About me. A man or woman is defined by their passion or desire.
As a teenager I was an all-city football player in love with Judy McBride (who became Richelle, Rick, and Chet’s mother). After high school I went to the Pasadena Playhouse. I was on fire to be a great actor. But that fire was redirected into fine art under the loving guidance of Keith Finch (one of the most famous and inventive painters during the fifties and sixties). My study, or learning process, was a long drawn out affair; I loved all styles of art but would vacillate between abstract and realism.
In the late seventies I was contracted by the N.F.L. (through a wild business associate named Mike Brawsen). Over the course of the next five or six years I did posters, game day covers and many other projects for most of the N.F.L. teams, as well as a great many other sports franchises. I also met Arnold Schwarzenegger in the late seventies. He liked what I was doing with my sports art and invited me to help him promote his Mr. Olympia contest through poster art. My wife and I became pretty good friends with Arnold , often visiting him at his home. Arnold was yet to become a big movie star but already he was an accomplished business man. He’s a fun guy and for years we corresponded. I also enjoyed a close friendship with Fred Claire of the Dodgers, a great administrator during the Lasorda/O’Malley era, which some call the golden era of the Dodgers. My work still adorns the walls of their offices. During that time Al Davis of the Raiders hired me often and I worked for the Raider organization for about twenty eight years doing at least one project a year. My portrait of Al Davis is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame at Canton Ohio.
Of course, during all of this, my children were quickly growing up. Rick, my oldest boy was in his own rock band, Chet was making us laugh with his wild and often bizarre inventions, and Richelle had started the first vegetarian restaurant in town.
The late eighties was kind of crazy, Judy and I met many celebrities, and at times were involved with movie people. I remember Sylvester Stallone having our family up to meet him during his editing of his second movie, Paradise Alley; he was so great with the kids. It was really a fun day with Sly. I did work for him on Paradise Alley.
During this time commercial art was paying the bills but my heart was always pursuing my private visions (my love affair with the Vast Mind - this is the name I still use to describe that presence that is really all of us). In my early forties I studied that vast mind at the L.A. Zen Center but my encounters with the vast mind dates back to when I was in my early twenties.
At fifty years old, I studied acting with the famous theater director Jackie Cowgill. Acting was still in my blood (I studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse when I nineteen). Jackie Cowgill was later to direct my wife’s one act play The Phone Call’ in Taos, New Mexico.
In my early fifties the kids were out of school; Chet had been awarded as being the best Artist in the L.A. area. He immediately went to Italy to do FX work on his first movie, Rick continued his music (studying with the famous writer, composer Charles Albertine), and Richelle was busy with her restaurant.
Judy and I decided to move from California to Taos, New Mexico where it worked out that the solitude allowed both Judy and I to develop our crafts. I began showing in many galleries across the country and most of the art I painted was classical still life, which I loved; it was powerful. But that inner voice kept saying, “Hey! What about me?”
Judy was creating furiously and she developed one of the most fluent, yet inventive, writing styles I’ve ever read.
But life being what it is, my wife and I felt the urge to return to California (this was in the late 90’s); there were now four grandchildren who were very important to us.
It has all gone by so fast. At my age now (though I’m still eighteen at heart) the important thing is my dream, or speaker, art, and trying to share my vision with as many like minds as possible. That’s why, with the help of the great Chet ( www.chetzar.com ) I’ve started a blog and web site.
I still wake every morning grumbling my way through duties until I can get to the “magic time”. That’s when anything is possible and I try to capture it in my dream catcher’s net called art.
