Ed Askew, 84

Ed Askew, a Yale-educated painter who achieved wider renown as a singer-songwriter, died in New York City on Jan. 4 at age 84. The venerable music publication NME described him as a ​“psychedelic folk musician.” People magazine called him a cult figure. 

Askew was a fixture of the New Haven art and music scenes from his arrival in 1963 until the late 1980s when he relocated to New York. Some locals still remember the slender young man with a mane of unruly red hair. In the early 1970s, he performed a concert before an outdoor audience of thousands at Southern Connecticut State College. His paintings hang in the homes of New Haven collectors to this day.

Edward Crane Askew was born on Dec. 1, 1940 in Stamford, where his father was a government worker. Ed studied at the Silvermine art school in New Canaan and earned a scholarship to Yale, where he earned an MFA in 1966. 

Askew painted in many styles, including cubism, abstract impressionism and pointillism. He was fond of Cézanne. He once said he began a painting with an idea or emotion and then chose whichever genre would best express it. 

One of Askew’s series, Nocturnal Scenes, depicts pedestrians lighted from behind in dark, urban settings of buildings and sidewalks. The paintings, some of which resemble the cover of a pulp novel, are reminiscent of the City Night series by Georgia O’Keeffe

Askew’s practice of painting on large sheets of unstretched canvas was probably a necessity of hippie-era poverty as much as a creative choice. His first drafts were often on discarded computer printouts with gouache paint. For the finished works, he sometimes fashioned wall hangers from dowel rods and cord. Almost like tribal artifacts, the big, bold hangings were sold, bartered and displayed around New Haven.

Around 1970, Askew and friends built a harpsichord from a kit at a crash pad on Sylvan Avenue that has long since been demolished for more hospitals. He also accompanied himself on a vintage C.F. Martin tiple. These two instruments sometimes lent his sound a baroque flavor. (A tiple is a sort of cross between a ukulele and a 12-string guitar.) 

Askew’s first album, Ask the Unicorn, was released in 1968 on the New York jazz label ESP-Disk. Later came a European festival tour, along with a show of his paintings in Brussels. 

In 2013, Tin Angel Records released Askew’s album For the World. It featured collaborations with Sharon Van Etten, Marc Ribot and the indie-rock group Black Swans. Askew had supported the Swans on a 2011 tour that included performances at the Cafe Nine in New Haven.

Askew’s final album, 2021’s Sleeping With Angels, is on Bandcamp along with several dozen other albums and singles, many self-produced. More material exists for possible posthumous release.

Askew believed that painters and musicians should concentrate on their art and avoid the distraction of workaday jobs. He remained mostly true to that principle, though he was unable to completely escape from painting houses or teaching art.

Local businessman David Steinhardt, a longtime friend and patron, displayed many Askew paintings at his former factory, D.S. Sewing in Fair Haven. He recalled hitchhiking with Askew from New Haven to San Francisco in the late 1970s. They were traveling to visit friends on the west coast, including Tom Bolt of Hamden, who later died from a motorcycle accident.

Steinhardt said that a police officer stopped the two hitchhikers somewhere in Colorado or Wyoming. For whatever reason, the cop said the pair should be separated. He ordered Askew to walk across a big bridge and drove Steinhardt miles away before releasing him on a dirt road. Askew and Steinhardt didn’t catch up with each other until days later in San Francisco.

Steinhardt said that Askew’s recent death reminded him of watching his friend walk away on that long bridge a half-century earlier. 

A memorial service for Ed Askew is planned for this spring. For info, contact his friend and collaborator Jay Pluck jaypluck@gmail.com.