By Mark S. Kuhar
Sometimes you find art in the darndest places.
Imagine my surprise when I clicked on an article posted to a snarky section of CNN’s website called “Apparently this Matters,” and was welcomed by a huge brightly colored painting of an excavator in a quarry, executed with uncanny accuracy in the style of Vincent Van Gogh.
The painting was called “Quarry Night,” an homage of course to Van Gogh’s masterwork, “Starry Night.” It was the work of a man named Richard Janney, managing director of legal-recruiting firm McCormack Schreiber Legal Search Inc. in Chicago. Janney has two boys, 9 and 3, the youngest of whom is completely obsessed with construction equipment.
Not content to simply read the article and admire the work, I did what any good journalist would do, I dug up Janney’s contact information, introduced myself and Rock Products magazine, and insisted his painting ought to grace the cover of the magazine.
Janney humbly agreed. And it appears on the cover of this issue.
Turns out, Janney has Ohio connections, just like me. His dad grew up in Berkey, Ohio, just outside of Toledo. More importantly, his dad, sister and four of his uncles went to my alma mater, Ohio University.
So needless to say, Janney and I hit it off immediately.
With a son so obsessed with heavy equipment, you can expect Janney to create many more paintings as time goes on. If you like his work, you can buy a print of “Quarry Night” to hang in your office, or heck, commission him to paint a crusher or a sand screw.
Contact Richard Janney directly at [email protected].