Adam Grant ( an essay about Guitar Player) - not pictured
Andrea Small

Adam Grant is an artist best known for his paint-by-number designs. These works have defined outlines and precise color application. However, some of his best works are paintings not made with this technique. In fact, Grant’s preferred painting style is the complete opposite of paint-by-number. Adam Grant is much more than a man of proper number placement. He is a creative soul and his paintings embody that.

One of Grant’s more free-spirited paintings is “Guitar Player” from 1977. It is oil on canvas that measures forty-two inches by sixty-and-one-half inches. The subject matter is the back view of a young man playing the guitar. The youth props his right foot on a cardboard box. Newspapers scatter near his feet as well. The background is a blur of brushstrokes. Nothing about the scene seems out of the ordinary. He is just an average boy playing his instrument.

The figure is naturalistic. Curved lines and fleshy tones make the boy look realistic. He is wearing a white tank top, flared blue jeans, and brown sandals. If the outfit did not say it clearly enough, his shaggy, blond hair adds to the fact that the young man is a hippie. After all, the year is 1977. The youngster holds a six-string acoustic guitar. His left hand cradles the neck at shoulder-height. The source of light is coming from the top right corner of the composition. This throws shadows at the figure’s feet. The lighting also creates a spotlight for the boy to perform in. The top half of his body is illuminated as if he is upon a stage. There is no theater here though-- just a makeshift performance area.

While the figure is painted naturalistically, the background is a series of linear brushstrokes. Muddy colored, large strokes create a base for the painting. Dingy, gray strokes are applied on top. Sometimes the gray color even moves into the figure to create a blurry outline between the foreground and background. The two background colors blend together to create a foggy feeling. The interesting thing about the paint application is that it is applied in only vertical and horizontal directions. This creates a very linear, cubic tone. It is this tone that implies that the steel colored background is actually a cityscape. There are no buildings in the composition, but these linear brushstrokes have almost created them.

Just as Grant inferred a city scene with his brushstrokes, he creates a street corner for the boy to perch upon. There is, however, no suggestion of a sidewalk or traffic. The inference comes from the two objects in the painting along with the guitar-laden fellow. Newspapers are blown into the scene to the left of his feet. They are put in motion with broad stokes of white paint like the wind is blowing though the pages. The cardboard box also helps create the street corner. Only on a city street corner would one find this kind of garbage.

If one adds all of these elements together, the viewer is left with a young boy playing the guitar on his stage, which happens to be the corner of a city street. It is not a bustling city scene or a delightful summer day. The scene is obviously dreary because of the color choice of the background. The young man also is not playing some crazy, loud rock song because he appears motionless. He is standing alone on an empty street corner playing the songs of his heart and the sad world. And all of this is conveyed with three objects and a powerful composition of lines. Adam Grant has an impressive talent. Try to create that with a paint-by-number.