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Capturing the
spirit of Aggieland
Benjamin Knox combines his love of
Texas A&M with his artistic talents
By Melissa Price
The Battalion
A college student’s job might con
sist of sacking groceries or work
ing at a fast food restaurant — but
while others were asking "paper or plas
tic?” Benjamin Knox was on his way to
an art career.
Knox, class of ’90, who is known for such
prints as “The Undying Aggie Spirit” and
“Some May Boast,” was a sophomore at
Texas A&M when he realized his summer
lawn business was not paying the bills. He
decided to tap into his artistic talent and be
gan producing pen-and-ink drawings for
outfits in the Corps of Cadets. His first print,
which was for his outfit, Squadron Three,
became so popular *
that Knox began his
own graphic arts busi
ness his senior year.
Knox said he was
somewhat nervous
about his decision to
sell his lawn business
and pursue art be
cause he did not
know if people would
like his work.
“I knew this was
something I wanted
to do,” Knox said. “It
was one of those
things where I fol
lowed my dream, and
luckily it worked out
for me.”
Knox said his art business boomed in
1990 when he began drawing prints for
other universities. He has done prints for
Texas Tech, Baylor, Louisiana State Uni
versity and the University of Texas. Al
though Knox enjoys making prints for
other universities, he said his first love has
CC
This is my life.
Creating artwork is
therapy for me —
it gives me a
satisfaction to
know I am growing
through art. ^ ^
Benjamin Knox
local artist
always been A&M.
Because of his increasing popularity,
Knox began running a gallery out of his
home in 1990. He said that although this
was occasionally an inconvenience, it was
usually a lot of fun.
“Sometimes I would be awakened
with phone calls at 1 a.m. from people
wanting to see my art,” Knox said. “It
probably drove my roommates crazy.”
D’Lisa Hidalgo, a sophomore biomed
ical science major, said she became fa
miliar with Knox’s artwork last year when
her boyfriend was looking for a unique
way to frame his diploma. Hidalgo said
she likes Knox’s artwork because it is a
true depiction of life at A&M.
Hidalgo said there is something for
everyone in Knox’s drawings.
She said she admires Knox
because he is personable and
can relate to A&M students.
“He’s an original, and he
is down-to-earth and really
nice,” Hidalgo said. “When
we went to the gallery —
well, it was raining outside
and I guess he had taken off
his shoes, because he was
just sitting there with his
socks on, drawing away.”
Soon after graduating in
1993, Knox opened up the
first artist-owned gallery in
College Station.
Knox said the gallery’s
mission is to promote high
er education through fine
art. He said the gallery has donated many
prints for scholarship purposes at A&M
and is considering donating pieces to oth
er schools for scholarships as well.
“We stand behind promoting higher
See Knox, Page 4
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rincess Di 'thrilled'
omeet Mandela
CAPE TOWN, South Africa
—Talk about a mutual ad-
iration society. Princess Di-
la said she was “absolutely
rilled” to meet President
elson Mandela on Monday,
id he responded that he was
till trembling.”
Mandela
aised Di-
ia for her
irly work
lunseling
eople with
IDS and
edited her
ith reduc-
ig prejudice
jainst those
ith the
sadly virus.
“We saw her sitting on the
eds of AIDS patients and
laking hands with them, and
lat changed perceptions dra-
latically with regards to
IDS,” Mandela said.
Mandela also compliment-
d Diana for visiting children
Angola who had been crip-
led by land mines, saying
er gesture helped South
frica decide to destroy its
nd mines.
Diana arrived Saturday for a
rivate visit. Her brother, Earl
lencer, lives in Cape Town.
! of Student
j. Newsroon#'
imu.edu
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84 5-2678.
by Visa, M®* 1
g semester*
is) at Texas
Powell
Mandela
chwarzkopf to stay
ut of politcal arena
NEW YORK (AP) — If it was-
already apparent, retired
'en. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
tys he has no interest in a po-
tical career.
“Politics in Washington,
C., has become a really
'ean business. Really mean
“'d nasty,” he said in the lat
est issue of George magazine.
“It’s very intrusive upon your
life, and more important, it’s
intrusive on your family’s life.
