Artist Bob Whitman, my friend, died January 19, 2024, at age 88, at his home in Warwick where he lived for 40 years.
He was a giant in the art world since the 1950s and stayed active all his life developing and presenting avant-garde works. Here’s just one story: In 2013, he had me organize a performance of an Erik Satie piece, most recently done by John Cage 50 years earlier, in 1963.
Satie had written an 80-second piece, Vexations, in 1893, with instructions it was to be performed over and over, 840 times! I gathered lots of my guitar and string player friends and we did it, each group playing 20 minutes at a time... an 18-hour performance at the Seligmann Center for Surrealism in Sugar Loaf.
Bob was there for the whole performance! He was one of the greats, living amongst us!
Farewell, friend.
- Jeff Ciampa, Warwick