Rx: Kitsch with Bob Byerley
Googling for “Medical Paintings” the other day turned up these kitschy wonders painted by artist Bob Byerley.
Aside from a colossal sentimentality that makes Norman Rockwell look like George Grosz, Byerley’s undeniable technical skills have helped make his paintings a hot Red State commodity. Taking a cue, no doubt, from fellow conservative artist/entrepreneur Thomas Kinkade self-styled “Painter of Light,” Byerley bills himself as ”The Painter of Our American Childhood,” stressing his heartland cred by pointing to a childhood spent in Kansas City, the propagandistic extremes of this opium dream of an Americana childhood can probably be explained by the fact that the artist only began painting toward the end of the 1960s.
Still, there’s something to love in his depiction of those low-budget homemade medical props these kids have so ambitiously thrown together. Can’t help but remind us of an Art of Bleeding show.
Or with a little help from psychedelics maybe this painting, Alice in Nukeland by Alejandro Dini. (thanks LaughingSquid.)
That really isn’t kitsch. He knows what he’s doing. Doctors have an art scam that only doctors know about. Artwork to hang on the walls of waiting rooms is 100% tax deductible. At the end of three years, they can take everything down and buy all new paintings to hang. The art is depreciated by then, so they can sell it at an inflated price to another doctor who does the same thing. They pocket the money. Scam.
There should be more medical art for that very reason!!