Hey guys,
So, the time has come. I've wanted to show this for some time now, and really only decided to do so now because it's officially done. I haven't had it professionally photographed yet, but will do so next week. But for whatever reason, I just felt like I had to share the finished image with you guys first.
It was commissioned by a fellow Net54er and I must say, it was perhaps the most challenging image I've ever had to deal with. That notion didn't necessarily have much to do with the technical aspects of doing the actual painting, but mainly because it's just a friggin' RAW image.
So, I give you an iPhone shot of Kankol:
My client is a big fan of Negro League baseball, and always had a fascination with the Zulu Cannibals - this image in particular. I really was (and still am a little) hesitant to post the image to the Internet and onto my social media pages, as I know it's not necessarily something easy to digest. I would imagine that on a place like Facebook, I'll probably even get accused of being a racist and perhaps lose some fans. But in the end, I feel like it's something that needs to be out there. When I took the commission on, I knew that it was gonna be something special. Whether it was being special in a good or bad way, I didn't know, but I had to paint it.
Thankfully, he seems to really like it, and pretty much summed up his reasoning for choosing the image in a previous email. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing some of his words:
"That look in his eyes sums up so much of what the reality was in the pre-integration era. It wasn't all Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and shadowball and clowning. There was also this.
You are helping to bring that reality into focus. It's ugly and shameful and largely unknown, even to baseball historians, in it's raw and true starkness. But it happened. And it's part of baseball history."
I hope he's right. Tough subject matter or not, my goal was to make it as beautiful of a painting as possible. And in the end, I have to remember that I've always wanted to be the type of 'visual historian' who just reports the news, rather than comments on it. My client's definitely right, it happened, and it is part of baseball history.
Anywho, I would really love any of your comments on this, be it good or bad. Maybe I just need a pep talk to convince me that I really have to post it on Facebook and the like. So in that regard, advice is also most welcome.
Either way, as per usual, thanks for looking and listening.
Graig