Tag: John Roberts

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John Roberts’ “Nothing Ever Goes Unseen” at David Lusk Gallery

Nothing Ever Goes Unseen, oil on panel, 2022 (Photo: Courtesy John Roberts/David Lusk Gallery)

“I’m sitting here in the yard right now, and I feel like someone’s watching me from the window upstairs,” John Roberts tells me over the phone. He’s at his family farm in Weakley County, Tennessee, where his distant grandmother purchased the land in 1838 and where in 1921 his great-grandfather built the house he now lives in. “There’s just so much history here,” Roberts says.

This history and the legends that linger in the fabric of his environment have, in turn, laid the backdrop for Roberts’ first solo show: “Nothing Ever Goes Unseen.” In this series of paintings, various figures from the generations before him stare directly at the viewer without shame or menace, surrounded by a “warm and inviting” color palette. “It’s not supposed to be creepy,” he says. “I like to think about what comes next after this life. I like to think we’ll be reunited. I guess, my faith has a lot to do with it, too; I’m Catholic. And I think these people are just waiting around for me. … I’ll be out mowing the yard and I’ll think about things like ‘Is there somebody in the window?’ or I think I see somebody peering around the corner of the house. … It’s a comfort for me to see these people, to paint them. And it’s kind of like an act of prayer for me because Catholics pray for the dead.”

“Thinking about them gets me a little choked up,” he adds. “My great-great-grandma looking out for me — those things are outside of time now, and I’ll be there, too, some time.”

Indeed, the artist spends a lot of time contemplating mortality, having been a tombstone etcher for more than 20 years, a job he got right out of grad school and still works to this day. Soon after starting this job, though, Roberts, a father of eight, became consumed by his responsibilities in work and in his family and couldn’t make time to paint until a year and a half ago. Though he admits that his work as an etcher has helped improve his skills as an artist, Roberts says, “It’s been frustrating because I felt like I haven’t been able to express myself. … The whole time I really longed to be making art, but I had so many things going on.”

Yet, he adds, those “things going on” have empowered him with the lived experiences to express the generational memories and warmth that his paintings aim to convey. As such, to Roberts, those 20 or so years of not painting were not a loss but a time of artistic enrichment. And now at 48, having the time to paint has been “revolutionary,” he says. “I can’t imagine not having that outlet now. I’ve taken a few days off since my show, and I don’t know what to do with myself. I can’t wait to get back in the studio.”

“Nothing Ever Goes Unseen,” David Lusk Gallery, on view through July 31.

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Film Features Film/TV

The Bob’s Burgers Movie

The Belchers: Linda (voiced by John Roberts), Louise (Kristen Schaal), Gene (Eugene Murman), Tina (Dan Mintz), and Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) in The Bob's Burgers Movie.

When The Simpsons premiered in 1989, it changed the way animation was perceived. Before then, cartoons were for kids on Saturday morning. After The Simpsons became a massive hit, the idea of animation as a conduit for sophisticated humor aimed at adults became acceptable, even ubiquitous.

The family The Simpsons portrayed was based on creator Matt Groening’s childhood memories of a middle class life in the 1960s: a father who worked a 9 to 5 job which paid the family’s bills, and a mother who stayed home to keep house and care for the three children, who went to public school. In 1989, this was already a self-conscious anachronism. The irreverent Simpsons were meant to be a commentary on the conservative model of the nuclear family found in older sitcoms like The Honeymooners and Father Knows Best. Now, 33 years into its run, the middle class world of The Simpsons is all but extinct. 

The world of the Belcher family in Bob’s Burgers looks a lot more like America in 2022. Father Bob (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and mother Linda (John Roberts) own a small burger joint catering to tourists in the waterfront area of an unnamed New England town. They live in a cramped apartment above the restaurant along with their three kids, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal), who help out at the diner when they’re not in school. Bob’s Burgers has run for 12 seasons on Fox, and the Belchers’ oft-delayed feature film debut has finally made it to the big screen.

The whole family’s wants and needs are neatly summed up in the film’s opening musical number, “Sunny Side Up Summer,” where they make their plans for what to do once school is out. Bob is nervously making a perfect speciality burger to give to his loan officer in the hopes that they can get a payment deferral. But when the banker is unpersuaded by quality fast-casual food, they have a week to get a loan payment together or risk repossession of the kitchen. Just as they’re brainstorming ways to make up their budget deficit, a sinkhole opens in front of the restaurant, making it almost impossible to attract the customers they need. Favorite regular Teddy (Larry Murphy) pitches in by building a food cart so they can take their operation mobile just as the summer tourist season kicks in. 

