THIS POST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER O ....James Aponovich A Year In Painting

JAMES APONOVICH
A YEAR IN PAINTING

VITEA E BREVIS
ARS E LONGUS

As our planet makes its journey around a star we call the Sun, I make my own journey in painting. Each week I present some aspect of our shared life experiences through the medium of paint on canvas.

" Old men ought to be explorers."
-T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets
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THIS POST IS BROUGHT TO YOU

BY THE LETTER

O

James Aponovich

Study: 'O'

Pencil on paper

His name is Robert Oksner and he is my friend, or to be exact, my buddy. More than a few years separate us but he and I would enjoy a good laugh  and in particular a good meal. We did not dine, we ate. Robert was not afraid of food.

In the early days he was an Ad Man on Madison Avenue, as he would say a "Jingle Guy". He was one of the original Mad-Men even though he never drank or smoked. After that he worked with Jim Henson and Frank Oz as a writer for Sesame Street. He looks like a muppet!

One day when we were visiting Robert and Judith in New York, I found  some of his old scripts. One was called,"Why Oscar The Grouch Hates the Letter H".

"Holy smoke," I thought, I remember watching that very show with our daughter Ana when she was a little girl! And I hated it! No matter, I had to paint him.

James Aponovich

Portrait of O  (detail)

Oil on canvas

Robert loved coming to the studio for sittings. In fact, he loved going just about 
 anywhere ( as long as lunch was on the agenda). He was 89 years old, or so, when I began this portrait. I wanted him talking to us, gesturing, holding his crimson 'talking stick'. Above him swirl all his life dreams disguised as orchids. In back of him is blood red, the first color.

Usually, I don't let people see their portraits until everything is complete. But after I finished his face I let him see it. He looked and yelled:
"Holy ship!  That's me! That's me there! 
That's more me than me!,
It's freaking me out!"

James Aponovich 
Portrait of O
Oil on canvas, 34" x 24"


Maybe I 'captured' him. I hope so because Robert Oksner died earlier this month, four days short of his 91st Birthday.

Farewell friend
I will miss you.









Copyright 2017
James Aponovich
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