The Art CoacH

Artist Statement

This work began with an idea as do most works of art. I began to ponder the question and asked myself and to other people of choice: Who would you include in your personal version of The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover art, replacing the original crowd with people who have had an influence in your life? The more I thought about it, the more I took it as a challenge, and I started making a list. I quickly realized that the project could become something much larger and much more complicated than I had intended.

Concerning who I would include in my list and on my cover, I needed parameters. My family alone would have made choosing people nearly impossible. I am one of more than forty grandchildren altogether. In addition to that, I have been surrounded by generations of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws, children, and others. To include some and not others would inevitably suggest a hierarchy of importance that I would never intend. So, with one very meaningful exception, I chose not to include family members. 

That exception is my great-uncle who was shot down over Linz, Austria during World War II before my mother was even born. Although I never knew him, photographs and stories about him were part of my childhood for as far back as I can remember. His presence in this crowd is therefore less about personal acquaintance and more about the lasting presence someone can have in a family even when they are gone before the next generation begins.

The main thrust of the idea was to choose figures that had some influence on my art. It expanded in those that influenced my sense of humor, my mannerisms, my fashion sense, my way of looking at the world, or simply my understanding of what it means to be an individual.  

Many of the people pictured are people I’ve never met or that even lived within the same time period as myself or each other. Old and new Masters of Art, celebrities, cultural icons, etc. All who have had some impact on me at various points in my life. Some of the connections may be apparent in my art, work, or life. Other performers, personalities, and cultural figures influence may be less obvious, but is nevertheless deeply woven into who I am today.

There are people in the crowd whom I have known personally to various degrees; creative friends, fellow educators, mentors, and others who became important in my journey for various reasons. Their influences are especially connected to the person I became as an artist, teacher, thinker, and individual. I regret that several of these people left this world without me telling them about their importance in my art, life, and career. Thankfully, I was able to share that sentiment with some of them in their final years. The people we encounter early in our life and careers can help shape the artist, the teacher, and/or the professional we eventually become. I understand more now that it is important to properly appreciate those that contribute to our lives.

Naturally, there are many people not included as I limited myself to approximately the same number of characters as the original Beatles cover art. Therefore, the people represented here are not intended to be a complete list. There are so many who have influenced me, taught me, made me laugh, challenged me, believed in me, or changed the way I see things that the list could go on and on. I have thought of several as the process has come to an end. This is simply where I landed when I asked myself the very difficult question: Who helped make me the artist, teacher, and person I am today?

The four versions of myself at the center complete the idea. Not in chronological order, I have presented myself in four stages of my artistic journey. Something was revealed to me during the process of painting them. I started to notice that each of those versions of me connects to the corresponding personality traits (real or maybe public stereotype) of that Beatle. From left; my early teaching career with the brashness, ambition, cutting tongue of John Lennon, myself right out of high school considering art as a path with the optimism and naivety of Ringo Starr, now at 32 years of teaching I still want it to be the best it can be (I have some of the perfectionism of Paul McCartney), and finally those middle years of holding the course, solid, and dependable much like George Harrison. I don’t know, maybe that is a bit of a stretch. 

Once I compiled my list, my task was then to try matching the visual beat and rhythm of the Beatle’s original cover shot. That is to say: work my list of persons into the picture plane focusing on the elements of shape, color, scale, etc. This was to create that same overall survey that makes the original so appealing and iconic to view. My only focus while planning the positioning of the crowd was just that. Now that it is together and composed, I see connections between some of characters that was never planned. Some of the people who now stand side by side and never met each other share commonalities with one another. There could be a red string web placed on top of this work that would look like a detective’s bulletin board. 

Somewhat like the original Sgt. Peppers cover, this crowd is ultimately a portrait of its creator. The figures surrounding me are not there because I consider them all equally important, or because they represent a single-minded theme. They are there because, in one way or another, something of them became part of me and only in the rearview mirror am I able to see it. Ask me again in a year to make the list and I am positive it will be different. Some of the characters will always be a constant while others will ebb in an out of my life.

Most importantly, I learned a great deal about myself while creating this work. I always knew I had an affinity of Spanish artists and culture, but prevalence of capes, canes, and theatrics spans across many of the people on display. I see more than ever how “heroes and good guys” have balanced my admiration of the “bad boys.” That a well veiled and comical stab at something in a painting is just as effective as a well-timed and crafted joke. That we as people are ever evolving growing in taste, style, etc.

I have found in the end, that this is not simply a recreation or copy of an iconic album cover. It is a self-portrait assembled from the people, ideas, influences, memories, humor, and experiences that have accumulated over my lifetime. 

It is, in that sense, my Col. Bennetts Lonely Hearts & Arts Club Band.

Who's Who Guide to the Artwork