Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

Although I’ve never met Vancouver artist Joe Average, I’ve admired his bold, cartoony style of art.

Known for his charitable work, Joe Average has donated many of his paintings for a wide variety of charities.

Background info and images of his art are on the Joe Average website.

The One World, One Hope image (on right) is one of his most recognized pieces of work.

A previous version he had done in 1991 was reworked into this image which was used for the XI International AIDS Conference in Vancouver in 1996.

That conference was perhaps one of the most significant one as major announcements were made about the success of a “cocktail” of drugs that were helping those with HIV/AIDS live longer.

I found this interesting bit of info about the impact of that poster from an interview with Joe Average.

“The original image, from the AIDS awareness poster, got me a lunch date with Princess Diana. I was invited to the national capital to be one of 50 Canadians to dine with the royal couple at Rideau Hall. But the invitation didn’t include a plane ticket. When the owner of a local gay pub heard about it he had an idea to auction off the little painting that was the image on the poster. The auction raised enough money so I could fly to Ottawa. A local paper printed a story about the community helping raise money to fly me out, and Reuters picked it up. The title of the article: ‘Joe Average to lunch with Princess Di.’ Suddenly it was everywhere.

So I flew to Ottawa, and Princess Diana’s staff had clipped all these articles and showed them to her. After lunch the Governor General’s wife, Gerda Hnatyshyn, said the Princess wanted to talk to me. There I was — this little shy guy with a weird name and weird art — with the full attention of the Princess. It was one of the best moments of my life!”

What a moment in time that must have been for him.

Here are two other prints available as e-cards on his website. The first is called Maria Calla’s Lily; the second is called Mother and Child.

Do you know what Giclee means?

On Joe Average’s website, I learned a new fact about art reproduction. There is a numbered and signed limited edition of 45 giclee prints of the work called “Me.” Initially I was surprised at the cost of it in comparison to most of the works available for purchase on his site.

I had never heard the term giclee before. Digging a bit deeper, I discovered this about it.

The art of fine print making has become more precise over the years and now the artist has total control. In the Giclee (zhee-clay) process, tiny drops of ink are sprayed onto art paper using millions of colors.

Since no screens are used, the print has a higher quality then lithographs, silk-screens or serigraphs. Each piece is printed on the finest museum quality acid free water colour paper and hand signed.

These prints will be produced by the award winning printing house Hemlock Fine Printers Ltd. To ensure the integrity of a limited edition, only forty-five prints will be produced.

Art appreciation lession 101. Now I know what the term giclee means and so do you.

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