Today we’d like to introduce you to Bart Forbes.
Bart, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have been a freelance artist for over 45 years, first as an illustrator and now as a landscape painter. I graduated from the University of North Carolina with a BA in art. After military service, I did graduate study at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles where my major was illustration/painting.
I began my professional career in Dallas working for a small design studio for about 2 years before deciding to begin freelancing. In time, I was able to find an artists representative in New York and began to work for clients in national advertising agencies as well as magazine and book publishers. Beginning in the late 1970’s and working primarily in watercolor, I created illustrations for magazines such as Time, Sports Illustrated, McCalls and Boy’s Life to name a few.
Corporate clients have included NBC, Exxon, Pepsi-Cola, General Electric, The Smithsonian, ESPN, the National Football League, ABC-TV and many others. I have also designed 19 postage stamps for the US Postal Service, including stamps honoring President Ronald Reagan, Abigail Adams and Lou Gehrig. In 1988 I was selected to be the Official Artist for the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
Over the years many assignments began to focus on sports allowing me to create paintings for the Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500, the ’92 and ’96 Olympic Games, The America’s Cup and the Boston Marathon as well as many PGA golf tournaments such as Pebble Beach, The Players Championship and the Ryder Cup. I had the pleasure of creating seven murals for the PGA TPC Clubhouse at Sawgrass, and I have done mural-sized paintings for both the San Francisco 49ers and the Green BayPackers. Lombardi Field in Green Bay houses four murals of each of their Super Bowl wins as well as 30 other drawings and paintings. In addition, I have created eight paintings that are installed in the private jet of Dallas Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones.
In recent years I have begun painting for myself and selling my work in fine art galleries. I am represented in Dallas at the Valley House Gallery where I exhibit my landscape paintings, which a far different from my previous way of working. These oils give me an opportunity to experiment with form, texture and light in a more abstract way than anything I have done before. These can be seen on my website www.bartforbesgallery.com.
Has it been a smooth road?
Making a living as an artist is never very smooth. There are deadlines that can sometimes be very stressful. There are also times when the work is not there and the bills still have to be paid. And, as a gallery artist, it can be a struggle to gain the kind of exposure required to sell the work that you produce.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Bart Forbes story. Tell us more about the business.
I have already touched on most of this. Probably the thing I am most proud of is being able to sustain a career in art over such a long period of time with the fluctuations and changes that have taken place in the art market.
I work hard – but I feel the Lord has blessed me with the skills I need and countless opportunities to use those skills with projects that I would never have believed possible.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Fine Art, as an industry, is always undergoing change. Right now, most galleries are focused on large abstract paintings that can be sold on many levels – residential, corporate, hospitality etc. – more as a decorative item that coordinates with interior colors, rather than more traditional figurative painting that has a definite subject.
Abstract art is a much easier sell for the designer or gallery. But that could all change over time as art trends change. Interestingly enough, the most lucrative sales today at the large auction houses (Sotheby’s, Christy’s, etc.) have been the paintings of Norman Rockwell which have shot into the millions. There is no more figurative painter than Rockwell.
Contact Info:
- Website: bartforbesgallery.com valleyhouse.com bartforbes.com
- Phone: 214 549-5162
- Email: bartforbesmail@gmail.com
- Instagram: bart.forbes
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