Finding Pete (the web of coincidence, cntd)

 Arc1P014, paper, 11 X 7 1/2"

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Finding Pete (the web of coincidence cntd.)

In the last installation I wrote of meeting Dion Wright at the Sawdust Festival, and his recollection of Pete’s show at Mystic Arts World Gallery in Laguna Beach back in 1971. My encounter with Dion Wright  was the catalyst for this entire chain of events. 

I had met Dion Wright briefly over forty years back, and spoken to him for less than a half hour. I promised him that I’d find Pete Hampton, whom I hadn't seen in close to fifteen years. Where to start? 

 Jeff Goslowsky and I had been Pete’s closest friends. The sad truth is that neither of us had seen Pete in over a decade’s time. But neither had we seen each other.  Jeff G., Bob Diaz, Pete's brother, Rick and his wife, Geri, myself, and of course, Pete had been friends from back in the 1960’s. 

But life’s currents pull us where they will. We all had all of us drifted apart, and gone on with our lives. I had lost contact with Bob, Pete, and Jeff, even though they lived close by. And then, one by one, they had all  moved, and I didn’t know where. My last contact with Rick and Geri had been in the early nineties. The last I’d heard of them they were somewhere in New Jersey.

 And out of nowhere, a few days after the Sawdust festival outing,  another long-lost friend from the old gang, Michael, showed up in my Facebarf feed in the “people you may know” thing. I got in touch with Mike. Mike got me in touch with Jeff. Jeff got me in touch with Richard and Geri. Rick told me that Pete was in a subsidized housing unit for seniors. The complex was in Brea, just five miles from my house.

I drove out to the apartment complex in Brea. It's a secured facility, so I had to speak with the unit manager. She would neither confirm, nor deny that Pete lived there. Legal stuff, I guess. But she took my phone number. A couple of days later I got a call. 

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More from Archive 1

These pictures will wind up the first archive, all the loose, unboxed stuff. Next week we'll have a look at Archive 2.

Arc1P013 Telephonepolys, paper, 10 ½ X 8”

"In the Anise forests there were Little Gorder Telephonepolys that would sting you with their three stingers."

Pete created  many strange  creatures that lived deep in the corners of  his childhood world. Possibly from Lost Era show.

Arc1P025, matboard, 1980,  21 1/2 X 17"

 Looking east toward Turnbul Canyon

This next painting in the group was Pete's personal favorite piece. No matter where he moved he always had this painting on the wall.

 Arc1P039 “Water Trickling Over Lichens” matboard, 12 X 18”

 "Water trickling over lichens in Whittier Hills 1958-1962 Gone Now/ not around anymore, Run over by 

weeds now" 

Detail

Next. First visit after many years>

JW MacLean