James Robert Foose

James Foose was my Painting teacher at UK. We disagreed on a lot, but I did think he was a great Painter. As a person, as a friend, we got along great, but in terms of art is where we would disagree. To put it this way, I believe you should really enjoy painting what ever you want, regardless if someone thinks it's Art or not. Nobody can take away you pencils and brushes. Some people have spent so much time thinking about what Art is, they have created all these rules on who can paint this, or can't paint that, or how they should do it. And are they doing it for the right reasons. I would borrow a phrase from Jeff Garlin and say "that's a big bowl of Bull sh&#@T"! When I first stared drawing as a 4 year old, I did it to see images I'd like to see. IN art school I was hammed from every direction that Art must say something meaningful, must say something about the Social-Political environment. Blah, blah, blah. That's why if I'm thinking, I always refer to myself as a Painter, not an Artist. Artist slips out because I'm so used to hearing that word when talking about Painting. What Politcal meaning did Jackson Pollack express when leaving cigarette butts on his Paintings? Anyway, Foose was a guy I really liked talking to, and actually did teach me a few things while I knew him. He passed away this year, and while I have mentioned Ross Zirkle a few times in these posts. I've never talked about Foose until the last post, so I thought I'd talk about him a little here. He was a well respected Painter around the country, and a REALLY good Book maker.  Here is a statement from UK about him here...http://artmuseumatuk.blogspot.com/2013/10/passing-of-great-friend.html