One from the "Mentors Series." Days
ago Gary Dobry finished this portrait of Brenda Venus, Henry Miller's muse.
Paintings by a Crystal Lake boxing
coach will be on display later this month at the Henry Miller Library in Big
Sur, Calif.
Gary Dobry - owner of
The School of Hard Knocks Boxing Academy in Crystal Lake - works as a painter,
tattoo artist and novelist in his spare time.
In September, Dobry
embarked on a series of acrylic-on-canvas paintings focusing on movie actress
Brenda Venus, who was a love interest of writer Henry Miller when Venus was in
her 20s and Miller was in his 80s. Miller's 4,000 love letters to Venus
between 1976 and 1980 was turned into the book "Dear, Dear Brenda."
Miller, who died in
1980 at the age of 88, was an exotic intellectual who wrote the novel "Tropic
of Cancer," published in Paris in 1934. The novel is known for its graphic
descriptions of sex, but it was also considered a literary masterpiece.
Miller, advocate of a free-love society, was a point man for the sexual
revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. He faced obscenity charges when the book
was released in the U.S in 1961.
Dobry said Miller has
had a profound impact on his life as an artist. Dobry went to college in Paris
in the early 1990s and made money the same way Ernest Hemingway did 70 years
before, by giving boxing lessons. And, like Hemingway, Dobry weaves boxing
into his artwork and he writes about it.
But his true hero is
Miller.
"I
moved to Paris because I wanted to walk the same streets Miller walked
and breathe the same air Miller breathed," Dobry said. "Life is like a
crooked path through the forest. One just follows where it leads."
Dobry's exhibition to
be shown in Big Sur is titled: "Life After Henry Miller & Ed Pashcke," also
known as the "Mentors Series."
Dobry's personal
mentor was Ed Paschke, a renowned Chicago painter who died in 2004. To this
day, Paschke influences Dobry's work. Dobry uses stark colors and strong
images the same way Paschke did. Dobry said he was Paschke's apprentice and
lifelong friend. And it was a reference letter from Paschke that helped get
Dobry accepted to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Dobry's last show was in January at
the Galerie L'Art de Rien, Paris, France.
His art has been on exhibition with
Paschke's, Andy Warhol's and Leon Golub's.
His three novels "Kingdom Come," "En
La Lona" and "In Good Faith" will also become part of the Henry Miller
Library.
Venus just finished up her work on
"Love and Sex in L.A.," a film that she wrote, produced and directed.
Dobry's artistic statement:
An artist takes in everything, an overload on the senses, and out of
that abundance of information must find his own unique voice. Brenda and
myself were under the influence of two strong voices, Henry Miller and Ed
Paschke. Somehow we were able to liberate ourselves from our mentors and find
our own voices. In this body of work we join those voices together to sing
praise to Miller and Paschke.
READ ARTICLE -
click here
'Nos Voix' (Life After Henry Miller & Ed Paschke),
Mentors Series, 34" X 50", acrylic on canvas, 1/2010, Gary Dobry
December, 2009
Exhibition of some new work, VOODOO BOXING DOLLS
@
Galerie l'art de rien
48 rue d'Orsel
75018 Paris, France
December 8, 2009 through January 12, 2010
NEW
PAINTINGS * SOLO EXHIBITION
JANUARY
9th - FEBRUARY 12th - eklektikos - Washington DC
Opening Reception: Friday, January
10th, from 6:00 to 9:00PM
Dobry's Second time being featured on PBS's ArtBeat
Chicago, 10/25 & 10/27
Flat Iron
Arts Building , Chicago , November 18th thru November 30th
Selected works from the Permeating
the Cyber Membrane series, dedicated to Mike Quinn & the New Haven
Police Department, in memory of Suzanne Jovin. Selected works on exhibit at the ATC
Gallery , Flat Iron Arts Building , Chicago , November
18th thru November 30th.
'Live From Chicago' , November 18th through November 30th. Opening Reception: Friday, November
22, 2002, 5 - 8PM at the ATC Gallery ( Flat Iron Arts Building
), Chicago.
Group Showing w/ Gary Dobry (4 paintings from the 'Permeating' series)
May 10-May 24, 2002
- The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Art - 'Contemporary Art from Chicago' , A collection of diverse art
that opens in Chicago and travels to Vilnius, Lithuania via Kiev, Ukraine, Prague and the
Czech Republic. This collection, including Dobry's "Heaven Above", will
become the core collection of the new Kraziai
Museum of Contemporary Art, in Lithuania.
May 25-August 25th, 2002 - The
Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Art - 'Contemporary Art
of Chicago' , a multi-media exhibition of the most respected artists living and
working in Chicago.
January 12 thru February 7, 2002: Artists Respond to 911 , JettSett
Gallery , Chicago
January 12th, 2002
, Opening Reception and panel discussion.
9/11 Show Promo
September
13 thru October 2001 - eklektikos
Gallery, Washington D.C.
Go Figure Promo
November 2
- December 3, 2001 - Judy
A Saslow Gallery, Chicago
Gary Dobry | Eileen Doman | John Fuller
Musclemen paintings by Fuller blend with the explosive and powerful works of
artist/boxer Dobry. A former beautician and telephone operator, Doman transforms
photographs of family members, people she sees on the streets and pop culture
icons into realistic, often melancholy portraits. She has been featured in The
New Yorker magazine and "Eye to Eye" with Connie Chung, and will have a piece in
an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition.
Show Dates: November 17 - December 28, 2000
Opening: Friday, November 17th from 5 - 8 p.m.
November 16, 2001 ,
Book Signing Party for Release of 'In Good Faith' -
Judy Saslow Gallery , Chicago
Marilyn Monroe Anniversary Exhibition,
Franklin Roosevelt Hotel, LA, California, 1992
Dedication from Susan Strasberg
"For Every Joe There's a Frank", 1992, Acrylic on Canvas
"My props to Ruperto Chavez, but he did not break my nose in this fight. That
honor went to heavyweight Andy Whitley, in the gym, two weeks before the fight. I
fought anyway, seeing it was going to be my last Gloves, and the fight was
stopped on bleeding when Chavez slipped an uppercut in when we were up against the ropes.
I was offered a chance to avenge the loss at that year's Maywood Park Night of
Champions, but Ruperto made it all the way to the semi-finals of that year's National
Golden Gloves tourney and I wound up fighting Golden Glove champion Russ Felger
instead. Good thing too, the nose never did heal all the way. I'll say this though, the
baddest mo-fo in the mix was Andy Whitley. He took my nose right off my face!"
Gary Dobry
Battle of the Childhood Stars * Bonaduce v.
Osmond
Dobry training Bonaduce
.
by Gary Dobry
by Bob Novak
