'Portrait of Elwood P. Dowd and Harvey' - Bob Diven Original 
- Sold Winning Bid: $875.00
- 30 Bid(s) View Bid History
- High Bidder: Amenhotep
'Portrait of Elwood P. Dowd and Harvey' - Bob Diven Original
- Oil On Canvas
- Gallery-Wrapped Stretched Canvas
A painting Bob created for the Las Cruces Community Theatre’s production of Harvey in 2000, when Bob played the role of Elwood P. Dowd.
ARTIST NOTES: I used my brother Jack as both the photographer of this set-up scene and as a stand-in for Harvey, the giant pookah from the play Harvey. I was playing Elwood P. Dowd and decided to go ahead and create the two original paintings that play a key role in the unfolding of the story. This one and another that is supposed to be the portrait of Elwood's mother. The director thought it would be hilarious if I modelled for the mother, which I did. That painting does not survive, but this one does. Fun fact: I allowed a theatre in Wisconsin to Photoshop their Elwood's face onto this image for their production. I later did the same and put Brandon Brown's face on this painting for LCCT's recent production.
Condition:
Good, As Shown
Size:
60 X 36
About the Artist:
New Mexico artist Bob Diven came to Las Cruces at the age of 5. His father was a World War 2 veteran and former big-band singer from Pennsylvania who became a high school English teacher at Mayfield High School the year it opened. Bob's mother was a former collegiate champion golfer from Illinois who had attended a summer camp in New Mexico in the 1930s and played in a golf tournament in Las Cruces in 1941. Bob grew up exploring the desert with his four older brothers, Bill, Chuck, Ben, and Jack.
Bob graduated from Las Cruces High School, and after a year of college at NMSU joined the US Coast Guard and was stationed in the Bay Area of California. It was there, while awaiting his discharge, that he met Chet, a former professional commercial artist, who was able to evaluate Bob's drawing and sculpting skills and offer guidance in the selection of a small art school in Denver, Colorado, that specialized in figure drawing and anatomy.
Bob refers to his time at The Rocky Mountain School of Art (now The Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design) as "The most revolutionary educational experience" of his life. He worked from the live model every day, learning anatomy and the depiction of light and shadow in a traditional way.
After art school, Bob began to work as an illustrator and found work as a commercial artist in Albuquerque, working in television, advertising, and publishing. During a short stint volunteering in The Netherlands, he was exposed to the work of Van Gogh and came back to Las Cruces, bought a paint box and some oil paints, and set out to paint landscapes like the Impressionists. At this time, paintings finally began to make sense to him.
Over the years Bob expanded his skills as he explored the many natural-born talents he inherited. His paintings continued to improve, but he also took on theatrical scenery design, writing, musical composition, playwriting, sculpture, and editorial cartooning.
He won top prizes at the first Denver Street Art Festival and the top award at El Paso's Chalk the Block. His editorial cartoons and writing have won state and national awards, and his paintings have been shown in local, regional, and national juried exhibitions and are included in permanent collections. The Doña Ana Arts Council gave Bob their Community Arts Award, and Artforms named him Community Artist of the Year. He has taught classes and workshops, been an artist in residence in the Las Cruces Public Schools and with The Downtown Las Cruces Partnership.
Bob has built his life around his art, making room for whatever inspirations come his way. His hobby is reviving old typewriters.