October
Larry Kassell

Artist’s Statement
I feel the only reason to re-do something is to make it better. So to paint a pastiche of The Mona Lisa would not only be a waste of time and paint, but an insult to the Master Leonardo.

But to make it different might be worth a try. I call it value added, a term I borrowed from my graphic designer days.

What if? What if I combined The Mona Lisa with Monet’s White Water Lilies and it became Monet Lisa? What if eccentric Vincent Van Gogh transmogrified into Vinny Van Goth? What if Jackson Pollock thought straight for one painting? And Angelica Kauffmann used felt-tipped markers? What if Paul Revere contemplated the bust of Abraham Lincoln rather than a teapot? The possibilities are endless.

Artobiography:
I was born several years ago in Detroit, Michigan to humble parents. My father was a printer and my mother a homemaker who could do wonderful things with cabbage.

I had no intention of following in my father’s footsteps, so I decided at an early age to get involved in painting, graphic design and photography — pushing the limits of printers.

After graduating from North Salem High School, Salem, Oregon, with two years of art and oil painting behind me, I enlisted in the United States Air Force, where they thought I’d make a great missile guidance systems technician. In my limited free time I’d prop a canvas against any vertical surface and paint portraits. After several months of electronics training, the Air Force re-thought its position, and I was made an Illustrator for the remainder of my commitment, which concluded in South Korea. At the Base Exchange at Osan, Korea, cameras were inexpensive and I had access to a darkroom, so I hung up my paintbrushes for a time and pursued my new found interest in photography. I admired the crisp landscape work of Ansel Adams, struck up a mail correspondence with him, and in 1966 purchased one of his noted photos — Aspens, New Mexico.

After four years of service, I worked for the State of Oregon Education Division as a Graphic Artist, the (Salem) Statesman-Journal newspaper advertising department as an ad designer, the Silverton Appeal-Tribune newspaper as Advertising Manager, State of Oregon Employment, again as a Graphic Designer, and SEE Graphics in Salem before launching my own design, commercial photography, publication design, and humorous illustration studio in 1976.

We pretty much have to do-it-all to stay in business in a town the size of Silverton. April 2011 marked my 35th year as Kassell Concepts. I photograph, write, then design brochures and booklets. In December 2007 I bought some canvases, an easel, a few brushes and a selection of oil and launched my third or fourth career. Now with our six kids out of the nest, and with my wife Julia’s blessing, I paint, paint, paint — producing about one oil painting per week.

I enjoy humorous illustration (cartooning), because humor often drives home a point.  Then, I also enjoy painting in the “traditional” manner.  So I’ve combined the two into Humor-Us art that will give viewers a chuckle, yet the subject is recognizable.

I love visual arts ... and books still printed on paper. That’s why Inacchronisms – my inaccurate anachronisms – took book form. You’ll want to share a copy with yourself, then several to share with others!

Larry Kassell
Kassell Concepts

Psalm Visual Arts Gallery Archive (2012-2013 school year):