It’s very hard to accomplish
anything in such a hostile en
vironment.”
The field
commander
of the 1991
Persian Gulf
War thinks
his former
colleague,
Gen. Colin
Powell, is,
as they say
in the Army,
good to go.
“I think he will run. He’s as
good as any other candidate
we’ve got out there,”
Schwarzkopf told George edi
tor and publisher John F.
Kennedy Jr.
Schwarzkopf, after hanging
up his Desert Storm fatigues,
turned his energies to various
causes — among them the Na
ture Conservancy, the recovery
of the grizzly bear and a part
nership with Paul Newman in
a camp for sick children.
He’s resisted pressure to get
into politics.
“George Bush and Bob Dole
each asked me to support
them, and Ross Perot asked
me to be his vice presidential
candidate, i’ve had inquiries
from the Democratic party,”
Schwarzkopf said. “But my re
ply to all of these requests has
been that I can do more for my
country by remaining apoliti
cal than by getting involved in
the political process.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Kristen
3rd Rock star wary
of brain drain TV
Johnson’s parents wouldn’t let
her watch television, and
now, does she feel like a space
alien? No, she just plays one
on TV.
Johnson, the statuesque
alien on 3rd Rock From the
Sun, told Details magazine
she never watched sitcoms
“until maybe two years ago,
when I started auditioning
for them.”
When she has kids, she’ll
forbid TV just like her parents
did, she said.
“I know that I’m biting the
hand that feeds me, but TV
can really suck the brains right
out of your body,” she said.
“The only television I watch
now are those newsmagazine
shows with stories like, ‘Does
your mattress give you can
cer? Let’s find out!”’
NEW YORK (AP) — Opera
Bartoli gives final
show of season
singer Cecilia Bartoli spent
three hours at a record store
greeting fans and signing auto
graphs just a day after missing
a widely broadcast matinee
performance at the Metropoli
tan Opera.
The Italian mezzo-soprano
blamed a bad back for miss
ing Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”
on Saturday. The Daily News
cited sources at the Met as
saying Bartoli failed to per
form because conductor
James Levine was ill with an
ear infection.
Bartoli sang the role of the
maid Despina on Wednesday
when Levine also was sick.
For what was to have
been Bartoli’s second and fi
nal performance in the part
this season, with millions
listening on radio, Despina
was sung by Marie
McLaughlin.
music r e u i e oa
James sounds tired, uninspired
on self-ripoff album Whiplash
By April Towery
The Battalion
O nce a masterpiece is created,
it is seldom duplicated.
English rock band James has
tried to recreate the success of its 1993
album Laid with its latest release,
Whiplash. Laid, the band’s sixth al
bum, sold 600,000 copies in America,
a feat Whiplash is unlikely to follow.
The melodies of the songs are too
similar. The only minute difference
in Whiplash is some subtle experi
mentation with industrial sound.
Where the previous James albums
have boasted mellow pop songs
thriving on simplicity and instru
mentation, Whiplash is overpro
duced and lacks the beauty of
acoustic guitar strumming.
Many of the songs on Whiplash
Fontana/
Mercury
Records
★ ★1/2
were improvised in a barn during
Woodstock II in 1994. The framework
is admittedly loose, and the songs are
short and shallow.
James has always set itself apart
from other bands with its powerful
lyrics. In “Sometimes (Lester Piggott),”
a track on the Laid album, Booth sings,
“Sometimes when I look deep in your
eyes I swear I can see your soul.” The
beauty of these words is diminished by
the triviality of “Go to the Bank,” from
Whiplash, in which Booth sings, “I feel
so empty, so I might go shopping, just
to buy those things that will make me
feel much better.”
Whiplash compares more to
James’ 1994 release WahWah, an up
beat pop album which experiment
ed with improvisation and rock an
gles to create a solid tour album.
Whiplash is an attempt to make
money, to give listeners what they
want to hear and to forget conveying
a message through music. The band
could have pulled it off if they had
not already done so three years ago
with Laid.
If Laid did not exist, Whiplash
would be the best album of the
decade. However, the melodies of
Whiplash are recycled, and the lyrics
are all too familiar.
See James / Page 4
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