Photo credit: Bobby Fisher
“Life isn’t tragic, love is just being ignored.“ Great Provider, Mariachi El Bronx
Essay by Howl Happening Director Ted Riederer
Arturo Vega decorated an 8 x 10 foot billboard on the side of Oliver Harkness shop, Quality Mending, at the busy corner of Prince and Elizabeth Street, with hundreds of brightly colored stickers, an image of Jesus Christ, strips of vivid yellow and green paper, and the stenciled letters, Life isn’t Tragic. Love is just being ignored. He borrowed these words from Mariachi El Bronx, a band he befriended on the Warped Tour. This phrase was more than a slogan to Arturo. It was the one of the organizing principles of his life. He numbered among his beloved friends, not only those of us who saw him often, but hundreds of talented people from all over the world.
I would often visit Arturo’s loft to see what he was working on, and in less than an hour, I would become reacquainted with an old friend, catch up on the projects of another, or even meet someone new, another orphan Arturo had adopted.
New York makes orphans of us all. It dazzles us, confuses us, hammers us, skews our sense of priorities, and sucks our time and energy away from those who love and need us. Through it all, above the din of this wretched and beautiful city, Arturo was a beacon of love. In spite of the fact that he had loved and lost so many friends and family members, he was adamant that we must love each other even more.
He fed us when we were hungry. He bought work from us when we were poor. He counseled us about love and friendship, about our impossible dreams. In return, he asked two things of us. One was that we come together in a fellowship of creativity and joy. That was the easy one. But he also made a much harder demand on each of us, one more in the spirit of a mentor’s tough love. He gave us the injunction that we must all keep working at our art, and not just putting in the time, but giving it our best effort. He was an artist’s artist.
HOWL! Happening, An Arturo Vega Project is dedicated to the spirit of Arturo Vega. We devote our space and our spirit to the legacy of Arturo Vega: to grow a community of creativity, love, and sincere hard work at art worthy of Arturo’s name and example.
