The Junk Drawer

Sports from the 'Art' Side by fleur_de_lis

With apologies to scoutmom, my post this week will be about an artist some of you may be familiar with--LeRoy Nieman, an artist widely known for his sports related artwork. Nieman has an 'energetic' style and has recorded a wide range of sporting activities in his long career. Some of you may be old enough to remember seeing him at work on ABC's coverage of the Olympic games, or as CBS's Superbowl computer artist. Here is a small sampling of his work: Handoff-Super Bowl lll The 1969 Super Bowl was one of the biggest upsets in American sports history. The underdog Jets defeated the Colts 16-7. In this painting of Nieman's you see QB Joe Namath handing off to fullback Matt Snell on his way to the winning touchdown. The Great Secretariat Here Nieman depicts the greatest race horse of all time--full stride, nearly airborne, stretching toward the finish line. Secretariat won the triple crown in 1973, beating his competitors at the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. This has been...

Happy, happy, joy, joy! Update 10 by fleur_de_lis

Oh yeah, our girl is home from Iraq for a 15 day leave! I've already spread the news around various blogs, but I couldn't resist doing a short post on it anyway! It was not easy getting from there to here--it took her 52 hours from the time she set foot on the plane at Tallil to the time she set foot in the house. No motels to sleep in, no showers, no changes of clothing. And everything went smoothly! Some soldiers returning home for leave must spend 3 or 4 days waiting for a flight out of Kuwait. Their leave, fortunately starts when they get home, so the delays and long trips don't count towards it. We have been treated to a few war stories, and lighthearted chit chat about her experiences, but none of it too deep yet. You can tell she is focusing on family, and the joys of being home--milking every minute for what it's worth. That's what we want, and that's what she needs. So many of the things we take for granted are so precious to her now. Milk (theirs is the...

Oblivious by fleur_de_lis

The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs--Georges de la Tour (1593-1652) Seldom has an artist captured such an amusing warning in such an entertaining way! This picture is filled with a silent excitement--all of the faces are completely expressionless, but look at the eyes! We see the rich, young dandy, dressed to the nines, completely engrossed in his cards and oblivious as to what is going on around him. We see the seductive, well-dressed woman with a feathered hat sitting next to him, looking sideways and gesturing to the serving woman to give him some wine. We see the serving woman gazing at the young man, looking for just the right moment to distract him, and we see the card cheat glancing quickly behind him as he removes the ace of clubs from his belt. It doesn't take long to figure out that the young dissolute will soon be relieved of his purse, and that the other players are partners in his fleecing! Georges de la Tour earned his living painting the kinds of pictures his clients wanted...

Whaam! Pow! Takka, Takka! by fleur_de_lis

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) Life magazine once asked, "Is he the worst artist in America?" OUCH! One critic said, "Roy Lichtenstein makes sows ears out of sows ears." WHAM! Another critic said, "I go to art galleries to escape supermarkets and comic strips. I don't go there to repeat the experience." KAPOW! Lichtenstein himself said,"I want to make art so awful no one will hang it." AI-YI-YI! Despite all of the negative criticisms, comments, and furor Roy stirred up in the art world, his Pop Art images are some of the most powerful works of the 50's and 60's. The Pop artists of this time period revitalized modern art and helped us see the world around us with fresh eyes. They wanted to make art familiar and accessible rather than understood by only a few. Their images are ironic commentaries on American consumer culture--and a lot of fun to look at. Roy borrowed his images from comic strips, enlarged, and then exaggerated them. His favorite...