Meanwhile, Louise’s beloved bunny hat has become a source of teasing from the other kids in her class. To prove she isn’t a “baby,” she ventures down into the sinkhole, where she discovers a skeleton that appears to be a murder victim. When Louise rallies the kids to try to solve the mystery, the answers seem to point in the direction of their landlord, Calvin Fischoeder (Kevin Kline).  

Created by Lauren Bouchard, whose series Home Movies is a gem of the early ’00s Adult Swim animation boom, The Bob’s Burgers Movie was produced at just the right time, with the writing staff at the top of their game and the core voice-cast still intact. Of course, it’s easier to keep your voice-cast intact when multiple parts are played by voice acting legend H. Jon Benjamin. He has provided the deadpan voice for everyone from the hapless Coach McGuirk on Home Movies to the dipsomaniac super spy Archer, and his perpetually exhausted but ever hopeful Bob provides the emotional core of the show. 

All three of the kids have distinct personalities, but they are believably siblings. Tina, the oldest, is an eighth grader obsessed with boys, but not really sure what to do with them. Gene, the middle child, is the most creative, and the master of one-line quip. Louise, with her trademark bunny hat, is the ringleader, but also the most insecure. 

While there are some expanded set pieces and fancier-than-normal animation, the film mostly plays like an extended episode of the show. In this case, that’s not a left-handed compliment. The writers deftly juggle individual story lines for the family, as well as Teddy and the Fischoeder family, which includes Zach Galifianakis as brother Felix and David Wain as cousin Grover. I’m not sure this is a full-fledged musical comedy, but music has played a bigger and bigger part of the show for the last few seasons, and the film leans into the welcome trend with standout songs, including a major number by a crew of carnies from the nearby boardwalk amusement park. 

The Bob’s Burgers Movie represents a rare success in translating TV animation to the big screen. It’s universal and big-hearted enough to serve as an intro to the excellent series, but if you’re already a fan, it’s a must-see. 

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

SCOTUS Death Roulette

So, who’ve you got in the Supreme Court Death Pool? I mean, you know one of those old black-robed folks is going to pass on soon, and we’ll be down to seven justices. If four of them are conservative, it’s a win for the GOP. If the first one to die is conservative, then the Democrats will have the edge. Sound crazy? Get used to it. SCOTUS Death Pool Roulette appears to be the way of the future.

When Justice Antonin Scalia inconveniently died on a hunting trip earlier this year (or Killery had him taken out, if you’re not one of the sheeple who believes the lamestream media), it meant we were down to eight justices, which means almost every SCOTUS decision is now gridlocked at four-to-four. And that just doesn’t work. Our Founding Fathers knew this, because they could do math. They knew an odd number of justices, say, nine, would lead to, you know, actual decisions.

But judging from remarks made this week by Senator John McCain and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, we’re going to be stuck at eight for a while. At best. According to these fine legislators, there will no longer be a SCOTUS selection process, at least not until a Republican is elected president.

McCain pledged in a radio interview in Pennsylvania that the Senate would not confirm any justices nominated by Hillary Clinton. McConnell said in a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace that he “couldn’t see” the Senate ever confirming a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association and the National Federation of Independent Business. He was referring specifically to President Obama’s current nominee, Merrick Garland, but one suspects the NRA and NFIB will pretty reliably oppose any nominee put forward by a Democratic president.

Which could be a problem, if we are to believe the polls. They currently show Hillary with massive leads in the popular vote and in every key swing state. If McCain and McConnell are to be taken at their word, we won’t see any new justices until at least 2020, when the Republicans will do their best to nominate someone who’s not a delusional 70-year-old sexual predator.

Of course, thanks to the GOP’s innovative SCOTUS Death Pool system, we might be down to five justices by then.

I’ve tried to wrap my head around the dilemma forced upon the GOP by this Trump thing. Every day, it seems, another prominent Republican finds a conscience. Last week, our own Governor Bill Haslam finally had enough and said he couldn’t vote for the GOP nominee. But we still haven’t heard a peep out of our Tennessee senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what their thinking is. Neither is up for reelection this cycle. There are no two safer seats in the U.S. Senate than theirs. Are they on board with the SCOTUS Death Pool strategy? Are they afraid Donald Trump will grab them by the pussy?

They shouldn’t be. Trump is down to a bunker mentality. He’s unraveling, preaching paranoia to his rabid base: The polls are fake, the debate monitors are biased, the election is going to be rigged, all those women accusers are liars (except the ones accusing Bill Clinton), and, at least according to Melania Trump, Access Hollywood svengali Billy Bush egged him into that “locker room talk.” And last, but not least, the media hate him.

