As most of my friends know, the art of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) is an enormous influence on me and my work. Aside from the sheer beauty of these posters, the idea of using art and artists to convey messages to the citizenry seems so...revolutionary nowadays that I simply can't imagine what it must have been like, having the U.S. Government putting thousands of skilled artists to work, all for the common good.
Anyway, books featuring the WPA posters were pretty scarce--for years, the only one I could find was Posters of the WPA, by Christopher DeNoon. A fine book, but even 175 pages to play with, it could only show the tiniest fraction of the posters created during the era.
Around the end of 2002, I was just discovering all this great work, and was so inspired by the artists who did them. So one night, as an act of...tribute, I guess, I decided to do portraits of five of the WPA artists that the book has spotlighted: Anthony Velonis, Robert M. Jones, Richard Halls, Richard Floethe, and Katherine Milhous.
As you can see, the portraits are pretty straightforward, no frills. And what better to have in the background than their own work? So while I don't think these rank as my best work, they are certainly some of the most heartfelt pieces I've ever done.
Why am I posting these today? Well, that's because this month is the 75th anniversary of the WPA, and its being celebrated in high style, right in my own backyard!
Check out Posters For The People, which tells you about all kinds of events scheduled this month to celebrate the WPA. Not only is there going to be a new book about the WPA, Posters for the People: Art of the WPA (yay!), but there's an exhibition of "new" WPA posters by current artists, to be silk-screened (like the originals were) and displayed at an exhibition in the city!
As you might have guessed, I will have a poster of my own creation in the exhibition, which is a huge honor for me. I can't wait to see what the events are like over the weekend and meet some of the people behind it all.
I'll have the whole story (along with my poster) here sometime next week!
Anyway, books featuring the WPA posters were pretty scarce--for years, the only one I could find was Posters of the WPA, by Christopher DeNoon. A fine book, but even 175 pages to play with, it could only show the tiniest fraction of the posters created during the era.
Around the end of 2002, I was just discovering all this great work, and was so inspired by the artists who did them. So one night, as an act of...tribute, I guess, I decided to do portraits of five of the WPA artists that the book has spotlighted: Anthony Velonis, Robert M. Jones, Richard Halls, Richard Floethe, and Katherine Milhous.
As you can see, the portraits are pretty straightforward, no frills. And what better to have in the background than their own work? So while I don't think these rank as my best work, they are certainly some of the most heartfelt pieces I've ever done.
Why am I posting these today? Well, that's because this month is the 75th anniversary of the WPA, and its being celebrated in high style, right in my own backyard!
Check out Posters For The People, which tells you about all kinds of events scheduled this month to celebrate the WPA. Not only is there going to be a new book about the WPA, Posters for the People: Art of the WPA (yay!), but there's an exhibition of "new" WPA posters by current artists, to be silk-screened (like the originals were) and displayed at an exhibition in the city!
As you might have guessed, I will have a poster of my own creation in the exhibition, which is a huge honor for me. I can't wait to see what the events are like over the weekend and meet some of the people behind it all.
I'll have the whole story (along with my poster) here sometime next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment