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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 20 June 2018
Florida photographer explores surrealist artist Dali's roots

By TAMARA LUSH me to do that weird stuff. It
Associated Press got me to look at nature in
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — a different way."
Photographer Clyde Butch- One of the first photos a vis-
er is known for his sweep- itor sees in the new exhibit
ing, evocative black-and- is a wide picture of an inlet
white photos of Florida's in Cadaques, with a small,
Everglades. But when he lone wooden sailboat on
first arrived in the Sunshine the beach.
State almost 40 years ago, "I think I was there every
he looked around and day, about four and five
couldn't find anything to times, back and forth, to
photograph. the same spot. A lot of
"Flat. No mountains. No wa- times you find a nice spot,
terfalls. Boring. I didn't do but the light's not right, the
anything for almost the first sky's not right," he said.
two years," he said. That obsession of light and
Butcher, who had previ- Clyde Butcher gives a description of one of his photographs during the opening of his "Clyde sky, of shadows and clouds,
ously lived in California and Butcher, Visions of Dali's Spain" exhibit, at the Salvador Dali Museum Friday, in St. Petersburg, Fla. consumed Butcher while
photographed landscapes Associated Press he was in Spain.
there, wasn't impressed by "One day, it was just blue
Florida as a creative sub- master. It brings Butcher's tastical and often outra- said, reminded him of Cali- sky. Blahhhh," he said. "The
ject. But in 1982, he made career in Florida full circle. geous artistic imagination. fornia. next day we woke up and
a trip to St. Petersburg and The Dali Museum in St. Pe- Butcher's photos are almost "It was like I was back in it was nice and storming,
visited the Salvador Dali tersburg commissioned a starting point for Dali's Monterey, Point Lobos. It and I said, it's a good time
museum, where a collec- Butcher to travel to Spain to paintings across the hall in felt like home. We lived in to go," he said.
tion of the Spanish artist's capture Cadaques, Portl- the museum. You can see Newport Beach on a sail- In many of his Florida pho-
work was on display. ligat, Figueres and Cap de how certain rocks perched boat," said Butcher, during tos, Butcher uses a large-
"He inspired me," Butcher Creus — areas where Dali on cliffs look like the skulls a media tour of the exhibit. format view camera, in
said with a grin, adding spent his early years, and that Dali painted, for ex- His images from Spain are which the lens forms an in-
that Dali's work led him to where he died. The result is ample, and how light and similar in scale to his Florida verted image on a ground
do some "creative, outer- the exhibit "Clyde Butcher: shadows influenced Dali's works, and he draws par- glass screen directly at the
space type stuff." Visions of Dali's Spain," and visions. allels between his photos plane of the film. In Spain,
Not long after that, Butcher it's a stark, moody show of Butcher, who has been and Dali's paintings. he went digital, using a
picked up his camera and the rugged, rocky land- called the Ansel Adams of "I'm probably quite similar Sony camera.
began shooting photos of scapes of Spain's Costa the Everglades because actually. My pictures are Butcher's assignment in
Florida's cypress stands, Brava. of his large-scale, sharp created so you can walk Spain happened prior to
of swamps and secluded In the show's 41 photo- monochromatic land- into them. He created his March 2017 stroke. He's
beaches. graphs, viewers can see scape images, started his these experiences with his now almost fully recov-
Butcher's latest work is an what inspired Dali — no photography career in Cal- paintings, that they were ered and is back to doing
homage to the surrealist small feat given his fan- ifornia. Going to Spain, he very similar. That inspired events.q

Musical about Michael Jackson being written by Lynn Nottage

By MARK KENNEDY onstage with their best
Associated Press works, a list that includes
NEW YORK (AP) — A Donna Summer, Cher,
musical about the King of Gloria Estefan, the Go-Gos
Pop is moonwalking its way and Huey Lewis and the
to Broadway. News.
The Michael Jackson Estate As a solo artist and with his
and Columbia Live Stage brothers, 13-time Grammy
on Tuesday unveiled plans winner Jackson sold millions
for a stage musical inspired of records and in 1983
by the life of Michael became an international
Jackson. They hope it will icon with the release of
be ready for Broadway by "Thriller," the best-selling
2020. album of all time with such
The story for the still-untitled hits as "Beat It" and "Billie
musical will be written Jean." He died in 2009.
by two-time Pulitzer Prize Nottage is the writer of
winner Lynn Nottage, using "Sweat," ''Intimate Apparel,"
Jackson's vast catalog of ''By The Way, Meet Vera
songs. Tony Award winner Stark" and "Ruined."
Christopher Wheeldon will Wheeldon, a resident
direct and choreograph. It choreographer of the New
was too early to reveal any York City Ballet, was the
casting. director-choreographer of
The move is the latest stage "An American in Paris" on
project to portray pop stars Musical about Michael Jackson being written by Lynn Nottage Broadway.q