There’s an old saying: Never get into an argument with people who buy ink by the barrel. Here’s a corollary: Never point to the folks covering your campaign at your rallies and call them out as the “enemy” and urge your supporters to attack and demonize them. They might just put a little more effort into fact-checking your daily stream-of-consciousness horse puckey.

But hey, maybe Alexander and Corker and McCain and McConnell and Paul Ryan and all the other GOP establishment weasels who bravely denounce Trump’s words but who are too timid to stand up to him, are onto something. Maybe they think the election really will be rigged. At this point, that appears to be the only way Trump could win. Maybe they know something we don’t know. Maybe they’re actually looking forward to confirming President Trump’s SCOTUS nominees.

“Justice Billy Bush” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant

Graduation season is upon us again and colleges and universities have announced their commencement speakers. Peyton Manning spoke to the class of 2014 at the University of Virginia, which was an odd choice con-sidering where he did his college quarterbacking. Howard University awarded an honorary doctorate to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, who now wishes to be known as “Doctor Diddy.” Being a distinguished alumnus of the University of Memphis, I kept waiting for my alma mater to call, but I guess they lost my number after I surrendered my basketball season tickets. I did prepare a little something just in case, and since I hate to see inspirational words go to waste, here is the commencement address I might have given:

Congratulation, graduates. Your term of voluntary servitude has ended, and you are now free to go. Take a month and sleep as late as you damn please, but remember your new student loan contracts require you to be a server in a restaurant for at least three months. There, you’ll get your first taste of reality and learn the meaning of humility. Also, you will understand, early on, the importance of tips to the people who serve you. 

Winston Churchill once famously said, “Never, never, never give up.” There may have been a few more “nevers” in there, but this is the agreed upon number. I know you have all heard it said before: If you believe in yourself, don’t let anything or anyone stop you from reaching your goal. Just keep believing and if you don’t give up, you’ll eventually get there. I believe, however, that there are times when the wiser path is to just go ahead and give up. If you’re an unfunny comedian, a 39-year-old minor league pitcher, an aging lounge singer, or an unlucky stockbroker, give it up, man, or you just might sleep through life while following your dreams.

Now that everyone is majoring in broadcasting and filmmaking, we have encountered a problem. If everybody wants to be a sportscaster, a movie director, a pop star, or a reality TV personality, somebody’s going to fall short of the mark. Spare yourself the years of agony pimping yourself out to under-qualified employers whose subjective judgment determines if you fail or succeed. Aim for the stars, but find something on Earth that will pay the rent. To paraphrase the great mythologist Joseph Campbell, go ahead and follow your bliss, but keep your day job. The class of 2014 will never have to worry about leaving school just to find a jobless economy waiting. In case you didn’t catch the news, NASA satellite photography has revealed that large chunks of the polar ice caps have collapsed, and a United Nations expert panel has speculated that it’s too late to do anything about it. Sea levels are rising at an alarming rate since polar ice sheets have melted “faster in the last 20 years than in the last 10,000.” This means, goodbye Florida and the Eastern Seaboard, farewell Gulf Coast and the Jersey Shore, and the Big Apple will soon be bobbing for apples. On the bright side, the Corps of Engineers and FEMA will be hiring, as will insurance companies worldwide. Have you seen how much plumbers and electricians make these days? Damage assessors will be the new rock stars.

Try to find a career that won’t stress you out. Lighten up now or get digestive problems later. The words “public servant” have become synonymous with the term “Ponzi scheme.” We need people committed to the kind of public service that doesn’t take bribes in the way of campaign contributions. I’m sorry, how silly of me. The Roberts Supreme Court has declared corporations as people, and money as speech. And now that political donations have been declared unlimited, a few cognitive-challenged billionaires determine who’s elected to public office. So, be an activist. Don’t be indifferent or passive, and don’t wait for someone else to say what you’re thinking. We’re only one Supreme Court justice away from overturning this whole Bush legacy once and for all.

We need people to put our priorities back in order, and teaching is the most important, lowest-paid job out there. Be a teacher or else sit on a commission that raises their salaries. Wake up — not everyone can be famous, so make a difference where you are. I’d say “respect your elders,” but many of your elders are undeserving of your respect, so just show a bit of deference to older people because, with any luck, you’ll be one someday. In conclusion, take your time. I began college in 1965 and graduated in 1993, so should you find yourself in times of difficulty and anxiety, take one of my old sayings to heart: “When in doubt, go back to college.”