James Bama

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Art By

James Bama

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James Bama was born in 1926 and grew up in the Northeast. He followed his early interest in art through New York’s specialized High School of Music and Art and the Art Students League. As a professional, Bama has earned a reputation for several facets of his talent. He freelanced briefly before spending fifteen years at the respected Charles E. Cooper Studios—at the time, the country’s top firm of illustrators—and more freelancing followed. Bama’s activities during this period were highlighted by artwork for the New York Giants football team, the Baseball and Football Halls of Fame, the U.S. Air Force and The Saturday Evening Post. Fans of pop culture may know him best as the artist who portrayed Doc Savage on sixty-two memorable book covers. Then Bama decided it was finally time to do what he most wanted to do. He moved west to Wyoming, where an artist “can trace the beginnings of Western history; see the oldest weapons, saddles and guns and be close to Indian culture.” He sold his first Western fine art painting soon after the move. The distinctive work of James Bama combines tradition with modern realities. In his much-acclaimed studies, Bama shows the contemporary West preserving its traditional culture. His portraits of inhabitants of the plains and mountains capture the true character of the West. Today the paintings of James Bama are part of many prestigious collections. Bama has been represented in major exhibitions throughout the West and has been presented in one-man shows in New York City. Bantam Books published The Western Art of James Bama in 1975 and The Art of James Bama in 1993. Jim was inducted into the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame June 28, 2000. Through his portraits of real people of the new West re-creating their history and heritage, Bama pays homage to the Old West and is renowned in yet another realm of the art world.

Ken Auster prints, Oil Painter

Ken Auster

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Ken Auster

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Ken grew up with his feet deeply planted in the surfing culture where he first learned to express his art talent. Caught up in the ground swell of the 1960s surfing culture, Ken not only plunged into the sport of surfing but into the art and graphics of surfing as well. While working his way towards a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree from Long Beach State University, He built one of the world’s most prominent silkscreen and T- shirt companies. He created now-legendary surfing art that adorned surfers from Hawaii to the shores of Peru. His surfing images became the “fine art” of this beach culture, and today, represent the classic surf art of the past century.

At the heart of Ken’s work was always the awareness of the fine line between man-made and nature. In the mid-1990s, Ken moved to a more serious art level – involving him with the immediacy of oil paints as opposed to the process- burdened medium of printmaking. Throwing himself into the splendor of “plein air” (on location) painting, Ken discovered the richness and broad colors of the city life he long avoided. As he will tell you, he rejoiced in this newfound ability to paint anything and everything. Of course, never far away, was the beach, his first love.

The transition from surf art to serious impressionism was natural for Ken – his passion and obsession to reach a new understanding between himself and the oil painting medium took on a new intensity of discovery. “I simply want to achieve the ultimate communication on the canvas – to say more with less,” Ken says. As one famous critic described – “each painting captures a moment in time charged with a hint of narrative drama. And each is rendered with such vibrant immediacy that a single glance excites other senses as well.”

Ken’s passion for painting is shared with hundreds of students who each year travel from around the world to attend his workshops in Laguna Beach, Carmel and art schools throughout the country. With his wife, they have a thriving art world centered at their studio and gallery in picturesque Laguna Canyon. In a relatively short time since this transition to “plein air” painting, Ken Auster has moved to the forefront of American contemporary impressionists. He consistently walks away with gold medals and first place awards at juried exhibits. His work is collected by museums, patrons and shown in some of the most respected galleries nationwide.

Renowned for his classic surf art, Ken Auster now sees and paints a bold, dynamically changing world, whether it is London, Venice (Italy), San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, or Baja, Mexico. He shares with us the uncomplicated but moving stories on canvas – simply and effectively, documenting the ordinary in an unordinary manner. And what about his surfing? Well, if the surf is flat, you’ll find Ken in his studio. But when the surf is “up”, you’ll find Ken, most likely, filling his other passion.