Goddess of the Western World 1975
Three Wise Men 1973
Back to Camp 1972
Number One Figure(s) 1976
Cutty Sark Label 1973
Fire Crackers 1968
Still Life 1970
The Recline 1969
Bust 1970
Blue Square 1973
The DMZ 1970
The Throw 1974
The Relaxed Man 1968He started with Relaxed Man -- Painted after returning home from Vietnam. He told me last year it had been the first time he felt relaxed since coming home, which is why I refuse to put a bow tie on him.
He created the fire cracker series by squeezing tubes of acrylic paint on strings of fire crackers. That got messy and loud so he filled old light bulbs with paint and dropped them while standing on a stool.
There was the ink block of the 'Three Wise Men' he cut for a Christmas card. But he forgot to reverse his initials. Corrected initials were added later. Three of his paintings are at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC. Several more were purchased for corporate collections.
We never knew what the Hell he was gonna do next. I get the impression he didn't either. I guessed the date by associating the piece with his assignment. Advisor to the Charlotte National Guard, Information Officer at NORAD, General Staff at Ft Monroe.
It wasn't easy having nude paintings on your living room wall in Huntersville, NC in 1969. He didn't give a shit but I did. Many friends thought I was going straight to H-E- Double toothpicks back then but times have changed and you can see the influence of the late '60s and early '70s in his work. He gave it all up. Don't ask me why.
Most of these paintings are gone and these color slides are the only proof they ever existed. That's the way he would've wanted it.
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19 comments:
Wise Men is tremendous....
I'd love to have "Still Life" on a wall....obvious talent.
DMZ has a haunitng feel to it.
It is a shame the
originals are lost to you.
These are all so, so good. So of their time, but each so different.
I guess when your specialty is guerrilla warfare, you round the edges off somehow. These are all cool. Some are downright incredible. The Colonel had an eye!
He was good. very good.
Your father's art is excellent, yes, but your observations of it are fascinating and insightful.
And that Bust, 1970: in my opinion his best work here. It's simply a beautiful piece.
-DB
Tin:
Number One Figure, is great, as are all the rest. What medium did he use in Back to Camp?
He also had quite an eye for photography. Great composition in The Throw.
Thanks for sharing.
--Matthew
"The Recline" evokes Picasso for me. They're all haunting. Thanks for sharing.
The relaxed man and DMZ look very similar to me, but almost certainly convey polar opposite feelings.
These say way more than name tags or ties.
The first one is really striking.
Jesus. Trad Dad's Gerhard Richter. He toyed with a lot of different aesthetics, but there's this elegant spareness that ties all of his work together.
Did he drink Cutty? What's the infatuation with the logo?
Matthew-
Most of his stuff was acrylic on board although Cutty is on canvas. Most were 16x20.
Anon 2:04 - I agree. Not sure why he walked away from something that said so much. Except...he didn't like to say much.
Brandon- it's my favorite.
GVS- not a scotch man at all. I think he just liked the label. It's yours for $450,000. That's a steal compared to Richter.
Really striking stuff. No only because they are quite good, but because I would not have guessed an artistic drive in your father from your previous posts.
Love the subject matter of the Goddess for all the obvious reasons (and just y'all wait another 8-20 months to see those color combos return mainstream [hell pumpkin orange is 'rockin' off every purple hip in ATL at the moment; arghhh]).
Unrealted, whatever happened with your GTH pants?
Lastly and FWIW, Back to Camp is a great sketch; quite good really (not that I know antything)! If you have the time, take a long walk...
The Relaxed Man answers a question I was meaning to ask you.
My comment came up as "Anon"....?????
I'm not well versed in the vocabulary of art, but I really like the minimalism of a lot of his work, if that's the right word. It just connects in a really cool way without being too busy.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi, John
First time I've checked in, to catch-up, this year.
Condolences on the loss of your dad.
Tater/jg
Tater- thanks. Good to hear from you.
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