Confession and Observation:



Let`s start with the confession, I read People Magazine. Okay, I know, it is trashy and tabloidish but I never buy them. My wife brings the old ones, that are removed from circulation, home from the library. I guess that makes me like a rock star, a drug addict that gets his stash for free, I fail the pee test but at no cost and I get my fix even if it is a little late. That is why I am reading the February issue in May.



Dina Babbitt, second wife of animation legend Art Babbitt, is alive today because she is an artist. Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele gave her a reprieve from the gas chambers of Auschwitz so that she could paint portraits to help prove that Gypsies were an inferior race. (when your life is on the line . . . )



It got me thinking about the large number of artist that owe their life to their talent. Almost all of Bill Scott`s air reconnaissance crew were killed in battle while he was safe animating at Fort Roach. Floyd Norman was painting murals while the rest of his platoon were on the battle fields of Korea. My teacher, Dick Ayres, painted cartoon images on the noses of bombers which didn't leave him much time to get shot at. I am sure that there are hundreds of thousands of artist that directly owe their lives to art.

When you get down to the tooth and claw of natural selection, art is a trait that we instinctively protect. Then why don`t we respect artist more in the market place?

Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)  ¶ 7:40 AM