Gary Kelley Hamilton King Award 1992

There is a significant divide between painting and illustrating an image, even if the "illustrator" happens to be using paint and a brush. A painter creates; he draws on abstract thought for inspiration. An illustrator illuminates; he explains, sheds light and helps an audience understand a concept that may not be his own. But some illustrators, like Gary Kelley, blur the lines between the two. Kelley is a lifelong artist and a member of the Illustrator's Hall of Fame, in the company of famous American artists and illustrators like Norman Rockwell and Winslow Homer. His work has appeared in magazines, film and dozens of books. In February, his illustration of musician Sade Adu accompanied her article in Rolling Stone magazine. Tonight, he will be on hand for the opening of his new musically themed exhibit at Decatur's Madden Arts Center. Along with pieces from his previous illustration projects, books and travels, he has brought along three large pieces created especially for the exhibition, to be unveiled at a reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. "I'd always wanted to do a piece of a jazz street band," Kelley said of his piece "Decatur Street Dandies," which will also be available as a signed poster at the exhibition. "I stayed in a hotel on Decatur Street in New Orleans, and I thought that the people in Decatur, Illinois, would appreciate the connection to the jazz group there."

It took a local connection to bring Kelley's work to downtown Decatur. Growing up in the small town of Algona, Iowa, Kelley was a high school friend of Jim Finn, secretary of the Decatur Area Arts Council. Looking up his old acquaintance, Finn extended an invitation to bring a full gallery of Kelley's work to town. "Back in those high school days, I was a football player," said Kelley, who split time between learning to paint and playing on the gridiron. "My uncle was in art school when I was a little kid, and he inspired my love of art. I had a pencil in my hand ever since I can remember. I'm one of the few kids who has known what he wanted to do since he was 5 and still wants to do it today.“ Kelley received his art degree from the University of Northern Iowa and immediately began his career in illustration, but he has never felt that a formal education is the most important factor in learning the art of illustration. "If you're going to really interpret or get the most from your art, you need to have more than just a technical knowledge or expertise," Kelley said. "The thing about illustration that I've always enjoyed is that you do get concepts to interpret; they just happen to be figurative interpretations. But illustration always has an idea behind it.“ Illustrators are sometimes viewed by the artistic community as "lesser" artists in the sense that they give life to the ideas of others instead of "creating their own." To Kelley, who both illustrates other's work and paints his own, it is a goal that visitors to his galleries are unable to tell which pieces were created as illustrations and which were done "just because I wanted to do them.“ "A lot of highbrows think it's a negative thing to work with someone else's idea, but I always enjoyed the challenge," Kelley said. "When I do an illustration, it's very important for me to develop a relationship with the subject matter. I want to feel like I'm doing it as much for me as I am for the client."

For the Decatur exhibit, developing a relationship with the subject matter often meant listening to music, as the exhibition contains many scenes with jazz and blues themes. Copies of two musically themed books illustrated by Kelley will be available for purchase: "Dark Fiddler: The Life and Legend of Nicolo Paganini" and "Black Cat Bone," an illustrated biography of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson. Coincidentally, both stories deal with the Faustian theme of virtuoso players said to have made a bargain with the devil for their skills, and they feature gothic artwork from Kelley. Although his skills are still in demand, the artist said the landscape for illustration has changed with the ascension of computer graphics and the decline of printed books. There are simply less spaces that require illustration, and some jobs are filled by computer-aided illustration, much to a purist like Kelley's chagrin. "It drives me up the wall when people tell me that they have computer programs that can create the same effects as my painting," he said. "Why would you want to do that? The end takes over and justifies the means, and I like it the other way round. I enjoy the smell of this paint; I enjoy what it feels like to scrub and wear a brush down on canvas, and if you can't feel that, you're never going to get it."