating hones! images about
social interactions and human personalities
through paintings showing many scenes of
peasants and the social effects of the pov
erty of the Russian nation.
Associating Realism with a sense of na
tional identity, the W'anderers embraced the
Romantic philosophy of an accessible and
truthful reflection of life.
The paintings “wandered" primarily to
cities in Russian provinces, contrary to the
government-sanctioned Imperial Academy
of Arts, which remained in Moscow.
The exhibition was arranged in 1988
through a group called lntercultura. This
foundation, established by D. Gordon Smith
out of Fort Worth, Texas, was created to
draw nations together through cultural and
art exhibitions.
“In those days, the Russians were very
keen on everything being equal,” said Gra
ham Beal, director of the Joslyn.
Originally, Dallas was the only city to be
involved in an exchange of art exhibitions
with the Soviet Union. However, the ex
change never worked out.
Since 1988, things have changed dra
matically. Although the Wanderers exhibit
was successfully commissioned, relations
with Russian art museums now function
quite differently.
“The individual museums have now been
empowered by Gorbachev to work sepa
rately from the center — so everybody is
making their own rules and their own stipu
lations — getting from it whatever they
want,” Beal said.
See JOSLYN on 11
Drivin’ N Cryin’
rockin’ to peak
By Robert Richardson
Senior Reporter
Buren Fowler likes his current job. He likes
it a lot better than digging ditches.
Fowler, a guitarist with the band Drivin’ N
Cryin’, said all the members of the band used to
do some form of construction work.
Consisting of Fowler, Kevin Kinney, gui
tars and vocals; Tim Nielsen, bass, mandolin,
back-up vocals and Jeff Sullivan, drums and
percussion,Drivin’ NCryin’ isarelatively new
band.
Formed in Atlanta in 1986, the band has
only two of the four original members. But
Fowler has been with the band for about three
years and drummer Sullivan for three and a half
years. Fowler said the band is content to keep
doing what they’re doing.
“We’d just like to keep playing and making
albums,” he said.
Touring in support of its fourth and latest
release, “Fly Me Courageous,” on Island Rec
ords, Drivin’ N Cryin’ will give a concert
tonight at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha, 1600 S.
72nd St.
Like most bands that want to make a name
for themselves, Drivin has hit the road a lot.
Fowler says he thinks the members have been
touring ever since the band has been together.
“We’ve been constantly on the road the
whole time. You can ask my wife, she’ll vouch
for me,” Fowler said.
But Fowler recognizes that being in a band
is his chosen job. He said he works hard,
sometimes 15 or 16 hours a day.
“There are some nights that I go to bed and
I’m just as tired as when I used to dig ditches for
a living,” Fowler said. “Course I don’t have the
dirt on my feet.”
But being in a band also has its advantages.
Knowing he played a good show is a satisfying
reward for Fowler. He said it happens, maybe
every three or four nights.
“When you’re playing and you can hear
everything great and you’re playing a great
show, that’s when you know it’s all worth it,”
Fowler said. “It all boils down to that hour and
a half of your life every night where you’re
playing.”
And the playing has gotten belter, much
better. Fowler said people have started to open
their eyes to the band. He credits Polygram
Records’ promotional staff for putting in a lot
of the extra effort.
Fowler said that the band is finally starting
to make contacts and shake some hands, which
means that its music will start getting more
play.
Already the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln’s campus radio station KRNU 90.3 has
Drivin’ N Cryin’ listed at number 12 in its list
of lop 35 bands the station plays.
“All we need is a fair shake. At a lot of the
shows I’ve gotten to where I watch the exit
See DRIVIN’ on 11
fie can’t sing — but he’s got great hair
y James Finley
taff Reporter
Anyone who includes his stylist
nd hairdresser in his album cover
rcdits needs to seriously rethink his
rioritics. Singer Chris Cuevas needs
) stop worrying about how he looks
nd start worry ing about how he sounds.
To start with, Cuevas should take
oice lessons. His voice is weak and
e sings through his nose. This gets
nnoying quickly. Maybe this
'ill go away when he finishes pu
erty and his voice drops. He also has
roblems enunciating, making it dif
cull to understand the lyrics.
The lyrics on Cuevas’ album,
Somehow, Someway,” have been
Tittcn with the mentality of a twclve
ear-old. This is probably good, be
lusc that seems to be his target audi
nce.
Such wonderful lines as “Give our
>ve a chance/I know we’ll make it
ist/Give our love a chance/Together
>rever/You and me, oh girl,” don’t
isplay much depth. There’s a lot
[)ing on in the world, like homeless
ess, the environment and the Persian
Chris Cuevas
Somehow, Someway
Atlantic Records
Rating: 1
fiatinos are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent).
Gulf war. It’s too bad Cuevas is oblivi
ous to it.
Debbie Gibson co-wrote one of
the tracks, “Hip Hop,” and she pla
giarizes Duke Ellington with the line
“Don’t mean a thing/Without that
swing.” Granted, most of her audi
ence wouldn’t figure this out, but I’m
sure Duke is spinning in his grave.
On the tracks where Debbie joins
Chris for vocals, she overpowers his
voice. Is this a good thing or a bad
thing? You decide.
Musically, this album is mundane,
and the synth-pop backing is boring.
In fact on some tunes, like the title
cut, it even manages to detract from
Cuevas’s warbling. The high points
of most of the tunes are the solo
sections. Chris does get credit for one
thing — he does use real saxophones
and guitars on the solos. Other than
that, it sounds entirely like prepro
grammed electronic music.
Sty 1 istica 1 ly, Cuevas does succeed
in producing energetic dance tracks.
Energetic, but bad. The best (least
bad) of these are “Hip Hop”, “Dance
Party” and “Positive Motion.” Even
these aren’t that good. When he tries
to rap in these tunes, it sounds stupid.
Ii is an insult to real rappers.
On the ballads, it gets worse. They
just expose the sugary, meaningless
lyrics and Cuevas’s weak voice even
more. On the tide song, Cuevas tries
to sound like a mix between Elvis and
Dion, but only sounds like a pale
imitation of either. It would help if he
would stop trying to express fake
emotion with “Whoa,” “Yeah” and
See CUEVAS on 10