Ron (PoH) Throop

Ho boy! Yesterday I went to an estate sale a few doors away and found two David Campbell prints, one numbered 48/49, August 1964, “Toledo”. The other “Loch Ness”, dated December, 1964. Professor Campbell worked alongside Roy Lichtenstein in the art department at the State Teacher’s College at Oswego. I will auction “Toledo” at the Lichtenstein show. All cash to go to a scholarship into the art department! The last image is of a painting I did last month showing Campbell exhibiting one of his paintings in 1958. Thank you happenstance for the lucky find! #painting #art #artgallery #cnyarts #roylichtenstein #lichtenstein #popart #sunyoswego #oswego #lichtensteinfoundation #joyofmansdesiring #arthistory #artnet #artnews https://www.instagram.com/p/ByfQZs4A3Sd/?igshid=17kvnjmwyo4jt

This 1959 photograph shows temporary buildings at the State Teacher’s College at Oswego that were built right after World War II, first for housing to accommodate the influx of returning G.I.’s, and then as classrooms when enrollment went back to normal. Roy Lichtenstein shared one with Industrial Design professor Vernon Tryon. I met the latter last Tuesday at a local restaurant and he told me a story about the time an animal died under their classrooms and it smelled real bad. The students used to ask, “What is that stink, Professor Tryon?” I broke in Vernon’s reminiscing to quip, “Probably Roy’s ambition”. #painting #art #popart #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #stuckism #joyofmansdesiring #oswego #sunyoswego #cnyarts https://www.instagram.com/p/ByOebG0AYOX/?igshid=1cjh3shhb97jx

“Cosmic Pineapple Coolatta Large, 120g of sugar” 2019. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50” The American Heart Association limits sugar intake for children between 12 - 24 grams per day. The Psychos at Dunkin’ Donuts think that at 120 grams of sucrose, this cosmic happy drink to outer space will take thoughts away from the methodic and very lazy filicide that is happening across the United States. I hate Dunkin’ Donuts, but only because its crazies have opened the gate on psychopath to parents who once cared if their children got premature diabetes. Duncan Devilnuts and his/her apologists are yucky bad. #painting #art #contemporaryart #dunkindonuts #dunkindonuts🍩 #corporatism #stuckism #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #artnet #artnews #artgallery #gallery #arthistory #artmuseum #sugar #diabetes https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx7lYbigCpq/?igshid=rm04uhxkxw0z

“If It Were Not For Dr. Aulus Saunders, Roy Lichtenstein Would Have Died Unknown and Unrich” 2019. Acrylic on paper, 19 x 23” Dr. Aulus Saunders was hired by Ralph Swetman to help turn The Oswego Normal School into a State Teacher’s College. He retired in 1970, and was instrumental in hiring many inspired art faculty over the years. In 1957 he picked Roy out of hundreds of applications for the job as assistant professor of art. The department at that time was stocked with several practiced artists, all serious about their craft, and some even dedicated to teaching. Not Roy. He was ambitious in ways disconnected from pedagogy. I guess Roy would have stagnated in Cleveland and carried on with barbeque and agonizing repetition if the good doctor hadn’t “plucked” him out of suburbia. Here Aulus paints in East Park in Oswego the first year he arrived. He was a great inspiration to men and women seeking self-improvement through art and teaching. He must have wanted to punch his new hire in the eye when Roy handed in his resignation. #painting #art #contemporaryart #joyofmansdesiring #cnyarts #oswego #sunyoswego #artnet #artnes #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #aulussaunders #tylerartgallery #stuckism #popart #artgallery #artmuseum https://www.instagram.com/p/BxnOA8NFyCD/?igshid=1r9w1ulw24l6i

“In 1957, Joe Shoenfelt, Jewelry Professor at Oswego State Teacher’s College, Went on Sabbatical to San Miguel de Allende To Expand His Horizons. He Did” 2019. Acrylic on paper, 17 x 22” From a letter sent to students: October 30, 1957 “Tomorrow is the Day of the Dead and the streets are filled with candy skulls-little candies, big candies, candies of all shapes and colors, candy animals, skeletons, dolls, and baskets. They are the most lovely candies I have seen. But they all taste like plain sugar. We went to one cemetery this afternoon and preparations were already being made for the celebration. A cemetery here is a very grim place. The people do not buy the lots: they just rent them, so that when the rent is not paid, the bodies are dug up. As we walked around we saw lots of skulls and human bones. Some of the skulls still have hair on them. The Indians will have picnics at the graves of the recently deceased on Saturday, and that seems to be the reason for all the elaborate candy for which San Miguel is famous.” #painting #arthistory #art #jewelrymaking #jewelryart #joesephshoenfelt #sunyoswego #oswego #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #joyofmansdesiring #stuckism #cnyarts #tylerartgallery #dayofdead #artnet #artnews #artgallery #artmuseum https://www.instagram.com/p/BxkP5ZyAx2C/?igshid=a6ydzybuot54

