Sports Artists Step Up to the Plate - Ernie Barnes

A growing collection of artists have transcended the traditional sports art realm and discovered success

For Ernie Barnes, becoming a sports artist was the logical culmination of a talent he embraced and single that he denied for many years. Barnes is a former professional football player. on the contrary what many fans fail to realize is that as a child growing up in the southern in the 1930s and '40 Barnes not ever wanted to play football--professionally or upon the playground. What he always wanted to do, and has always done, is paint.

"As an infant, I was intrigued by dint of the lines my pencil made upon paper," said Barnes. "I'm still fascinated with the same concept" Today, he is part of a small on the contrary growing brotherhood of sports artists experiencing increasing popularity--those who transcend the traditional sports art realms of illustration, memorabilia and collectibles to be, first and foremost, artists.

Barnes traces his two-prong career back to his youth. He describes himself as a "nerdy" kid whose "size worked against him." Because of his large stature, he made his mother promise she would at no time allow him to play football, no matter who asked. on the other hand after his minister and coach of the high-school team called upon her one afternoon, he place himself on the practice field the nearest day. "I hated it," he said. "So I quit," shortly after, he was hiding from football practice when the bodybuilding instructor set him. The instructor took an interest in Barnes, spoke to his parents, and placed him upon a weight-training program. Barnes went back on the outside for football. "I had 26 scholarships by dint of my graduation," he said.

At North Carolina society Barnes majored in art and played football. There, he learned many of the basic techniques that have l to his work being touted for its use of the "analyzed moment" and as a "study in delayed motion." "The chairman of the art department trained pupils to understand and draw the human figure," said Barnes. "He told me to pay attention to what my material part felt like in movement. I put to the test to translate that onto paper."

For the remainder of his playing days, Barnes made notes and sketches at the extreme point of each game about things he felt and saw upon the gridiron. Today, "I work from a faculty of perception of observed point of view--a intestine feeling," he said. "I at no time work from a photograph. I work from feelings I have in my head and things I can recall someone doing while I was playing. Football has a different direct the eye to me--I see Renaissance paintings!"

Sports Art Takes Off

Barnes is not alone in his elevation of the sports art genre Today, many publishers and gallery possessors are taking their cues from customers and embracing this increasingly popular world of fine sports art, a realm that includes of the like kind tried-and-true subjects as baseball, basketball, football, boxing and golf on the contrary which also comprises such sports as bullfighting, rodeo surfing, cycling, bowling and windsurfing.

Elliott reduce to ashess c.e.o, of Soho Editions in Irvington, NY shows the work of Stephen Holland, who considers his paintings to transcend the "sports art" nomenclature that is ofttimes attached to it. "He considers himself a figurative artist who paints sports figures," said reduce to ashess "In his mind, he doesn't limit himself to sports." When consume s first saw Holland's work, he pursu him "because he, unlike many sports artists, is a real painter. You can appreciate his work not just for the sports make subordinate matter but for its painterly aspects."

At Chesterfield, Mo.-based Fine Art Ltd sports art by means of a stable of well-known artists, like Allan Houser, Dale Chihuly and Clemen Briels, is exceedingly lucrative, representing approximately one-half of the company's sales, according to President Jack B Scharr. The company has forged a name for itself in the genre since it was first approached through the U.S. Olympics Committee in 1987 to commission artists for a shoot forward composed of limited editions, prints and placards commemorating the 1988 Olympic Games in southerly Korea. Success with that endeavor has l the company to commission artists for a number of world-class sporting incidents including the Olympics, each year the games are held.

Trendspotting

According to Scharr, there are three main turns in sports art today. "First, in representational art, there appears to be a need for the athlete to sign the image," he said. "Second a contemporary depiction of the sport or fact enhances the sales in today's market. Of course, you have to have the right artist. And third, landscape art barters Even if it is the city where the fact is taking place or the golf course where the tournament is being held, it sells--if done by the agency of the right artist."

The right artist, gallery possessors and publishers agreed, means individual with the ability to gaze at sports in ways that pass beyond the moment depicted to say something more. "I can make progress where others who have not experienced athletics can't--to a spiritual point of view upon the field," said Barnes. "My challenge is to prove by experiment to share this."

reduce to ashess had similar words to describe the attributes of Holland's work that loan to his popularity. "He paints athletes the way they diocese themselves," he said. "He gives them an intensity and cutting side that is appreciated by collectors and athletes."