The Bob Diven Once-in-a-Lifetime Art Auction Closed (#13677026)

'Fiona' - Bob Diven Original

• Oil On Panel
• Framed
• Early 1990's

ARTIST NOTES:  This is the painting that began a series that lasted for over 20 years.  I had a poet friend over to my studio to sketch and paint, and when she took a cigarette break I asked her if she wanted some coffee, and this is the scene that I came upon.  I grabbed my Polaroid to capture it, and created this painting.  Though it is rough in technique, there was something about it that signaled a shift in both the quality and direction of my painting.  So I mark this as a big turning point in my work.  Because she was reading a newspaper, I made a frame and covered it with newspaper headlines.  After some years I wrote the model and asked her what she would like the painting's title to be, and she said: "Fiona".  And so it was.  This painting will always occupy a special place in my heart and mind.

Condition:
Good, As Shown

Size:
Frame Size: 26 X 26
Painting Size: 24 X 24

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.