WHERE TO VIEW THE WQRK

TED COWART – PAINTER
by Mark Hanna

It was, perhaps, when his neighbors complained about his trash that Ted Cowart began to realize the market for his art might range far beyond the limits he'd imagined.

It was true, he'd been entertaining people, winning awards, even earning a good living on his talent since his youth, but it was that one day some of his New York neighbors said he was messing up the neighborhood that he began to realize just how much others — complete strangers at that — might collect rather than just enjoy his work.

The trashing, so to speak, followed a particularly prolific period of painting. Of the dozens of works he kept a few, some he sold, some he gave away and the rest he tossed.

Ironically, the rejects brought unexpected attention.

"People were going through the trash to get the throwaways," Cowart says with both a laugh and amazement. Probably to the frustration of those who routinely searched New York trash cans for food scraps and clothes, groups of art lovers were sorting through the bins looking for Cowart's works. The mess left behind is what had the neighbors upset.

And while it made for a rare moment in the history of art that an artist took compliment in being trashed by the critics, it was also an evergreen moment in turning Cowart from a wildly successful career in advertising and design back to the studio and canvas. This return to his passion has given birth to new worlds for both artist and collectors.

Cowart has spent his lifetime dancing with the call to be a painter.

At times is was the center of his world, his livelihood, his sole provider. At others, it was the hollow place in his daily life, the friend left behind, the talent set aside.

When he was just a few years old and living in Houston his parents gave him a large chalk board and boxes of colored chalk.

He drew Olivia de Haviland.

By the time he was eight he had won innumerable prizes for his drawings and posters. It led to a scholarship to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston art classes. For the next ten years he attended the classes, working them around his regular schooling. As much as the classes benefited him however, he was also getting an education he was not aware of and one that would form the soul of his works today.

"During that time, I was surrounded by the classics, especially the great artists of the early 20th century," Cowart says. "These styles and movements were a great influence on me."

Shortly after he headed off to college, Cowart heard about the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design. His calling suddenly had a destination.

With stubborn determination, he decided to seek admission and soon became one of the youngest students ever accepted. Comparing it to the most grueling of boot camps, the college put him to the test. He emerged on fire.

With new found thirst for experience and adventure, Cowart thought he might have to put things on hold when it came time to do military service. But his enlistment turned into an opportunity, not only to see the timeless beauty of the old continent but to expand his artistic talents (and income) painting portraits of officers and their wives. After the service, he remained in Europe, using his art to make ends meet. He traveled until money began to run short - finally finding himself drawing flamenco dancers in a Barcelona bar.

With the decision made to return to the States, Cowart let a friend take his works to several design houses in New York. In a matter of weeks, Cowart had many offers. Because of its diversity of clients, he went with Hockaday Associates and soon entered the wild and rough design world of New York City.

The timing was good. As Andy Warhol moved into the art world, Cowart retained many of his clients. In just a few years, Cowart was working with all the top photographers, models and designers - the "creme de la creme" of Madison and Park Avenues.

By all intents and purposes, Cowart was literally on top of the world.

But it had come with a price.

"I started missing having my own creative time - time to express just myself, on canvas in my own terms and without creative restrictions. It wasn't apparent to me right away other than knowing something was missing."

When one day he loaded his palate, picked up a brush and stood before a large empty canvas, what was missing swept over him like a religious conversion. Unknowingly, he had just ushered in an entirely new chapter of his life.

By then it was around 1974, and an offer had come from Neiman Marcus to take on a project in Dallas. The chance to return to his home state as well as work for the most famous retail store in Texas could not be passed up. At the end of the project, he made the decision to return to Houston to live.

His advertising business thrived in Texas, keeping him dashing between Dallas and Houston.

"Then one day I picked up a paint brush and started painting again. And one more time, I felt this void fill. I felt I was suddenly working on something that was not finished," Cowart recalls, noting that was the time he decided once and for all to turn his life back to being an artist.

He began painting prolifically. New styles emerged. Old styles were revised. He bought a second home in Palm Springs and there had his first solo show. Dozens of shows, galleries and international collections later, Cowart has found his passion and lives it.

These days, there is no question where art stands in Cowart's world.

From the moment one steps into his town home in Houston's fashionable River Oaks neighborhood, there is the unmistakable, intoxicating smell of oil paint. It's a smell drifting down from his rooftop studio, but it pulls the visitor toward the large paintings which fill his walls, to the sketches scattered about the living room floor in preparation for an upcoming show, to the open portfolios of past shows.

All the senses become tuned to art and expression. And soon all attention turns to the center of it all, a body of untamable energy - the painter.

Readying for new shows, meeting with writers, photographers and collectors - there are many things that pull him from his painting, but these days Cowart refuses to put his brushes down as he did in his past. He sets aside time each day to confine himself to his rooftop studio and let himself go in a world of color, memories, visions and emotion.

Most of his works are of subjects that have special meaning in his life or in his memories, though the admirer should not waste too much time trying to figure out that connection. It is simply the means by which the artist has drawn himself into his subject and released an array of emotions to which viewers are drawn.

There is mystery in his works, but it's a mystery that builds fascination, not darkness. The paintings move in swirls and patterns. They radiate moods. Colors and subject matter send the mind off on paths of personal experience. Few walk away from a canvas with just a glance. There is always a pause - sometimes startled - to figure out what has just happened.