“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
