Joe ~ May 6

 

Dog and Pony

 

For all of you sports fans out there, I’m still painting. I got a reprieve and have another week to finish this epic amalgam of acrylic hues and tints that will coagulate together and form a series of images that are meant to delight the human eye.  Not only that….I like to tell a bit of a story when I get inspired by a scene or a collage of elements that make a statement of some kind. There always have been debates about the attributes of paintings versus illustrations. My thoughts are: Norman Rockwell couldn’t have been a very successful illustrator if he wasn’t a master craftsman with a brush and paint. If I would look at a one of Rockwell’s brilliant works and didn’t know that he was hired by The Saturday Evening Post to illustrate a patriotic theme, I would say it was a work of the finest art. I guess it’s a moot point….whatever floats your boat kind of thing. Anyway I paint with a message in mind if not overtly apparent. The story is the important aspect of any communication put forth. I find that if I can’t explain what I’m reach to achieve and grab those eyes and ears and have their undivided attention on some level, something is missing in the translation. I have spent most of my TV career illustrating artwork to enhance the news story or jokes being presented, In a very tight deadline to boot. Always trying to sell the idea to compliment the bigger picture. 

Once, years ago, while working at NBC News, the owner of the company, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), pioneers in the development of radio and television decided to sell the whole kit and caboodle to General Electric, the pioneer of making billions of dollars. It was a seemingly a smooth transition. New executives at the top preaching to the crowd ,the GE mantra on managing and constantly upping the profit margin. I was asked by my department management to put together a dog and pony show demonstration on how I created graphics that would air over the right side of Tom Brokaw’s shoulder during the Nightly News broadcast. At the time there was a hot story breaking in Alaska. A couple of whales were stranded under the ice shelf and the passageway to the sea was totally blocked. I was told that the new executives and the GE board of directors would tour through the work areas and I would then explain my process. Easy enough, I thought. A map of Alaska, a locator showing the eskimo village, a cut out image of a breaching whale, put together with a slug or title “TRAPPED WHALES”. I must say at this time that a full length feature movie was made of this story as it garnered interest from all four corners of the globe. The clip of Tom Brokaw which included my graphic was prominently displayed on the big screen. My first foray and only credit to my movie career. So the tours started to come through at regular intervals. There were former Supreme Court Judges and business magnates standing behind me as I did my graphic dance. They were lovely for the most part throwing some softball questions at me and then moving on to the next attraction on the tour. When the last group showed up one man stayed while the others moved on. He asked, “Tell me something, I see you and I see a computer, why do I need you and why do I need that machine?” Wow!!! Did you ever get the feeling that the fate of the whole world was at stake with what you were about to respond? Especially when your about to respond to Jack Welch, “Neutron Jack”, the president and 5000 pound gorilla of GE and the most feared and revered businessman in the world. Well, with all sphincters tightened I went into my verbal final statement with Jack presiding over my future and the future of many at this newly acquired network. 

“Well, Sir, the graphic is meant to be like a book cover to give supportive information to the viewer as to where in general and in specific area that this story is happening, so when Tom B. Throws to the reporter in the field in Alaska the viewer is already captured by the visual info as Tom B. Is speaking it. This computer is called a Paintbox and is the top of the line tool for presenting graphics in a fast and efficient manner. I can do 60 graphics in the time it would take to do one traditional art card. Television will be continually relying on designers like myself who are trained and proficient in absorbing the info that they are given and to design and executer a piece of art that communicates immediately the info to make the television screen bigger than the sum of it’s parts.” 

Well, did I knock that out of the park or what? Mr. Welch looked at me with what seemed like a half scowl and said, “Hm. OK”, and walked away into that corporate sunset that only he can navigate. What did I make of that? Well, first, I went to the bathroom, iust n the knick of time, I might add. There was no feedback. I didn’t lose my job and the the graphics department still continues to service the needs of a television network owned by the many stockholders who make jet engines, medical machines, locomotives and probably stuff that nobody will ever know about. Phew!!