Tony Gleaton: A
Tribute
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| Photograph Portrait by Tony Gleaton Photo permission Lisa Gleaton |
SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist
Tony Gleaton: Artist. American Patriot. Beloved
Friend.
August 4, 1948 - August 14, 2015
A brilliant thinker, Tony Gleaton created a
singular life pursuing the visual expression of what it means to be human. He held a profound respect for each and
every person. This respect informed
his art, his photographs, his life’s work.
Gleaton’s belief in the principles and values of
the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were strong. He was a patriot. He enlisted in the Marine Corps at age
18, during the Vietnam War.
Gleaton was a serious man with an irreverent
sense of humor. This gift of humor
gave him an extraordinary skill as he navigated the contradictions in his own
life. He was an artist with a
profound commitment to his work. He
had lived through turbulent times in the U.S. He was a very tall and very large, light-skinned, green-eyed
African-American man. Prejudice
and discrimination were part and parcel of his daily life.
Respect for the humanity of each person,
intelligence and an irreverent sense of humor gave Gleaton entrée just about
anywhere he wanted to go. His work
took him to the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, to the northern-most coast of
South America and to the American West.
Gleaton’s photo lecture, “Race as a Social Construct”
was born out of this work. In that
lecture he proposed not just an end to racism but also that we think of race so
differently that our consciousness of race is changed. The lecture was presented to large
audiences at UCLA and other universities in the U.S.
“Race,” Gleaton said, “is a social
construction. It is not a
bio-empirical fact. Ideas and
racial definitions come out of the historical, sociological and psychological
need to quantify and categorize.
“My thoughts regarding the question of racial
construction are at best conditional.
They are shaped out of my own personal history.
“Unknowingly, and in some cases knowingly,
conversations about race, its meaning, social significance and definition often
take place within the confines of a particular historical, social and
psychological memory, which is formed both collectively and individually
….
Much as he sounds, and was, the professor –
having taught at Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas and at the University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he was, first and always, an artist.
In the 1970’s Gleaton decided to leave UCLA,
where he was studying art and history and go to NYC to make his way in the
studios of fashion photography.
Coming to LA for a short break from the NYC
winter Gleaton talked about his disgust with fashion photography, which he
likened to the betrayal of young girls.
Out of that disgust grew the idea that he would, at whatever cost, make
his own way and that his photographs would be how he communicated with the
world. That decision shaped his work and the rest of his life.
Gleaton went on the round up and cattle drive
with cowboys in the American West. His photographs of the cowboys at work redefine the myth of
the American cowboy and the participation and contributions of
African-American, Latino and Native American cowboys.
Gleaton travelled by bus and bicycle to Oaxaca,
Mexico. He lived in the villages and became known in the local
communities. Gleaton’s photographs
are stunning for their art and for his essential point – his respect for the
people.
Gleaton followed on land the sea route of the
old slave ships along the northern edge of South America. He photographed the people now living
along that route. On that photo
journey he learned that people who may have been the descendents of slaves
defined themselves, not by race, but by their country, their indigenous
ancestry or their name origin. http://www.tonygleaton.com/TonyGleaton.com/TC5A_So._Am..html
Gleaton’s last work focused on landscapes, on places
important in the history of the United States. Places where people lived and sometimes fought and
died. The people are no more but he
honors their memory is his landscape photographs. http://www.tonygleaton.com/TonyGleaton.com/Home_page_files/SaltPond_Tony_010_699.jpg
“I believe that the value of these photographs
lie not in the fact that they provide answers. Their value is in, by viewing them, they provide us a place
in which we choose to ask questions,” Gleaton said of his work.
The choice to be an artist could be seen as a
hard choice. Gleaton’s lifestyle
itinerant, money scarce, loving and loved and married and divorced three times
because of his commitment to his way of making art. For Gleaton it wasn’t a choice. The only life he wanted was the life of an artist.
At long last, there was Lisa Ellerbee, a High
School Teacher and Principal in San Mateo, California. They married in 2005 and they came to
terms with his commitment to his work and his long absences. Lisa Ellerbee Gleaton was with him when
he died on August 14, 2015 at the Veterans Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Gleaton was buried with full military
honors at the National Cemetery in Dixon, California on August 26, 2015.
Gleaton navigated his life with an unrelenting
dedication to his work, a sense of humor that was the delight of his friends, a
generous heart, and a kind spirit.
He was beloved by many people, among them my children, now adults, and
me. He made the world a kinder and
more thoughtful place. It was a
blessing to have known him. He is
missed.
Contact Susan Cloke
susancloke@gmail.com
New York Times Obituary
