Beatles Meets the Plains

By Kristine Kostuck
Contributing Writer

You’re given an MP3 player with the Beatles’ “White Album” on it. You listen to it as you walk through the Plains Art Museum’s next exhibit, combining the Beatles’ music with visual art.

Colleen Sheehy, Director of the Plains Art Museum, rediscovered the album after many years. She was struck by its “freshness and the varied style, subjects and sensibility.” She saw the group’s ability to reach all age groups in succeeding eras. “The Beatles are one of the most experimental and forward-thinking artists of the 20th century,” she said.

The exhibit will feature paintings, glass and metal sculptures, photographs, prints and drawings. A number of the pieces were created by regional artists but the display also contains the work of internationals. The curators set up the art to follow the structure of the album. The art brings out the use of lyrics, melody and rhythm to intensify the music.

The Beatles’ fifteenth album, the 1968 “White Album,” spent nine weeks on Billboard’s Top Album Charts and sold over 1.1 million units in the first two weeks. This was a record for any double album. It is number ten on The Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time list.

But for Sheehy, “The White Album” is an important piece of art history. “It is definitely overlooked when comparing it to their other music, but this album is so intriguing,” she said. “The White Album” contains the group’s pop sounds but also has a dark side. “It is almost schizophrenic,” said Sheehy, “It combines such beautiful songs, like ‘Blackbird,’ but also has songs that are almost too scary to listen to, like ‘Helter Skelter.’”

In the years before the release of “The White Album,” the Beatles had stopped playing live. They began focusing on studio projects, took a much-needed break from the spotlight and traveled to India. Lennon called the experience a chance “to get away from everything.” They composed the album’s music between their long hours of meditation, and returned to the studio the following spring.

The recording process was difficult, marked by conflicting ideas. Ringo Starr actually left the group for a brief period of time during recording. George Harrison later said that the album almost didn’t get made. Billy Preston, “the fifth Beatle,” acted as peacemaker between John and Paul. However, the finished product is an album that showcases each member’s talent.

Colleen Sheehy’s take on the album “is that they are very free artistically. Each musician began to follow his own path of interest on it. I also find it fascinating that The Beatles satirically comment on their own earlier history. So many songs have the older Beatles’ chorus or background harmony, as they were know for when they first came out. It’s as though they are telling us, ‘You want us to be the old Beatles but we’re only going to do it as a parody.’”

“The White Album,” was the first release under The Beatles’ own label, Apple. The white cover, without graphics or text with the exception of the band’s name, was never officially titled. Listeners named it.

Many of the group’s album covers are filled with graphics and texts. The plain cover “subverted the expectations of the fans and the market place,” said Sheehy. This album seemed to be more about the music. During the period of the album’s recording, The Beatles avoided the limelight, as if the group wanted to be known just for their music, not image or album art.

It got mixed reviews. As the group’s first album to include all members’ songwriting skills and lead vocals, the music had an experimental sound. “Revolution 9,” an eight-minute song, received the most criticism. “The Rolling Stone Album Guide” called the track a filler and “justly maligned.” Some of the lyrics were criticized. Charles Manson used the lyrics of “Helter Skelter” to convince his followers it was a prophecy of Armageddon and murder.

Following the “Helter Skelter” scandal, many saw hidden meanings in the other songs. In “Revolution 1,” a song that protested political issues, Lennon says those who “talk about destruction, count me out.” The verse following begins with the word “in.” Despite the over-analyzed lyrics, the exploration of new sound inspired the members’ solo careers which followed in later years.

Sheehy saw the album as an opportunity to have Fargo-Moorhead recognize the album in a different light, by showing the relationships of different art forms. “It (the album) doesn’t demonstrate the thematic or sonic unity of many other Beatles albums,” she said. “But that also made it a really rich template to use in this kind of curatorial exercise.”

Sheehy had been fascinated for years by the relationship of observed art and music. After more than ten years of exhibitions, lectures and publications on the topic, she had the idea of showcasing both forms of art in the Museum. The exhibit was not inspired by her own devotion to the group (though she admits to being a fan). It is rather a chance to show how distinct arts are related, and how they can work together to entertain, inform and inspire. This is not a show specifically about “The White Album” and the exhibit is not Beatles memorabilia.

The project was put together with the help of two local art students, Chris Gion, an NDSU student, and Kaylyn Gerenz, of MSUM. Both worked with Sheehy using their fields of study in visual art and design. “I like teaching students about the curatorial practice,” she said. “I thought that this show offered a very fun and unusual opportunity for young people to innovate an exhibition while working with great music.”

“Both art forms bring valuable insight to each other,” Sheehy said. “There has not been anything like this before. I actually do not know of any other exhibition that uses music in this way.” Sheehy wants the viewers to be open-minded to get the full effect of the art combined. “People tend to look at most works of art for only a few seconds. The music, I hope, will encourage the audience to slow down, engage and reflect.”

“The White Album” exhibit will open on May 18 at 11 a.m. An opening reception will follow on June 16, when musician Michael Pink will perform from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

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If You Go

What: “The White Album”
Where: Plains Art Museum
When: May 18 to April 17, 2011
Info: 701.232.3821