The Best damned painter in America

     Best Damned Painter in America

 South Gate was not exactly a place of chatauquas and art galleries so our chances to see original works were slim. Even the Gate Art Gallery (former Public Library over on California street) was comprised of still lives of fruit bowls and landscapes not painted by Turner or Seurat. Wall cover in the McNerney home was pastel shaded family photos that Greg hated. However, despite the current disregard for a liberal education we learned enough about fine art to at least appreciate the genius of the masters. Strangely enough for a guy like Greg who wasn't big on irony or cutting edge expressions he truly loved modern art. He would dig a Jackson Pollock canvas and saw way more in Marcel Duchamp's  famed "Nude Ascending a Staircase" than I did. His taste in art was eclectic and he never put on airs so I am just going to mention a few artists who caught his fancy.

Emily Carr- I only single this unusual painter out because her abstract painting "Big Raven" circulated through Sheehy homes and somehow found it's way to Greg's wall after it had been called "Giant Duck" for many years. I would assume it was acquired by Berniece since the painter was a Canadian artist and writer from Victoria B.C. She chose first nations themes and is highly regarded up north to this day. 

Thomas Hart Benton- A proponent of the Regionalism school of Art he was actually revolting againt the modernists and painted in a style called naturalism. Benton happens to be one of the earliest artists I ever became interested in as a child since his painting of a naked woman "Persephone" was reprinted in a book I found on our bookshelf on Annetta ave. The vibrant colors and dramatic themes appealed to young fellas like us. Greg loved to repeat what Harry Truman said about Benton that he was the "best god damned painter in America."  Benton also was an excellent muralist which was an art form admired by both of us.

Jackson Pollock- beside the fact that the guy was a complete prick and drunken abuser of women his work just sang to Greg in great splatters of talent. The paintings from the "Drip Period" were his favorites and they were all done in the years between my birth and Greg's nativity. Oddly enough Pollock paid homage to Thomas Hart Benton as an inspiration. He also was a lifelong alcoholic who ended up losing his own life by day-gin-drinking and crashing the same model Oldsmobile convertible my Mom drove proudly around South Gate into a tree in East Hampton, New York.

Reginald Marsh- Mostly admired by Greg for his superb illustrations used in the John Dos Paso's USA Trilogy. He was a successful painter who was also influenced by Thomas Hart Benton and is considered a painter in the naturalist style. After "A Fan's Notes" the trilogy was a book adored by Greg and the marvelous drawings by Marsh were a great part of the appeal. I found a record of Rip Torn reading scenes from the book and Greg, of course, memorized much of the dialogue and would recite it much to our delight.

Justin Greene- has alreay been discussed but our hero insisted he was much more than a dirty-minded kid with drawing skills. He argued that Greene was a true artist who saw what most men could not imagine. We saw an awful lot of our lives in Green's drawings. I gave him a hard bound reprint of "Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary" which he actually looked at with admiration.

Lastly Arnold Friberg who was a prolofic and popular  capitalist/illustrator  in North America who painted schmaltzy scenes from popular history. Greg loved to point out the obvious man-love in his series of football themed paintings created for General Motors in 1970. My Dad bought the set and hung them on the wall at home in all their garish homoeroticism. Not only did Friberg make some bucks with the sports themed prints but he also produced a lot of Canadian mounties, Old West tableaus, Mormon Jesus stuff and American jingoistic scenes that sold like hotcakes.