HOW IT STARTED

In the 1970s I was working as an art director in advertising, and the only fine art I was doing were life drawings at an evening workshop organized by some fellow admen.  My artist friend Marilyn Packer told me that the Art Rental and Sales Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago was holding its annual jury for new artists and she suggested I enter something.  I submitted three of my figure drawings, and one, an oil and pencil on paper seminude of a young lady, was accepted.  It was a real thrill for a young artist to see my work on the wall of the Art Institute, even if it was in the basement, and it was an even bigger thrill a few weeks later to receive a check because the drawing had sold.  When I told Marilyn what had happened she congratulated me and told me I was very fortunate, because they rarely accept figures and hardly ever nudes, most of their clients being corporate types looking to buy or rent art to decorate their offices.  I realized she was right because my drawing had been one of very few figurative pieces in the gallery and the only one featuring bare skin.
I was eligible now to submit new work three times a year at the gallery, and I wondered if it was wise to tempt fate by continuing to submit art in the genre least likely to be accepted.  After all, my painting idols Lovis Corinth, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, and Paul Hogarth all painted both figures and landscapes.  I could too.

Hog Pens, 28 x 22 inch oil & pencil on paper painting by George C. Clark

Over Labor Day weekend we went to my wife's aunt and uncle's farm in Delphi, Indiana and I brought my painting gear.  I did four on-site paintings, and Hog Pens was the first.  Three of them were eventually accepted at the Art Rental and Sales Gallery.  Hog Pens didn't sell there, but Chicago gallerist Joy Horwich later sold it to a commodities trader whose specialty was pork bellies.