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| Concept painting for "The Eleven", moment #5 - 25" x 25" acrylic on canvas |
Shattered Expectations: Guaranteed was the title (well, it
is still the title actually) of my submission to the AiS call for a mural for
project #5 of “The Eleven” series for the football commemoration throughout the
downtown area. This time it was limited to submissions from only Stark County
resident artists to give us a fair chance at representation. Of the 30 to 40
applications, (different numbers have been quoted) one was selected as the
winner and 5 additional pieces got chosen to be bridesmaids. Dirk Rozich was
crowned the winner….my fellow bridesmaids include Scot Phillips, Su Nimon,
Tommy Morgan and Tim Carmany, names familiar to all of stark county who follow
anything to do with art stuff. Rather than ugly taffeta gowns, we get a nice
check…..nice touch and well received by all I am sure.
Being artists, we are of course extremely curious as to who
was our competition and what did we each propose? As a creative community, we
are aware of each other’s styles, skill sets, and concepts so we can guess but
not be sure. That being said, I had no idea who D. R. was….or else I have seen
his work but never bothered to read the name which is most likely the case as
with the vault mural at Julz. Anyway… I
am reprinting my proposal statement and the concept canvas image (a nice 25” x
25” to add to the storage room) for anyone interested in what my submission was
all about. My starting point was one of the offered considerations for the
final work….that it be a dynamic piece of art so people, even those who have no
interest in football, would want to come see it (or a paraphrase thereof).
So I thought about my totally nonathletic family and what
would make them stand there and look up at a building for a few minutes…at an
image about football…(without resorting to a story about panty hose or fur
coats). Hmmmm…that same thing that made this little kid sit in a dentist office
waiting room knowing it was going to hurt but I couldn’t get this magazine at
home (stop that, I was a kid…) Highlights!
Remember that page where pictures were hidden in a linear drawing? Find
the ice cream cone in a tree, or the tire in a jungle…I loved that stuff!! So behold…my bridesmaid for your perusal.
“Shattered
Expectations: Guaranteed”
By Judi Krew
This painting is
created in a “stained glass” style technique using bold colors and a bit of
illusion. Many specific aspects of Super Bowl 3 are depicted as outlined below.
The stained glass window is often associated with religious architecture so I
consider it a subtle reference to football being like a religion to many
people, a game being a moving experience and Joe Namath, well…almost a god to
some fans. Joe Namath shattered the expectations of many people that day. He had given a prediction that some in the
media considered a break of tradition or appropriate behavior for players,
hence the title of this piece. Technically, a stained glass window is held
together by thin threads of lead between glass pieces all working together to
remain balanced and stay intact, a distribution of weight and duties.
Theoretically, a team works the same way…held together by everyone doing a
small and specific part to make the big picture work. There are no paintings on
public buildings in or around our area that use this style of art.
Below are the specific
images found it my concept piece:
The logo for Super
Bowl 3 appears in the upper left, under lights, to commemorate the NFL’s first
season to use them. Color and line work create the illusion of lighting. An
outline of a football is included in this area.
The score of the game
is in the upper left with AFL inside the 6 of the 16, and NFL inside the 7
(scores for each league) and the year of the game, 1968, in the 1, of the 16 so
it is placed next to the logo. An orange for the Orange Bowl forms the center
of the 6 in the AFL score of 16. A linear Hall of Fame building is the hyphen.
The upper left corner
is “shattered” (and left unpainted on the wall) so the wall itself shows
through, creating the illusion of a stained glass window being on (or in) the
wall.
Joe Namath is depicted
with a “number one” hand gesture in reverse to point to the score (leading the
eye to the shattered area) as if to say…I told you so. It is also “outside the
box” for a reason. His image is rendered in the window looking directly out to
the viewer and much larger than life using a combination of “glass” and
painterly brushwork. His hand contains a linear Vince Lombardy Trophy.
The team logos are
included by using the Jets helmet, angled like a battering ram, and the Colts
horseshoe in the middle, almost as if hit by the helmet, but also either
hanging on or falling down, however the viewer wishes to see it. The horseshoe
is broken because they lost the game. A linear goalpost extends out of the
helmet.
All the remaining
spaces are filled with 11 football figures in simple linear renderings
depicting moves common to a football game and representing the number of men per
team on the field. Perhaps they are a bit reminiscent of the ones found on the
iconic Hall of Fame bridge over Interstate 77. The outline of a bell is also
found in the line work representing Tom Bell, the head referee of the game. The
contrasting green along the lower edge represents the playing field.
I did opt out of painting it myself and would not have
accepted the budget to do so….fear of heights and no experience at such
undertakings made it seem like a good Spock choice.
Congrats to D.R. and my fellow runners-up!
