Memoir: Tales of youth, 4 years in WWII, sexual evolvement, marriage, giving up downtown business to become an artist and make 10 trips around the world.
Known for enrapturing listeners with his traveler's tales, Gordini has finally committed them to paper. From stories of voodoo rites in the 1960's Haiti to his encounter with an ancient adventuress in Timbuktu, from his breakdown in the desert of Sudan to his travels with a Bulgarian madcap in Madagascar, the adventures of Gordon S. Brown have inspired powerful artwork and sustained his zest for living while enriching the lives of his grateful friends.
Gordon Summers Brown was born in American Lake, Washington in the 1920’s. After living his early years in Seattle and San Francisco, he moved with his family, by boat, to the east coast with stops along the way in Mexico, Central America, Panama, Columbia and Cuba.
Following graduation from Dartmouth College and completion of Naval training at Columbia University in 1942, Brown was assigned as executive officer and later commanding officer of Landing Craft/Infantry vessels, which were designed to carry assault troops to enemy beaches.
Brown’s vessel crossed the Atlantic Ocean--looping south of the equator to avoid Nazi submarines--for exercises on the coasts of Algeria and Tunisia. He skippered his ship for the landings in Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, carrying troops of General Patton’s 3rd Division. Next came an assignment to shuttle Allied soldiers, Arabs, Goums, Ghurkas, Senegalese, Americans (including Nisei Japanese), English and French colonials north to Naples, returning Italian and German prisoners to internment camps in North Africa.
One day, while anchored off the coast of Sicily, he asked his Gunner’s Mate to latch on to a piece of wood floating in the Mediterranean. Between maneuvers and air raids from Luftwaffe, Brown set about carving his first totem.
On June 6th, 1944 Brown crossed the channel for the invasion of Normandy. Then he began another shuttle service carrying troops between England and France. Later, Brown was sent to the Pacific as captain of a ship, which he took to the Philippines, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Formosa and Chinawa.
In 1946, still in the Navy, Brown was appointed Vice Consul to Berlin, but declined the post, opting for marriage. After helping to raise a daughter and son in Seattle, he separated from his wife.
Since 1975, Brown has devoted his life to art work in his studio. Totally untrained, he has learned by doing. From watercolors, he progressed to oil-painted canvasses and triptychs, then went on to assemble collages, constructions, fetishes and totems.
Brown’s art started with that first carving in Italy. His subsequent exposure to the Cargo Cult in the Pacific--where Islanders took excess Japanese and American war goods and salvage, incorporating them into tribal rituals--further seeded Brown’s studio work. He devised an imaginary tribe named MANUKATINGA, which represents an amalgam of world cultures.
In order to further collect multi-cultural influences, Brown has circled the globe ten times, priding himself in his ability to travel simply--eating from street markets and lodging in native quarters. Brown returned from his latest 6 month trip to India, Africa and Europe in 1998.
As GORDINI (a sobriquet given him many years ago by a Frenchman) lives his 8th decade, and will continue to produce art until he drops.
