Ezra Tucker, Latitude Magazine, Winter 2007

38 Latitude

ON THE CANVAS Kay Bjork

EzrsTucher ...Artist in Motion

u probably have seen the work of artist Ezra 'efr,on a billboard, movie poster, magazine, children's

bofuftook cover, CD cover, label, jigsaw puzzle, or an adlertisement.

Even though you might not have seen his signature on his work, his art has a signature of its own with its vibrant colors and dynamic subjects - dashed with an element of excitement. His subjects are alive on the canvas; full of life, light and motion. The images are precise - even his imaginative art has credibility because it is delivered with precision and strength.

Art was innate to Ezra whose feverish drawing began at a young age along with his obsession for nature shows and books, archeology and science, history, zoology, action adventure and classical imagery.

With it evolved a desire not to just create a painting - but to create a story.

He studied Advertising Design at the Memphis Academy of Arts a four-year art school in his Tennessee hometown. ]ust ten days after graduation he was snatched up by the Hallmark Card Company to create greeting cards.

After five years with Hallmark, the highly energetic and imaginative artist began searching for a new way to express himself. His senseof drama found a perfect venue in the movie industry and commercial world of action-filled Hollywood, California.

During the next 28 years working as an illustrator, he created a phenomenal number and variety of images.

These American icons included the Anheuser-Bush "Clydesdales at Christmas;" Coca-Cola print promotions to reintroduce "Coca-Cola Classic;" movie posters for "Santa Clause 2" , "Godzilla 2000", "The Never Ending Story" and "The Ten Commandments," the Bank of America's "Fly With the Eagle" campaign; Disney World's "Animal Kingdom" advertising for the African Safari theme park; Carnatiorfs "Ice Cream Dreams" campaign; and a Smokey the Bear print promotion for the National Park Service.

His impressive client list also includes Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Time-Life Publications, NBC-TV, Lucasfilm Ltd., Cheryl Ladd, CBS Records, and the U.S. Postal Service.

Ezra's irnages jump off the page with his non-conventional use of color and precise drawing ability, which he attributes in part to his "3-D thinking" and a photographic memory that enable him to "draw from his head." Tucker 39 Latitude

likes to mix his colors on the artwork"s surface rather than a palette. This impressionistic technique allows the eye to mix the colot to translate the colors.

His art and subjects both reflect the sense that Enais always in motion. He is always trying new things in his art, "I approach every painting differently," said Ezra.

Ezra's adept use of paint allows him to create bo1d, lifelike images. He usually works with acrylics but can create a variety of results in this medium including a transparenry usually seen in watercolor or a richness of color unique to oil paints.

It is tlis innovative and spontaneous style that has led Ezrato his most recent endeavors creating fine art which is focused on his longtime love for animat subjects.

It also sprang from his wife's observation that the demands of the commercial world usually required creating art with a photographic quality to it. This meant covering all the under-painting o.r the study done before the final painting is completed. Ezra explains, "These underpaintings and preliminary art have a lot of life." He discovered that leaving traces of the early stages of artwork, like the pencil drawing and raw edges, had a sort of magic to them.

Ezra combined his talent for dr#ting accurate and detailed images with a fading out of the image to suggest ahnosphere and to show a painting in progress - and a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes.

Gallery owrrers and collectors are enchanted with this new style. For many people it is like reading the book instead of watching the movie. The detailed development of a key area of an animal combined with the mere suggestion of fur or feet on the perimeter allow the viewer to take a less passive role to "finish" and interpret the painting on their own. This style of painting also maintains a compelling focal point.

Kelly Elliott, a co-owrler/ Elliott Yeary Gallery in Aspen Colorado was so irnpressed with Tucker when he visited her gallery that she broke the gallery rule to not accept walk-ins and invited him to exhibit in her gallery.

She explained, "There is a depth and detail in his porhaits, animal and pedestrian alike, that is unmatched. Following in the footsteps of the great illustrator/artists before him, Ezra Tuckels successis certain."

Successhas always been a footnote toEzra's fab ulous career. As he has joumeyed through romanticism and realism, broad strokes and detailed strokes, illustration to hne aft, it has always been about the process, about doing. For Ezra, the proof is in the painting.ll For more information:

*"l5iH;HR'coM Gallsies that feature Ena Tuckers's work: Elliott Yeary Gallery, Asper; CO - m.elliottyeary.com Mountain Trails Gallery, lacksorlWY - www.mtntrails.net Montma Trails Gallery, Bozemm, MT - ffi.montmtrails.com Gallery at Rich Designs, Colorado Springs, CO - www.richdesignsgallery.com 40 Latitude