Published: June 03, 2008 01:59 pm      

CHASING VAN GOGH: Niagara native on a mission

If you want a sweet gig, you sometimes just have to create it yourself.

That’s the case for Niagara Falls native David Oliver, who recently was awarded a grant to travel to the south of France and Amsterdam to research the life of painter Vincent van Gogh.

Oliver, an actor who resides in Buffalo, received the David Fendrick Theater Award to produce and perform a one-man play about the prolific but deeply troubled painter.

Oliver took a few moments prior to leaving on his journey to talk with a questioner from Niagara Living who would have changed places with him in a New York minute.

QUESTION: So, we might as well start right in with the ear thing. Van Gogh cut off his own ear. What’s with that?

ANSWER: (Laughs) I’m sick of the ear. Which doesn’t mean I won’t portray that in my play. But it’s the No. 1 question I get. When I told my mother I was going to portray Vincent van Gogh, she asked me, Are you going to do the ear?”

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Q: So why did he do it?

A: Over the years, there have been many theories. He was always a highly emotional man. He was driven by his need to create. Some people think he was in depression. He did drink a lot. I think it was a combination of things. He sent the piece of his ear to a favorite prostitute, Rachel, with the note: “Keep this object carefully.”

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Q: You know you look just like him.

A: Yeah, I know I do.

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Q: Is that why you chose to write about him?

A: I don’t know. There’s an emotional connection that goes back to my teens. I had a poster of his sunflowers in my room.

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Q: Did you like that song that Don McLane wrote about him, “Starry Starry Nights?”

A: That’s the other thing I hate to talk about is that song. I think Don McLane wrote a terrific and heartfelt song. I just can’t listen to that damn song.

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Q: I’m really jealous. You get to go to the south of France and to Amsterdam. What are you going to do there?

A: I was just thinking today that when I get there, I’ll probably have dinner at the cafe that was believed to be the “night cafe” that he painted. Then I’m going to meet the doctor who runs the asylum where van Gogh stayed, who does art therapy with his patients based on Vincent’s work. I’m also going to spend some time at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

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A: He was a pretty tormented guy. Aren’t you kind of worried about immersing yourself in his life?

Q: A very dear friend of mine who is a wonderful aerial artist said to me, “Be careful of him.” (Laughs) That’s all I’m saying.

Contact editor Michele DeLuca

at 693-1000, ext. 157.