Artist of the Inner Light
I first encountered Monika Dannemann’s artwork in 1996; ironically, the same year she passed away. I was browsing through the bookstore at a local mall when a friend of mine placed a book into my arms. I looked down to find myself holding an oversized paperback entitled "The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix." I think I leafed through it and read only one or two paragraphs before I decided I had to take this book home with me. I bought it with my last $20 bill. I felt I could not afford to leave it there. It took only a glance to realize that this book contained not only the most amazing and mystical pictures of Jimi that I had ever seen, but also that the text contained the spiritual legacy of a great musician.
The book became a bible to me. I did not read it straight through but let myself wander through it at will, stopping where my heart so led. It was like water to a parched soul. The true greatness of Jimi Hendrix as a soul shown brilliantly through each page. And the book seemed almost alive as I would often find paintings in there that I had never seen before.
One such occasion was soon after the events of September 11, 2001. I felt drawn to check in with Jimi and Monika after that day. It just seemed they might offer some wisdom and comfort. I was totally amazed to find in there a painting with Jimi standing over the site of the World Trade Center in New York, a fist full of lightning bolts poised over his head. It seemed at some level Monika knew that these things might happen and painted in a timeless fashion. And it was almost as if the painting had dropped into the book overnight... a gift from the other side.
This particular painting gained even more significance to me this summer after hearing on a BBC news broadcast that a White Buffalo Calf had been born the first weekend of June 2005. The legend of the Sacred White Buffalo is something Jimi would have been aware of with his Cherokee roots. The birth of such a calf was prophesied by elders of the Plains Indians, and would indicate to the world that we had not been forgotten, that peace would come. I was drawn back to the painting because of this particular little calf’s ancestry.
Apparently, the calf’s grandfather was an award winning bull named Chief Joseph. This is significant all by itself as Chief Joseph was a great Native American leader who vowed at his capture that he would "fight no more forever." Not only that, but on the day the twin towers fell, this great bison bull was struck by lightning in a freak storm. He died two weeks later. The lightning is a prominent feature in Monika’s painting. From this tragedy one generation passed, then into the world, from the line of this great bull, comes a tiny symbol of hope. A Sacred White Buffalo Calf, born near Shelbyville, KY; coincidentally, between the villages of Bagdad and Old Christianburg.
She is a beauty. I feel certain that at some level, this painting foretold the events of 9/11 and the hope that would be born from it. It became even more certain for me when I learned of the name given to this Sacred White promise. Her name is Lightning!!!
photo by Greg S. Redhawk(many thanks, Greg)
4 comments:
i just check out Monika's web, never see her work, only know Jimi died in her apartment. her art is good (especially those with Hendrix).
Love Her Paintings, seen them in real. Love the music of Uli Roth, met him in person many times.
Great Book, magic Will meet Uli Jon Roth for a concert next month.
One more thing, Uli Jon Roth is also named Joseph as one of his names. I really don't know how much You know about Uli but there is as much magic and spirit in him as it was in Jimi and Monika.
/Peter
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