Partial: “In 1958, Miss Frances Oler Did Not Frequent the Opportunities Offered to the Art Department Boys Club” 2019. Acrylic on paper, 19 x 25” Frances Oler is seated in front of Roy in the 1958 art faculty photo for the yearbook. She was allowed to teach future teachers how to teach to elementary school children. Cans of safety scissors, crayons and dream potential squashed because she peed sitting down. This painting is how Roy and the other boys probably saw her in the flesh. #painting #art #contemporaryart #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #joyofmansdesiring #cnyarts #oswego#sunyoswego #tylerartgallery #artswego #francesoler #artgallery #galleries #artmuseum #artnews #artnet https://www.instagram.com/p/BxfhTwGgYEM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=103txcqoa7jjy

“David Campbell Painted ‘Lewis Bluff’ in 1958, and Roy Lichtenstein Did Not” 2019. Acrylic on paper, 19 x 23” If he showed this painting alongside Roy’s piece in the faculty exhibition that year, he would have outclassed his struggling colleague. Roy was confusing himself and others by abandoning his “feel” while making a leap from figurative to abstract impressionism. We only know this because Roy went Evel Knievel a couple years later to land somewhere completely new. New wins in New York when you have the support of a millionaire who knows many millionaires who have nothing better to do than buy art for the price of a house. So Roy got paid a fortune copying comics, and David got close to zilcho making beautiful paintings. No one said life is fair. Especially not Leo Castelli yesterday nor Larry Gagosian today. David Campbell has a website and prints available. Give his effort a try! Lord knows, we could use something new for the rest of us. davidmcampbell.com #painting #art #contemporaryart #stuckism #davidmcampbell #oswego #sunyoswego #arthistory #cnyarts #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #galleries #artgallery #artmuseum #artnews #artnet #artforum https://www.instagram.com/p/BxdBCQBAjyL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=thyf4vj4vrfm

“Roy Was So Jealous of Harvey Harris Because He Went to Yale and Looked Like It” 2019. Open Acrylic (Golden Paints) on paper, 17 x 21” Harvey Sherman Harris (1915-1999) was a painter and teaching colleague of Roy Lichtenstein at Oswego State. I imagine professional jealousy was a persistent worm in the minds of artists in 1958 as it is today. I think that’s because artists in America think individually (at times) that they are great with expression, better than the rest even, when really what they’re privately pining for is an Elvis Presley fame with a Wayne Newton effort at expression. Truth is, everyone is free when they can have the inner peace to realize there was only one John Coltrane, and we all should be happy enough with that satori, making things and drinking beer. #painting #art #arthistory #expressionism #harveyshermanharris #joyofmansdesiring #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #oswego #sunyoswego #artnet #artnews #lichtensteinfoundation #cnyarts #stuckism #professionaljealousy https://www.instagram.com/p/BxZ_Wj7A_ID/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ilisv3gxwmkr

“My President is a Big Man-Baby Who Has Access to a Nuclear Arsenal. How ‘Bout Yours?” 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18”

“Hoyt Sherman, Mentor to Roy Lichtenstein, Used Art to Garner Military Contracts” 2019. Oil on wood panel used as palette for last few weeks, 11 x 14” #painting #art #contemporaryart #lichtenstein #roylichtenstein #lichtensteinfoundation #joyofmansdesiring #stuckism #hoytsherman #MIC #artnews #arthistory #popart #cnyarts #Oswego #sunyoswego https://www.instagram.com/p/BxH6A1YAW8i/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12761izmtj07c

“The Pissant and The Painter” 2019. Oil on a tablecloth made in China and I swear was weaved with mowed grass, 70 x 45”

“This Littleneck Clam and Maple Leaf Walk Into a Walmmart… And Gratuitous Lichtenstein” 2019. Oil on canvas, 11 x 11”

“Lichtenstein Worried Less About Nuclear Weapons Than I Do About the 6th Extinction” 2019. Oil on canvas, 24 x 23”

“Today Professor Lichtenstein Said, ‘What Level of Narcissistic Boob Posts Her Art On Instagram?’ Really Brad! What An Old Fogey!” 2019. Oil on canvas, 72 x 55”

“In 1958, Lichtenstein Must Have Felt Like This: Painting Abstract, Then 18th Century Native, Then What, and Who Will Care?” 2019. Oil on canvas, 20 x 16”

“Squirrel and Roy Lichtenstein Waiting For Lake Effect, 1958” 2019. Oil on bed sheet, 24 x 25”