Cindy Tower: National Conscience

Cindy Tower at work

Cindy and I were in a Taichi program together. One time, she was late for the class. She mentioned that she was having a little problem while painting in a factory. I thought she was a regular painter.

The other night after the class, I pulled up in a nearby gas station and saw Cindy filling up her pick-up truck. I noticed a well-built guy sitting in the back row of the truck. At a second glance, I realized it was a dummy. I curiously asked Cindy why “he” sat there. She explained that she goes to the abandoned factories in the East St. Louis to paint. Sometimes, her bodyguard is unavailable or sometimes she cannot afford to pay him, she would use the dummy to scare scrappers or addicts away. By this time, I was totally confused and asked exactly what she paints. She explained due to the offshore outsourcing and the economical meltdown, many factories are idle and become ruins. She has been going to those premises and painting them since 2000.
 

Cindy Tower posts White Crane Spreading the Wings 

I went home and spent hours researching her. Cindy Tower actually is a nationally renowned artist. She does installation art, sculpture, painting and other type of media art work. She has about 30 solo exhibitions in New York, San Antonio, Chicago, St. Louis and many other cities since 1981. She has guest lectured at Connell University in Ithaca, New York, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and more than a dozen other universities and colleges.

I love art but by I am not qualified to critique it. Cindy’s “Workplace Series” speaks loudly to me and made a big impact on how I view industrialization or de-industrialization. Cindy does not use dark brown, gray, black, purple, navy, or shocking white when painting the rundown manufacturers. Instead she uses light or medium Brown, beige, pink, light blue, light green and some pastel colors. From a distance, her paintings do not have the appalling effect you would normally expect from decay. They draw my attention to details on the canvas. When I see the broken pipes, rusted engines, crumbling roof, falling bricks, crocked floors, loose belts, tilting ladders, busted doors, missing tiles, exposed wires, shattered windows, dangling lights, needles, trash, and other detritus, chills creep up my spine. Who lets the factories die like that? Where are the workers? What are the lives of the unemployed workers and their families? Is it not a huge waste to not reuse and recycle the equipment or facilities? Do we really have a right to trash nature and the environment like this by leaving our rotten and rusted legacy? I know it is complicated. There are no easy answers or quick fixes. Nevertheless, Cindy’s brush records the history of the early 21st century of the America. It reflects the conscience of our time.
 

Cindy Tower demos Single Whip

Cindy Tower has painted the victims of de-industrialization in New York, Connecticut, Texas, Washington, Georgia, Missouri and Illinois. You can see some of her paintings and read comments at the Bruno David Gallery and www.cindytower.com. You can also watch and comment on Cindy’s Workplace Series by Robert Duffy, Associate Editor of the St. Louis Beacon.

In a way, Cindy is trespassing and endangering her life by going to such abandoned factories. It is kind of risky for Cindy putting herself while pursuing her passion for art. Malcolm Gay recorded part of the painting process via the video clip below. Or you can read her painting life and thoughts via her blog.

Cindy is true to her art and practices what she believes. In her humble one bedroom apartment with her boyfriend Todd on Roseburg, in St. Louis, all the furniture and fixtures are collected from the dumpsters - even her 2 cats and 1 dog are stray animals. She loves Taichi because she thinks Taichi is another form of art and spiritual discipline. Taichi connects people to nature and has its integrity. Taichi movements are like the strokes of her brush which leave marks on life and they are beautiful to watch.