Comments on: Guys and Dolls revisited

Guys and Dolls revisited

adamvasco — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:06:15 -0800

Owen Smith, is a painter in the social realist milieu and has been commissioned among others by The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Atlantic Monthly. His paintings recall the covers of Pulp magazines and paperback novels of the 1940's and 50's.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:29:51 -0800

Don't Ask Geddit? Because there's a policy called "Don't Ask Don't Tell" that applies to gays in the military? And it's a picture of two gays? And the military is symbolized by the military men in the background. A work of breathtaking nuance and depth.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:35:49 -0800

I never thought pop art was supposed to be subtle.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:38:17 -0800

There's unsubtle and there's I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up. I like the colors, though.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:53:12 -0800

I like the stuff that doesn't have an obvious "message." His messages remind me of what I painted when it was me vs. The World (aka "adolescence").

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:04:02 -0800

He is an illustrator. A good illustrator. In fact, he teaches illustration. DeKooning was a painter.

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:24:03 -0800

I was arguing with myself about this R. Mutt. However Diego de Rivera, one of Owen Smith's great influences was a painter, and these are coloured illustrations. Whatever. Apparantly he has done some good public work but I can't find any of it. DU do you have a message here? It kind of got lost in the dust storm. I don't really have much interest in the American Military except that so many of them are in the wrong country.

By: gwyon

gwyon — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:36:28 -0800

I like his New Yorker covers, often done for special issues. They mix the low-brow style of pulp covers with the middle-brow (at least) content you expect inside.

By: John of Michigan

John of Michigan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:31:24 -0800

Adamvasco, thanks. Do want. A lot. Very reminiscent of Paul Cadmus, one of my all-time faves.

By: Faze

Faze — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:59:09 -0800

John of Michgan -- I second you on Paul Cadmus. If he hadn't been (with all due respect) such a wide-open flamer, he would be hailed as the greatest draftsman since Da Vinci.

By: Faze

Faze — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:52:01 -0800

And another thing, if Owen Smith had actually been painting in the 1930s, 40s or 50s, he would have starved to death, because every friggin' illustrator alive then could draw like an old master, and the skill level for painting was so high, that the comparatively heavy-handed Smith would have come off as crude, crude, crude. I mean, if you can ever pick up an original piece of artwork from the golden age of American illustration, hang on to it. Someday, people are going to figure out that the 30s-50s was a great period of American art -- perhaps the greatest -- and no thanks to Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

By: John of Michigan

John of Michigan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:44:46 -0800

Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute. Paul Cadmus was gay? No, he wasn't. I met him in NYC way back in the day, and we were making out, and I tried to put my tongue in his mouth, but he wouldn't let me. No, he was straight, man.