From the time I was in my very early teens I enjoyed writing poems and short stories. Even before I was much of a reader, I wrote. Then as I grew older, and began to read in earnest, I found that I had an ability at composing. As with painting or art, I had little training beyond junior high school in composition, but as I began to read the works of Flaubert, Fitzgerald, Thomas Mann and E. L. Doctorow, I also learned to appreciate the process of writing.
As it should have been, I took the job as an art director over that of a copywriter after leaving Wood, but I held on to my appreciation of writers and the power they had to educate, inform, entertain and stimulate ideas past their own lives to generations and generations of new readers.
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William Burroughs - acrylic on canvas - 24' x 24" |
I didn't know this at the time that he volunteered to clean up and organize my art studio, a place where the junk and filth had gotten way out of hand, in trade for a painting. I originally thought Ross wanted a painting I had already done, but he informed me during our negotiation that he’d like a painting of William Borroughs.
"Why William Borroughs?" I asked. As with many things with Ross the actual answer wasn't clear to me. He seemed to admire the freedom of the man to go in many directions, and his influence on both the music and writing of both the beat and punk generations.
The reason was apparent since I had been flirting with idea of painting large, semi-abstract portraits for close to a year. The original idea came to me when I met an influential woman in business in Philadelphia, and imagined a series of famous women of business created in bold, flat colors, that included in the portrait hints at that which made them successful.
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The original concept for the series featuring (left to right) Alina Wheeler, William Wharton and Todd Rundgren (never painted). |
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Truman Capote - acrylic on canvas - 24' x 24" |
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Eudora Welty - acrylic on canvas - 24' x 24" |
"Will it sell?"
It seems that that question has to be put away quickly for most challenges. "No it will probably not sell."
But now Ross had given me the opportunity to trade me something I greatly need for painting a painting of Burroughs.
He wasn't concerned about the size of the piece, so I said, “How about 2' x 2'? Square?”
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Kurt Vonnegut - acrylic on canvas - 24' x 24" |
"Perfect!"
So I painted Burroughs, and while painting him, I thought of the series that would come from it, “20th Century American Writers.”
Ross liked the finished Burrough's piece, and I quickly chose another writer, one that I admired, who had influenced me. Burroughs, number 13, was not included in the twelve.
“Hemingway.” Over a period of months I completed portraits of twelve writers
As with all of my projects, I have most enjoyed conceiving the idea, and filling it with content, and then bringing the complete project to fruition. Though the paintings are central to every concept, the stories, personal connections and the message is integral to the art itself.
My art.
To view all 13 portraits and the stories behind their creation, visit click here to visit ModernAmericanWriters.com.
Click to Chapter 21: For now and the Near Future