The Story Behind The Red Vineyard by Kane Mayfield
In speaking with Kane recently, I learned why he wrote a song titled The Red Vineyard which is the name of the only painting Vincent van Gogh sold in his lifetime. In Mayfield’s own words, “I’ve always been haunted by the thought of Van Gogh’s the Red Vineyard. It was this cautionary tale about how it may not happen in your lifetime… and you can just die a burden.” Kane said that he’s had a poster of The Red Vineyard hanging on his wall for as long as he can remember. But the painting doesn’t only have negative connotations for him. “I also took from it recently it’s possible that sometimes a tablespoon of success is better than none at all.”
Regarding his recent emergence as an AI artist that makes “gud rap” music he had this to say, “I’m fortunate. I feel like I snuck in to the party. People think I’m just Scrilla’s little friend. I’ve only been around since ’21. It’s not a long time. I see a strong correlation between selling a little bit and the van Goghness of do you have friends that will vouch for you and draw swords for you. I feel like I do.”
Are you what they say about you or are you better than that? Are you just a charlatan ignoramus that paints abominable little sunflowers. Or are you someone better? Are you maybe someone they’ll write books about someday? In your lifetime you may never know. So you gotta just put your back against the wall and keep fighting. That’s why the Red Vineyard is so personal to me.
The Song
Mayfield is a master at weaving standup comedy, television shows, movies, documentaries, and historical speeches into his songs. Not as random sound bites, but rather as a reinforcement of the theme(s) of the song. The Red Vineyard is no exception. It starts out with a drop from Comedian Hannibal Buress’ stand-up special entitled Animal Furnace. In it, Burress quotes a Young Jeezy lyric “house stupid dumb big, my rooms got rooms” followed quickly by the lyric “money over everything” which has been used in songs by Drake, Big Sean, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross among others.
Moments later, the first line of the song comes in, “if money over everything and a dollar is a debt, than to owe is your wedding ring. You follow that?”
The song continues to rail against the fiat system, rising interest rates, debt level, and the fiscal policies of the United States.
Try to leave en masse they put that blicker to your dome. But first they have a travel tax. Imagine that. you have to pay ’em for the privilege of the globe.
But it’s not all bleak. We are also given some words of encouragement such as “Never let em take your passion”, “Dance like nobody's watching”, and “Cause freedom is a state of mind.”
There are also direct references to van Gogh and the painting sprinkled throughout. Lyrics such as, “and prophets never profit in they lifetime. Van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime.” And, “so my brother named Theo, the hunger panged griot. That’s my blood red vineyard, I’m gonna spill it like a pipeline.”
The video that accompanies the song was created by Mayfield with his very unique process. It is accomplished by him cutting thousands of AI images that he generated by hand in MS Paint, stitching them together, collaging them, and making one long continuous video that corresponds to the words of the song.
The Painting
The Red Vineyard is said to be the only painting that Vincent van Gogh sold in his lifetime. The artist painted it from memory after touring the vineyard days prior. It was completed on November 4, 1888. The story surrounding the sale of the painting is well documented due to an extensive archive of hand-written letters. The painting was displayed along with five other paintings at the 1890 Les XX exhibition in Brussels, Belgium.
In a letter dated November 15, 1889, Les XX organizer Octave Maus invited van Gogh to exhibit at the January 1890 show. Van Gogh accepted in a letter dated November 20, 1889 and listed the six paintings that he wanted displayed.
The inclusion of van Gogh in the Les XX exhibition did not go over well with everyone in the group which consisted of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors. Two days prior to the opening, Henry de Groux announced that his works would not be seen side by side with the “abominable Pot of Sunflowers by Monsieur Vincent or any other agent provocateur.” The organizers conceded and moved de Groux’s work. He still wasn’t satisfied however, and at the opening dinner De Groux once again attacked Van Gogh’s paintings and called him “an ignoramus and a charlatan.” Fortunately for Van Gogh, he had a strong group of supporters. Namely, painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who heard the comments and began arguing on his behalf. Things got so heated that a dual was proposed. A second artist — Paul Signac announced that if Lautrec were killed in the dual he would assume the quarrel himself.
That same evening, Les XX expelled De Groux from their association. The next day he apologized and was allowed to resign. The dual was averted, and Signac was elected to Les XX soon after.
As for the sale of the Red Vineyard — it was indeed the only of the 6 pieces displayed that sold and the buyer was Anna Boch, a painter, art collector, member of Les XX and sister of Eugène Boch, a painter and friend of van Gogh. The sales price was 400 Belgian francs.
Seven months later, on July 29, 1890 van Gogh took his own life. He was only 37 and had received no recognition in his lifetime. Today, he is considered one of the greatest and most beloved artists of all time.
The NFT
The Red Vineyard exists as an NFT (non-fungible token) on the Ethereum blockchain. Owning the NFT grants you access to several token-gated files including a pdf with song lyrics and related images and an mp3 of the song. These are accessed via the site Darkblock.
Red Vinyard is part of a larger collection called A Year & A Day which was created in May of 2022. A companion piece titled “LESXX” was minted on the Counterparty platform in early 2023. Much of Kane’s story behind these two pieces can be found in the token description.
Conclusion
To Kane, it is not about winning, it’s about not losing. There is a difference. He puts it like this, “I wake up at 2 in the morning with tears in my eyes stuttering fffffffailure. I live in a panting dash running away from terrifying images in my head of destructive crippling failure. I will die fighting to not lose.”
He is determined to sustain this resurgence. He wants to create more art and music. He wants to continue making new friends and fans. He wants to keep helping others. That’s just who he is and what he does.
