Erv Kaczmarek: The Painting at the Laundromat
About a month ago, in late July, I found a painting on the windowsill of the laundromat:
There was a note with the painting, apparently from its previous owner:
I thought the painting was good, and the note was fascinating, so I took them both. A couple of weeks ago I put them both on my wall. Here’s the back of the painting. It’s called “Jake’s Trial,” or actually “Jake’s” Trial.
Today, I did a little investigating into the signature on the back of the painting. A native of Milwaukee, Erv attended the Layton School of Art, and then moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in the early 1960s, and lived their for more than fifty years, as one of the leading members of the thriving expatriate arts community in that city. He apparently played poker with Neal Cassady the night Cassady died.
Click here for a blog post/obituary about Erv Kaczmarek.
Here’s a clip from Rotarian Magagazine, from 1975 (via Google Books.)
Just for fun, here’s a photo of the Laundromat, from my archives:
