My essentials: Anthony Weitz’s cultural picks

About me

Born in South Africa, studied at JHB art college, then a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Entered the world of advertising art as an art director, but transitioned later to self-employed illustrator. Moved to Switzerland in 1980, then retired to Malta in 2008. I’ve been dabbling ever since.

About  

Book

I read William Woodruff’s, A Concise History Of The Modern World, on a regular basis.
It helps one filter out the propaganda that is today’s mainstream media, with a more balanced, fact-based account of things. I read it in bite-sized chunks, because I read during my lunch breaks. I also enjoy Le Carre’s spy novels, including Fleming. I wish they would make a 007 movie of a gritty, unemployed Bond, down on his luck, who drives a beat-up old mini Cooper, and doesn’t get the girl. Another perennial favourite is Karen Blixen’s, Out Of Africa.

Film

I don’t watch many films nowadays, but when I do, it’s usually all old stuff. I’m a sucker for film Noir. Rebecca and The Maltese Falcon are good examples. Old post-war Italian dramas too. Fun fact—at age 13, to earn pocket money, I worked as an usher at the local bug-house on Saturday afternoons. As a result, I watched The Dirty Dozen, 16 times.

Internet and TV

I own a large black shiny TV set, but it’s not connected. I love the idea of Netflix, but waking up the next morning and not being able to remember what I watched last evening is, to me, a waste of time. I’d rather waste my time online. I consume vast amounts of Tiktok, Substack, Reuters, AP, CNBC, Al Jazeera. My internet interests—politics, economy, finance, art, in that order. For comedic relief I watch Fox News for about five minutes.

Music 

I’ve never been one to have music on ‘in the background’. I paint in complete silence.
I like to hear myself think while I’m in the studio. But as tastes go, I’m eclectic—old Beatles stuff, Dire Straits, Moby, Gustixa and Rihanne, Massive Attack, The Stranglers.

Place

I’d like to visit Gaza. It would be like visiting Treblinka back when it was still in operation. I think it would be life-changing, to revisit a world of apartheid, but more extreme. It would certainly change what I do as a painter. Imagine witnessing destruction on a scale rarely seen in the 21st century. It would be the opportunity of a lifetime as an artist to document the crime of the century—that is if I lived to tell the tale.