Monday, March 2, 2015

Nelson Shanks

Portrait artist Nelson Shanks revealed in an interview with Stephanie Farr his take on various subjects he's painted. This is my favorite part, when asked if he recalls his first painting as a child, Shanks responded early on his father went off to war leaving behind an oil painting kit. At age five he got hold of the kit and set up in the dining room, and that right there shows admirable maternal support because those paints smell really bad.
My aunt was working in Los Alamos. She sent a picture of an adobe house and it had the poles sticking out and the poles were casting shadows in a diagonal. So I sat down and I painted that. I remember being more intrigued, not about painting an adobe house, but in capturing the way those shadows worked.
When questioned, "Who did you find hardest to capture?" Shanks answered, Bill Clinton. Why? Because the reality is he is the most famous liar of all time.

Goodness. Worse than the Trojan horse? Worse than Piltdown Man? Worse than Watergate and worse than Bush lying about weapons of mass destruction? Surely there are other lies worse.

Shanks said that he never could get the the Monica thing completely out of his mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting.

It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him. 
And so the Clintons hate the portrait. They want it removed from the National Portrait Gallery. They're putting a lot of pressure on them.
He said made its way in to the painting subtly.



The story is all over the place. I didn't even think of this, Shanks did. One item I read Shanks says that he actually set up a mannequin with a blue dress and a light behind it to cast a shadow on the fireplace when the president was not there. He always did like the effects made by shadows. 

15 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Skanks is quite an hilarious name.

And, somehow, appropriate for this story.

Chip Ahoy said...

I just now noticed that. Ha!

edutcher said...

I thought it looked like Ted Koppel.

WV "Shnit" - roll your own.

AllenS said...

Someone is painting with a wide brush.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Leave Bob Ross out of this. He is pure and innocent. Unlike the disgusting Clintons. ugh.

virgil xenophon said...

I'd say the Clintons (the duo) and Obama are in a dead heat for the absolute volume of lies, while the AGW crowd wins going away for the worst scientific hoax in history since Piltdown Man--except that AGW proponents have propagated FAR greater dysfunctional/deadly consequences for mankind than Piltdown hoaxers EVER did.

ricpic said...

He gives Clinton a big red schlong, er....tie.

Chip Ahoy said...

The broad brush cracks me up.

My dad was attentively watching Bob Ross one Sunday. It surprised me that dad would be interested in anything such a flake as Ross would say. They are opposite type people. I did not expect him to have patience for, "And now you put a little bush on your hill. A little bush lives right here on the hill. It's your world, your hill, your little bush living right here on the hill" or some kind of shit like that. I said, "Wow. I'm surprised you're watching this flake." Dad goes, "What are you talking about Bob Ross was an Air Force officer. I go, "Really? This whole time I thought he is a burn out hippy." So completely contrary to fact it crippled my dad laughing. I didn't think it was that funny but my dad was out of control. To hear a fellow officer spoken of thusly by his own offspring was too much.

MamaM said...

The two fingered V wedge pointing toward his publicly played part, minus the ring of promise, is another fine feature in that composition. It's no wonder the Dynamic Duo doesn't care for the painting.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I always like Bob Ross. I found his "happy clouds and trees" soothing. I also liked how he encouraged people to just go paint. Don't get hung up on things.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I read somewhere that Bob Ross was a real hardass in the USAF. So the painting was his release.

Amartel said...

Excellent photoshop.
Bob about to paint a "happy little tree." Heh heh heh
(April is right, though - Bob is in heaven, leave Bob out of this.)

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Bob is in heaven. Painting happy little trees with a golden brush.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Chip:

My mother was an artist, and when Bob Ross was on TV, she would be almost spitting mad. "He's not an artist!" she would say and she would heap ridicule on his "happy trees." Sometimes I would goad her a bit.

Fr Martin Fox said...

On another note...

Isn't it really classless for the artist to do that bit with the shadow of the dress?

I mean, it would be one thing to say, I used light and shadow to express some of the trials and controversy...but what he actually said seemed a little sleazy.

What do you think?